SciTech Bulletin 2.9

Your fortnightly dose of the latest in science and technology: Volume 2 Issue 9

The field of science and technology sees new advancements on a regular basis. This last fortnight has been no different, and SciTech Bulletin 2.9 is here to keep you in the know. From finding a new earth-like planet to preventing microbes from going rogue, from storing energy using charged particles to giving the mirror on the wall a major overhaul, researchers are constantly in the hunt to know more and in the process, make our lives so much easier.

Scroll down to enlighten yourself with the latest and greatest in science and technology.

A team of engineers at Caltech, has been able to create stable rings of plasma for the first time, in open air. Plasma is another state of matter, apart from gas, liquid and solid, that is made up of charged particles, namely ions and electrons. Plasma occurs in the form of lightning and is used in fluorescent bulbs.

This feat was achieved by passing a jet of water with an impact velocity of 1,000 feet per second, through a crystal plate, hitting with a pressure of 9,000 pounds per square inch. The crystals used were either quartz or lithium niobate. The entire phenomenon worked on a principle called the triboelectric effect. It is the electrification effect of certain materials due to friction, when rubbed against each other. When the jet strikes the crystal, it gives rise to a laminar flow of positively charged ions over the negatively charged surface. While at the shear region, as the jet flows outwards, a stream of electrons is created. This ionizes the neighboring atoms and molecules creating a torus or a doughnut shape of plasma.

The plasma could be kept stable as long as the flow of water was alive. Although, no major commercial applications of the invention could be found, some of the engineers say that the plasma created, can be used to store energy. They also noticed a certain disturbance in their cellphones while the experiment was performed. This was perhaps due to the generation of radio waves caused by the piezoelectric effect of the crystal.

Earth’s second-closest exoplanet, Ross 128b has been recently discovered by astronomers at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. The exoplanet situated only 11 light years away, orbits a dwarf star which is known to harbour habitable planets due to its favourable conditions.

Ross 12b, which is approximately the size of earth is speculated to be habitable due to its suitable surface temperature that will allow it to host a temperate world that could support life. Furthermore, a computer simulation has predicted that, the exoplanet has created clouds to retain the evaporation of water from its surfaces. This factor along with the permanent wobble in its rotation has primed it as candidate for further research.

This discovery has been a significant moment in what is considered as the golden age for astronomy. Scientists involved are enthusiastic to continue their search within the proximity of Ross 128b, which may redefine the galaxy as we know it.

Light is a combination of electric and magnetic fields. Electric Field determines the linearity of light while magnetic field determines the circularity. When one lags behind the other, the net shape of the fields become helical. This resultant, named circularly polarized light, rotates either in clockwise or anti-clockwise direction as determined by what is called as the ‘spin state’.

Conventional mirrors change the direction of rotation from clockwise to anti-clockwise or vice versa in order to reflect light. However, in cases where the spin property carries information, reversal of direction may cause loss in information. This arose the need of some unconventional mirrors. These mirrors reflect one spin state as is, and absorb the other completely thereby reflecting the waves of only one state. They have been named as Chiral Meta-Mirror.

They find applications in light information processing and next generation 3D movies among many other. With the growth in importance of data, the need for preserving data that is carried by light only gets higher by the day. Very soon, the unconventional mirrors might turn out to be the conventional ones for all we know.

Researchers at Harvard have synthesized a couple of kill switches that would thwart bioengineered microbes if they went rogue. This could hopefully resolve the safety issues of releasing manipulated microbes into nature.

Bioengineered microbes are being tested by synthetic biologists for a huge spectrum of purposes, from non-invasively treating infection in humans to breaking down polluting plastics. Kill switches ensure that microbes are effectively terminated upon the completion of their intended functions.

Scientist Pamela Silver and her team have developed a pair of kill switches for additional security. One of them being the “Essentializer” which works of a previously created kill switch known as the “Memory Element”. The essentializer would come into play in the off-chance that the memory elements fail and produce more toxins which would kill the microbe. The second one aptly named “Cyrodeath” results in the expression of the toxin genes when the temperature drops, terminating it.

The increase in the safety of modified microbes might see them playing a huge part in the fields of medicine and environmental remediation.

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