The observing time of the original six partners – the US, the UK, Canada, Chile, Argentina and Brazil – will be slightly reduced, but this loss will be offset by “enhanced scientific productivity” made possible by Australia’s contribution, according to Gemini director, Matt Mountain. Australia will give A$13.5 m (about $9.2 m) to the project […]
Rumours that Lunar Prospector – NASA’s first lunar mission in twenty five years – had confirmed the existence of water ice had captivated the space science community since the beginning of February. Lunar Prospector was not originally designed to search for water on the Moon. Four years ago, however, a radar experiment on the Clementine […]
The figures are from the French Science and Technology Observatory. “The connection between research and innovation is really bad, ” says Rémi Barré, director of the observatory, which monitors scientific activity in France. The government’s spending on R&D is about FFr 180 bn (about £1.8 bn) each year – 2.4% of the country’s gross national […]
The “Delphi 98” report contains the views of more than 2000 experts from industry, research and education, who were asked to predict what they thought would be the most important developments over the next 30 years. They concluded that Germany leads the world in the environmental, energy, construction and transport sectors, and lies a close […]
Particle physics is a truly global activity, with literally hundreds of university departments around the world specializing in the subject. The basic tools of particle physics are a small number of powerful accelerators, which have led researchers over the last decade to develop what is known as the “Standard Model” of particle physics. The model […]
Last month, as expected, the four partners in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project announced a three-year extension of the ITER engineering design activity. Detailed design work on the next-generation fusion-energy device started in 1992 and has cost about $1 bn so far. A decision to build the device, once scheduled to be taken […]
The results show that the limited quality of conventional X-ray images can be dramatically improved by exploiting synchrotron light (D Chapman et al. 1997 Phys. Med. Biol. 42 2015). Moreover, there is no need for a high radiation dose. Ineffective radiology has a big impact on society. Relatively high X-ray doses can overcome the limitations […]
Read article: Fundamentals of quantum information
The laws of quantum mechanics can be used to process and transmit information in ways that are not possible with existing systems, Anton Zeilinger says
There is more to information than a string of ones and zeroes - the ability of "quantum bits" to be in two states at the same time could revolutionize information technology
The growth of virtual reality has increased demand for more realistic video displays, but existing head-up display helmets are expensive and difficult to use. Gerard de Wit and Joseph Braat at Delft have developed a retinal scanning display (RSD) which uses less power and offers higher resolution than current models. RSD works by adapting the […]
