3D laser-scanning is nothing new, but a group of physicists at Heriot-Watt University in Scotland have just announced some notable improvements to the technology. The researchers have developed a new time-of-flight (ToF) 3D camera system that can capture laser pulses from so-called "uncooperative" objects — objects made of up surfaces that don't properly reflect laser light, like fabrics...
It was science fiction before, but now it's really happening, Young Skywalker: The US Navy and Air Force are going to install liquid-cooled, solid-state lasers in combat airplanes. Laser turrets designed to defend the planes by shooting incoming threats like surface-to-air missiles and rockets. Seriously. The above is an official concept image by DARPA, but integration is happening this year, with real firing tests coming in 2014.
The USAF has been playing with lasers in planes for a while. They worked to create the the highly successful—but ultimately shelved—Boeing YAL-1 Airborne Laser Testbed. Remember Reagan's Star Wars? This was one of the few technologies that we got to work outside those 3D animations that scared the Soviets so much.
If you haven’t watched the movie starring Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried, In Time, then you have missed out on some advanced futuristic technology. The premise of the movie is that time is your currency and that in the future you do not age passed 25, however, earning time is harder than you think. Each person is implanted with a clock that displays on their arm and overall is a pretty decent movie. So, wouldn’t it be interesting to have a watch display time on your arm too?
A concept designed submitted by Nurdinov on Tokyoflash is inspired by the movie which will have the watch still wearable around your wrist but through a green laser the watch will then display the time onto your arm, just like it did for Timberlake. The upside is you don’t have to try and accumulate time but the downside is that we will all remain aging passed twenty-five (ah shucks). This laser watch is not yet purchasable but sure would make for an interesting watch to own don’t you think?
A new bionic eye implant could allow blind people to recognize faces, watch TV and even read. Nano Retina’s Bio-Retina is one of two recent attempts to help patients with age-related macular degeneration, which affects 1.5 million people in the U.S. Although a similar implant, Second Sight’s Argus II, has been on the market in Europe since last year, it requires a four-hour operation under full anesthesia because it includes an antenna to receive power and images from an external apparatus. The Bio-Retina implant is smaller because it doesn’t have an antenna. Instead, the implant captures images directly in the eye, and a laser powers the implant remotely. Because of Bio-Retina’s compact size, an ophthalmologist can insert it through a small incision in the eye in 30 minutes—potentially more appropriate for seniors. The Bio-Retina will generate a 576-pixel grayscale image. And clinical trials could begin as soon as next year.
They're the bane of pilots and moviegoers, but lasers have become an essential part of everyday life. They facilitate everything from high-speed communications, to vision-saving surgeries, to super-villain plots for world domination. But how in the hell do they get that beam of light so intense and so focused?
As EngineerGuy Bill Hammack explains, it involves trapping light inside a specific medium, between a couple of mirrors, until the waves (or particles) all line up and escape through a pinhole opening. When they leave, it's kind of like soldiers marching in single file, which creates that incredibly intense beam that's been harnessed for endless applications since the first laser was created way back in 1960.
In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to Design this Sci-Fi Style Laser Special Effect in Photoshop. A beginner friendly tutorial, this effect can be widely used in a range of designs (not just sci-fi) to add extra effect, have a try :)
The process of creating this is really quite simple and can’t be done in just 3 easy steps below. Techniques include some basic layer blending, selection, painting skills.
The United States' National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab in California has fired the most powerful laser in history, a record-breaking 2-megajoule shot. The laser was originally designed to reach 1.875-megajoules, but beat everyone's expectations—and set a new world record in the process.
So, how do lasers work? Just in time for Valentine’s Day comes this new video from MinutePhysics, and not to spoil the ending, but it involves exciting photons. Oooooh, dirty science...
The reason people are so pumped about solid-state hard drives right now is because they're super-speedy. But if you think your SSD is fast, just wait until a new breed of laser-based hard drives comes to market.
Scientists have plans to build a laser so powerful it could boil the fabric of space and, in doing so, possibly reveal extra-dimensions.
In today’s installment of potentially catastrophic science experiments, scientists have plans to create a giant laser that can emit a beam with an amount of energy equivalent to all of the power the Earth receives from the sun combined, reports Richard Gray in the Telegraph. It is believed such a laser will have the ability to rip apart the vacuum of space — literally boil the underlying fabric of the universe.
