The Bold and Bewildering Curiosity of Alexander von Humboldt
Doing
dangerous things in pursuit of new knowledge was par for the course for
this Prussian polymath, born 250 years ago this month.
Around
1780 -- so the story goes -- the Italian scientist Luigi Galvani was
dissecting frogs for study when his assistant touched a scalpel to one
of the frog's nerves just as a nearby electrical machine sparked. The
frog's leg twitched violently. That observation, and Galvani's many
subsequent experiments, raised a major question: Did animals generate
and store electricity -- could it even be an animal life force -- or did
they just respond to it?
READ FULL ARTICLE.
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Why Do We Need Super Accurate Atomic Clocks?
Explore the applications of state-of-the-art clocks -- and the math that describes their performance and limitations.
The GPS receiver in your car or cellphone works by listening to
satellites broadcast their time and location. Once the receiver has
"acquired" four satellites, it can calculate its own position by
comparing the signals. Since the signals are broadcast using microwaves
that travel at the speed of light, an error of a millionth of a second
on a GPS satellite clock could put you a quarter mile off course.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
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The Strange Holes in Indiana Dunes, America's Newest National Park
Scientists now know much more about the underground cavities in the sand that nearly killed a boy in 2013.
On
the shores of Lake Michigan, near the northeastern tip of Indiana Dunes
National Park, an approximately 125-foot-high dune rises into the air.
Named Mount Baldy, the crescent-shaped mound is arguably the most famous
sand dune in the park. Rangers lead visitors on summer hikes to the
top.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
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We Need a Better Way to Measure Hurricanes
The Saffir-Simpson scale relies on wind to categorize a hurricane, but it doesn't account for storm surge or flooding.
Meteorologists rank hurricanes from category 1 to 5 based on wind
speed. It’s called the Saffir-Simpson scale. And Kyra Bryant, graduate
student at Tennessee State University, says we should update it. That
scale doesn’t account for dangers like flooding or storm surge. And as
ice melts and sea levels rise, we may see more storms with lower wind
speed but lots of rain – the kind of storm that the Saffir-Simpson scale
can’t accurately describe.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
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New Clock Claims Title of World's Most Accurate – For Now
Animals are often able to adapt to their human-influenced surroundings with remarkable ease.
In
2012 and 2013, Bill Bateman, a zoologist based in Perth, Australia,
began to notice something interesting about how animals were navigating
the bush: When mining companies created small paths through the
previously tangled environment to install seismic lines, animals started
preferentially using those trails to move from one place to
another.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
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Shocking Find! Two New Electric Eel Species Discovered
Expeditions in remote Amazon waterways result in identification of two previously unknown electrified fish.
After
spending years trekking through Amazonian jungles to explore highland
waterfalls and murky waterways researchers have discovered two new
species of electric eels. “The eels are quite eye-catching, they grow
over eight feet long and they discharge,” said David de Santana, a
zoologist at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and the
lead author of the study
published in September
in
Nature Communications
.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
Image credits:
C. David de Santana
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Welding Ceramics With a Laser
Researchers developed a way to weld pieces of brittle ceramics together using a laser that fires a million times per second.
Humans have been using ceramics since antiquity. Although commonly
known as the stuff of chipped coffee mugs and tableware, ceramics are a
large family of materials that can be extremely durable depending on the
composition and production process. Engineers use them in a broad range
of modern applications from biomedical implants to body armors and even
nose cones for nuclear missiles.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
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Water Vapor Found on a Planet in the 'Goldilocks' Zone for Life
Planet K2-18b is about twice as wide as Earth and located about 110 light-years away.
For
the first time, scientists have detected water on a distant planet
lying within its star's habitable zone, a new study finds. Since there
is life virtually everywhere there is water on Earth, the search for
life outside Earth typically concentrates on worlds that are the right
distances from their stars to host liquid water on their surfaces. This
range of distances is often called the habitable or "Goldilocks"
zone.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
Image credits:
ESA/Hubble, M. Kornmesser
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Newest Pterosaur Was Likely as Tall as a Giraffe
Ancient
flying reptile dubbed Cryodrakon boreas, the "cold dragon of the north
winds," may shed light on the evolution of these dinosaur relatives.
A new species of giant pterosaur has been discovered in the Dinosaur
Park Formation in Alberta, Canada, whose snowy, windy winters
gave Cryodrakon its name. Based on the largest vertebra yet
found of this species, adults may have possessed wingspans of roughly 10
meters (33 feet).
READ FULL ARTICLE.
Image credits:
David Maas
Rights information:
Used with permission
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Deadly Heat Waves Will Likely Get Worse
Heat is the number one cause of weather-related deaths in the U.S.
Heat
is the top cause of weather-related deaths in the United States – more
than hurricanes, tornadoes, floods or cold temperatures. And the problem
will likely get worse because of climate change.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
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Another Pair of Eyes Does See Different Things
New study shows that we direct our gazes differently even when we are staring at the same images.
If
a picture is worth a thousand words, scientists now find that not
everybody looks at the same words first. When shown a series of pictures
some people might focus more on, say, faces, while others might fixate
on food. The new findings emphasize how the world might look different
from one person to the next.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
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Join us in Boston!
The 2019 MRS Fall Meeting will take place from
December 1 to December 6, 2019
,
in Boston, Massachusetts, at the Hynes Convention Center and
adjacent Sheraton Boston Hotel. The world's foremost international
scientific gathering for materials research, the MRS meeting showcases
leading interdisciplinary research in both fundamental and applied areas
presented by scientists from around the world.
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12 - 15 November 2019
Munich, Germany
This
year SEMICON Europa is co-located with productronica in Munich, the
strongest single event for electronics manufacturing in Europe.
Together, the two events will connect industry leaders and
international experts from every segment and sector of the European
microelectronics industries including semiconductors, LEDs, MEMS,
printed/ organic/ flexible, and other adjacent markets. Thanks to its
central location, Munich will attract international visitors, giving
SEMICON Europa attendees the opportunity to meet with high-level experts
and researchers. You are all invited to SEMICON Europa Opening
Ceremony, Networking Events, TechARENA and TechLOUNGE.
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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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