Quest to Send Nanocraft into Deep Space and Other Science Tech
by Q3 Technologies Q3 Technologies - Building Quality into SoftwareToday is all about science and space, from the quest to send
nanocraft to Alpha Centauri within 20 years, and scientists finding a way to
make quantum measurements, to a scalpel that identifies tumors in half a second.
Quest to Send
Nanocraft into Deep Space
Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, Billionaire
Entrepreneur Yuri Milner and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg have jointly launched
an initiative to send tiny robotic nanocraft into deep space to search for
extraterrestrial life (including planets that support life) using a powerful
100 gigawatt laser.
Called the Breakthrough Starshot, the $100 million project
aims to send the nanocraft to Alpha Centauri (4.37 light years or 25 trillion
km away) that will be at the speed of 215 million km per hour at 20% the speed
of light within a span of 20 years. Think of it like this - if we take a
spacecraft and send it to Alpha Centauri using current technology, it would
take approximately 30,000 years to get there.
Each nanocraft is expected to cost as much as an iPhone, and
contains cameras, a power supply, photon thrusters and navigation and
communication instruments. It ‘electromagnetically’ accelerates using lightsails
that use highly energized photons propelled by a powerful laser through a
concept known as photonic propulsion.
"What makes us unique is transcending our limits. We
can actually reach them", Stephen Hawking said.
Quantum Measurements
Now Possible
We know the quantum world acts in mysterious ways. Without
getting into the technicalities, a simple way to explain the concept of wave function
collapse is the fact that once you measure a quantum particle, it changes its
state. Now, physicists have found a way to measure quantum systems by analyzing
outliers.
Headed by T. J. Elliott of the University of Oxford,
physicists found that measuring the outlier’s behavior gave basic information
of the main atom group like density and proximity did not disturb the quantum
entanglement. This would greatly help in building better quantum systems like
quantum computers.
Identifying Tumors in
Half a Second Using a Smart Scalpel
Dealing with Cancer is dangerous business, especially during
surgeries and other procedures. There will be 22 million cancer-related deaths
worldwide within the next 20 years, with new cancer cases expected to rise to
70%. To combat this, an engineer has invented a smart scalpel that
distinguishes between a cancerous cell and normal brain tissue.
“Although imaging techniques such as an MRI and an
ultrasound locate a tumor accurately before the surgery, during the cranial
opening and throughout the surgical procedure, there are many factors that can
lead to the loss of this position, so the resection depends on the experience,
as well as the senses of sight and touch of the surgeon,” says David Oliva
Uribe, the Mexican inventor behind the smart scalpel.
Although only tested on pigs and artificial tumors, it will
take some time for this technology to reach the average surgeon.
Read more at www.bit.ly/q3newsblog.
Q3 Technologies is a large diversified technology company which develops custom mobile applications and software
products for the healthcare industry including cloud applications,
enterprise applications across all platforms and Rich Internet Applications
(RIA).
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