Some
very sad news to report…John Coburn (one of the AVS Giants—both in
contributions and size) has passed away. John joined AVS in the early
1960’s, was AVS President in 1988, he was named Honorary Member in 1991,
received the John Thornton Award in 1993, was appointed Fellow in 1994,
served as AVS Treasurer from 1999-2006, Trustee from 1986-1988 and
1995-1997, Director from 1984-1985, Thin Film Chair in 1983, is the
author of a few AVS monographs, the PSTD Coburn and Winters award was
created in his honor and he served on many AVS committees. John was a
very active Short Course Instructor teaching his very popular Plasma
Etching & RIE course for AVS for many decades. He was a major
contributor to AVS journals, and was very active in the Northern
California Chapter. John was a very major player at AVS and such a great
guy—we all loved him and he will be very sorely missed! A link to his
obituary follows and I will ask History, PSTD, and the Short Course
Committee to collaborate, and anyone who wishes to contribute, on
writing a remembrance piece/obituary for Beneath the Surface.
Click here to view the obituary.
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Simultaneous Blazes, Like California's Camp and Woolsey Fires, Have Become the New Normal
It’s now more common to see multiple giant wildfires burning at once, straining firefighting resources, scientists say.
Just
a few weeks ago, two large wildfires caused massive destruction and at
least 91 deaths in California, the Woolsey fire near Los Angeles and the
Camp fire that engulfed the town of Paradise in the north. Residents
and firefighters struggled to stop both fires, yet they can expect more
like them to come.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
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How to Move a Single Electron
Scientists
have developed a way to encourage a single electron to hop atop a
silicon atom, a feat that may find applications in future nanoscale
electronics.
Every
time you brush your hair, hundreds of trillions of electrons jump from
your hair onto the brush. These particles are so small and sensitive
that it is almost impossible to handle them individually, but a group of
scientists from Canada have figured out a way to do it using an atomic
force microscope. This newfound approach to manipulating individual
electrons may one day find applications in future nanoscale electronics.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
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November's Stellar Space Pictures
View new pictures of Mars, the last picture of the dwarf planet Ceres and images of the brightest galaxy in the universe.
This month, we celebrate the beginning of one space mission and the end
of another, among other new discoveries. NASA ended its Dawn mission to
the asteroid belt but began a new one on Mars. In other parts of the
universe, researchers made unexpected discoveries about neighboring
stars and far-flung galaxies. Our selection of photos and illustrations
brings the celebration back to Earth.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
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Want to Build a Nanobot? This New Shrinking Technique Could Help
Research innovation brings Shrinky Dink-like method to the nanoscale.
Researchers
from MIT have come up with a new way to fabricate nanoscale structures
using an innovative "shrinking" technique. The new method uses equipment
many laboratories already have and is relatively straightforward, so it
could make nanoscale fabrication more accessible.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
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What's the Risk of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy for NFL Players?
New study suggests at least one in 10 NFL players could eventually develop the brain disease.
The authors of research
published November 28
in
the journal Neurology estimate that a minimum of 10 percent
of NFL players will eventually develop the degenerative brain disease
known as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE. That would mean that
for any given NFL play, the researchers said, a minimum of two of the 22
players on the field could be projected to develop the disease, which
is associated with symptoms such as cognitive impairment, impulsive
behavior and suicidal thoughts.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
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Cat Tongues Help Wild and Domestic Felines Keep Clean and Cool
A
closer look at cat tongues helps explain why the animals' grooming is
so effective and may inspire new brushes -- for pets and humans.
New
insights into how cats clean their fur with scores of tiny scoops on
their tongues could lead to better hairbrushes for both cats and humans.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
Image credits
: Alexis Noel
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Scientists Make See-Through Fruit Flies
Cells in the fly specimens' nervous systems can be seen glowing through the insects' transparent bodies.
While fruit flies may bother people who have week-old bananas at home,
the humble insects have for decades benefited scientists studying how
organisms live and grow. The tiny flies are more like humans than you
might initially think -- about 60 percent of fly genes match with a
similar human gene -- and they breed quickly in the lab. Beginning in
1933, the Nobel committee has so far awarded six prizes in physiology or
medicine for fly research, including the 2017 Prize for
uncovering
how the body's internal clock works
.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
Image credits:
TU Wien
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Space Forecast: Dark Matter Hurricane Sweeps Through the Solar System
Mysterious dark matter particles may be blowing past Earth at 1.8 million kilometers per hour.
A
dark matter hurricane may be blowing through the solar system with
winds strong enough to generate powerful signals in future searches for
the invisible substance, a new study finds.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
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Phonons Bring Good Vibrations to Quantum Physicists
A new way to measure vibrations may eventually help detect gravitational waves and store quantum memory.
“I'm picking up good vibrations. She's giving me excitations.” Little
did the Beach Boys know, their 1966 hit was the perfect description for a
physics experiment half a century later. Researchers have come up with a
new way to detect phonons -- a quantum unit for measuring vibrations.
These new methods may be useful in a wide range of applications, from
measuring the tiny vibrations of gravitational waves from billions of
light-years away, to using the vibrations themselves to store
information for quantum computers.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
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Hospitals, Hacks, Malware and Medical Safety
We
may be vulnerable, researchers warn after demonstrating a cyberattack
on a CT scanner, highlighting the need for better security. Last year, a
malicious piece of blackmail software called WannaCry swept the
world,
using a stolen National Security Agency hacking tool
to infect computers, encrypt their files and demand bitcoin ransoms of hundreds of dollars or more per computer.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
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Your Phone Can Help Predict the Weather
A network of smartphones can improve short-term weather forecasts.
You may soon add "weather station" to the many functions of your phone.
Researchers have shown that air pressure data from thousands of
smartphones can improve predictions of a storm's strength, and where and
when it will strike.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
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Society of Vacuum Coaters Foundation
Founding
Principle: The Society of Vacuum Coaters recognizes that in order
to sustain its growth, it is important to attract young, well trained
individuals to the field of Vacuum Coatings.
The
SVC Foundation pursues this principle by providing scholarships to
well qualified students planning to enter fields related to vacuum
coatings, and/or providing stipends for travel expenses to attend the
annual SVC Technical Conference, usually to present technical papers.
The Society of Vacuum Coaters (SVC), the SVCF's founder, and AIMCAL, an
organization committed to advancing vacuum roll-coating technology, and
their members, provides support for the Foundation to pursue these
goals.
Since
its inception in 2002, the SVCF has awarded more than 70 scholarships
and travel awards totaling over $250,000 to students from 18 countries.
Our support can really have an impact in the life of these students;
quoting a recent award recipient:
"Not
only does the scholarship give the gift of financial support and the
possibility to continue learning, it also gives those that have a
passion for vacuum coating the blessing of attending such a wonderful
program [SVC TechCon] to network and further their knowledge."
Inviting
scholarship recipients to the SVC TechCon is an important element of
the overall strategy for attracting new talent to our industry.
Scholarship beneficiaries carry a special identification on the TechCon
badge and we encourage you to meet them and make them feel welcome.
Scholarship Applications must be postmarked by November 30th of each year.
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Society of Vacuum Coaters | PO Box 10628, Albuquerque, NM 87184
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