Just over three weeks to go until the TechCon!
Here are links for help with last minute planning. See you in Long Beach!
- To review the education program, click here.
- To review the technical program, click here.
- To register and then make hotel reservations, click here.
- To view exhibition information, click here.
- To view local special offers or arrange transport to/from the airport, click here.
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The Physics of Peeling Tape
Super slow-motion video reveals the microscopic details of how tape peels.
Most
of us are familiar with the screeching noise packing tape makes when
it's peeled off a box, as well as the frustration of failing to cleanly
remove a label from a new purchase. It turns out that the jerky
stop-and-go motion we experience when peeling tape occurs at a
microscopic level as well.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
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How Diet Changed Language
Eating
softer processed foods changed the position of humans' adult teeth,
making it easier to say sounds like "f" and "v," new research suggests.
What
you eat may influence what sounds your language regularly uses, a new
study finds. In a sense, eating soft foods like fava beans helped humans
say words like "fava beans," researchers said.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
Rights information:
Public domain
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Sound Waves May Fall Up in Gravity Instead of Down
New findings suggest that ordinary sound has negative gravitational mass.
The
sound of a sonic boom may produce about the same magnitude of
gravitational pull as a 10-milligram weight, a new study finds. Oddly,
the findings also suggest the pull is in the opposite direction of the
gravitational pull generated by normal matter, meaning sound waves might
fall up instead of down in Earth's gravitational field.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
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Meet Some Robots with a Softer Touch
Researchers embrace the wobbliness of soft materials to make squishy robots.
When
you think of robots you probably picture something made of cold hard
metal, or maybe smooth plastic armor. But what about a soft robot with
no gears or wires? Katia Bertoldi, an engineer at Harvard University,
and her colleagues are all about building robots with squishy and soft
materials. She
shared
some of the designs at a meeting of the American Physical Society this March in Boston.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
Image credits
:
Katia Bertoldi, Harvard University
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Artificial Intelligence Helps Hunt Down Superconductors
Researchers
use machine learning to speed up the trial-and-error search for new
materials that can conduct electricity without resistance.
Finding the next miracle material can be a tedious process. Thomas
Edison and his fellow researchers famously tested thousands of materials
before
finding the right one
for
making lightbulb filaments. The search for superconductors, and in
particular materials that can sustain superconductivity up to room
temperature, is perhaps a modern-day equivalent.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
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A Fresh Look at Quark-Gluon Plasma Soup
Theoretical physicists come up with a new way to analyze the firework of signals coming from particle collision experiments.
Quarks
and gluons are the building blocks for larger particles such as protons
and neutrons, which in part make up atoms in all the ordinary matter in
the universe, from moon rocks to the center of the sun. They are
classified as fundamental particles like their more famous cousin, the
electron, but remain relatively mysterious. Scientists had to build
city-sized particle accelerators to smash protons together and send the
quarks and gluons flying apart long enough to study them. A recent paper
published
in
the journal Physical Review Letters describes a new approach
that may help the effort to understand the closely tangled quarks and
gluons.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
Image credits
:
Animated gif created using conceptual visual art piece by
Moritz Heller
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Spring Green: Why Do New Leaves Have a Lighter Color?
Scientists explain the lime green look of spring.
Spring
has now officially arrived in the Northern Hemisphere. Already, many
deciduous trees are shaking off their winter stupor and getting ready to
unfurl delicate new leaflets.
In general, the green of spring leaves is fresher and lighter than the deep verdant hues of summer's mature canopy.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
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Americans Make Their Homes Feel Like the African Savannah Where Humans First Evolved
Indoor temperature and moisture in the U.S. is closer to climates in Africa than to anywhere else on Earth.
Americans
may be recreating the cradle of humanity with their thermostats. When
researchers compared temperature and air moisture levels in 37 U.S.
homes to outdoor climates around the world, they found that all but
three of the homes were most similar to locations in Africa -- the same
continent where the first humans arose hundreds of thousands of years
ago.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
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Bigravity: A Hidden 'Gear' for Gravity?
Physicists
come up with alternate explanation of gravity that may implicate dark
energy, which comprises 70 percent of our universe.
Two
physicists from Montana State University in Bozeman propose a way to
test an existing theory of gravity where a hidden "gear" may explain the
mystery of dark energy -- an unknown substance that makes up 70 percent
of our universe.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
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The Scientist's Guide to the Perfect Fondue
Ensuring a pot of the famous melted cheese dish has the right material properties is key to enjoying it.
In
60 years, the climate of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, will feel kind of
like a contemporary Jonesboro, Arkansas, with higher temperatures and
more winter precipitation, according to a new study. That's assuming
fossil fuel emissions continue to rise; if instead we succeed in curbing
emissions, Pittsburgh will instead become more like Madison, Indiana.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
Image credits:
Aimee Custis Photography
via Flickr
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The Genetic Reasons Why Citrus Fruits Taste So Sour
Scientists identify two genes behind plant cell pumps that produce sourness -- and variation in flower color.
Lemons
are known for their face-puckering sour taste. Now scientists have
uncovered the mysterious genes behind this acidity, new findings that
could help farmers breed sweeter oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit and
other citrus fruit.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
Rights information:
Copyright American Institute of Physics
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How Much Does the Combine Reveal About Future NFL Players?
How
well future pros sprint, jump and lift weights at the NFL Scouting
Combine may tell us only a little bit about their career success.
Despite
his superstar status as quarterback of the New England Patriots, Tom
Brady's athleticism never turned any heads. At the 2000 NFL Scouting
Combine, an annual gathering where players dreaming of playing in the
NFL show off their strength, speed and explosiveness in a series of
drills, Brady's performance was famously underwhelming. His 40-yard dash
time and vertical leap height are mediocre at best, with numbers
perhaps more typical for linemen 100 pounds heavier.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
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AIMCAL R2R Asia Conference 2019
Roll to Roll Web Coating and Finishing
May 28 – 30, 2019, Daejeon, South Korea
AIMCAL,
the Association of International Metallizers, Coaters and Laminators
will partner with KRICT, the Korean Research Institute of Chemical
Technology to organize the first AIMCAL Asia Roll to Roll Conference on
28 – 30 May, 2019 in Daejeon, Korea.
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OUR MISSION
Striving to MAKE A DIFFERENCE in the lives of our students.
One
of the SVC’s long-term goals has always been to support charitable,
educational, and scientific activities. As its first initiative, the
Foundation created a scholarship program aimed at supporting
enterprising students and practitioners who have an interest in
furthering their education in the field of vacuum coating
technology.
The
Foundation also grants travel awards to students to attend and present
technical papers at the annual SVC Technical Symposium. Since its
inception, both programs have awarded over $250,000 in scholarships to
students from the United States, Canada, China, Lithuania and Spain.
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Society of Vacuum Coaters | PO Box 10628, Albuquerque, NM 87184
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