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Articles by Meriame Berboucha
Silicon Valley X-ray Laser Used To See Attosecond Electron Movement
Have you heard of an x-ray laser before? Did you know that there is a huge x-ray laser in the heart of Silicon Valley in California that can help us discover a myriad of information about the Universe we live in. This x-ray laser lives in the heart of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory which is also home to the world’s largest linear particle accelerator.
A Breakthrough In Making Carbon-Neutral Fuels
I recently attended the Planet Home Festival in San Francisco, what an event. Bill Nye the Science Guy and Snoop Dogg in one night. It was epic, to say the least. The festival was all about building a sustainable future for the Earth and ourselves. Bill Nye said some inspirational words, and Snoop swooped in with some tunes to step up the mood. The message gained from both performances was that we can change the world. So with that, let us talk about being sustainable.
New X-Ray Laser In Town
In the sunny state of California, lives the longest linear particle accelerator in the world. About 10 years ago, this was the birthplace of the world’s most powerful x-ray laser. Its name is the Linac Coherent Light Source, but, I will refer to it here as LCLS. It lives at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and it is also my workplace.
Lasers Around Us
I am a laser physicist and my day to day life normally involves working, playing with or looking after lasers. In scientific research, particularly the field I am in, plasma physics, lasers are super useful. They are important in fusion science, laboratory astrophysics and high energy density physics. If you’re not already a laser physicist, lasers are all around you too. Here are some uses of lasers that you may or may not have known about. Lasers are all around us and have numerous applications.
SOFIA Catches Rays From Cosmic Cloud Full Of Massive Stars
Researchers at SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, have used the Faint Object infrared Camera (FORCAST) to study a giant celestial cloud called W51 . Celestial clouds are birth places for stars and are formed after a huge cosmic explosion known as a supernova. Supernovae are the largest explosions in space and the most recent supernova observed happened about 100 years ago.
A Brief History Of The Ruby Laser
I was reading through some cool facts about lasers to put on my Instagram and other social media platforms and I find out some pretty cool stuff. Did you know, back in the day, the power of the first laser (after the maser) was measured in Gillettes? Yes, you heard me correctly. Gillette razor blades. So, the number of Gillette razor blades the laser could cut through was a measure of how powerful the laser is. For instance, a 5-Gillette laser can burn through 5 Gillette razor blades.
NASA Makes Hot Jupiter Atmospheres On Earth
Scientists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California are trying to simulate the potential conditions found in the atmosphere of ‘hot Jupiters.’ In JPL’s latest study, scientists are essentially making concoctions in the laboratory that will mimic these alien atmospheres . An artist's impression drawing of planet KELT-9b, a hot Jupiter. Temperatures in the atmosphere reaches 7,800 degrees Fahrenheit (4,300 Celcius).NASA/JPL-Caltech But what are ‘hot Jupiters”?
5 Words That Mean Something Different To A Laser Physicist
It has been quite a stressful week for me, I am quite new to research and I got my first chance to help write an experimental proposal this week. Having read many scientific papers, I realised how important the language I use is and that certain words that mean something to me, a laser physicist, mean something entirely different to someone that isn’t in my field. On top of that, I love creating word clouds for documents I write in science, to see how much jargon we use.
Fireballs With Grapes And A Microwave
First of all, before I delve into making plasmas with grapes, I just want to start with defining a plasma. A plasma is an ionised gas, so a gas that has been heated up to high temperatures. So high in fact, that atoms no longer exist. Electrons are stripped away from their nuclei and a ‘soup’ of ions and electrons remains. Most common examples of plasmas that you see in every day life is the Sun and fire on the end of birthday candles and the inside of neon lights and lightning.
NASA Will Carry Out Drone Tests In Nevada, Texas
Drones flights will be carried out soon to test NASA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) system. The future looks like it will be filled with drones in populated urban areas. As a result, NASA wants to carry out flight tests of drones in populated urban environments . Illustration of lots of small drones flying in a populated urban environment.
5 Facts About LIDAR
Over the weekend I ended up playing cards against humanity, and obviously, playing with physicists, LIDAR came up. I was surprised that I had not heard of LIDAR before. So, I wanted to write an article with some facts on LIDAR for those of you that might not have heard about LIDAR too. 1. What does LIDAR stand for? LIDAR stands for Light Detection and Ranging. 2. How does LIDAR work? LIDAR works by sending out pulses of laser light.
New Mars Rover Named After Rosalind Franklin
Since it is International Day of Women and Girls in Science I thought I would stick to this theme and publish two articles today. The latest Mars rover that was built in the U.K has been named after Rosalind Franklin. She is famously known because of her involvement in the discovery of DNA.
Celebrating Women In Physics
It is International Women and Girls in Science Day (February 11th) today and as a physicist, and woman, and woman of color, for that matter, I would love to highlight some women of color in physics and celebrate their work . In previous talks I have given, I have described myself as a minority squared, I am a minority in a minority, that is: a woman in a male-dominated field, but a woman that is of color.
CERN Technology Will Be Used For Analysing Heritage Artworks
CERN technology will be used for cultural heritage projects in a new collaboration with the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) called MACHINA. The collaboration stands for Movable Accelerator for Cultural Heritage In-situ Non-destructive Analysis. It aims to examine heritage art pieces without destroying them.
Black Holes Are Strange, But White Holes Are Stranger
We have all heard of blackholes. These are the famous objects in space that no matter or radiation can escape. The gravitational pull of these objects is so large that even the fastest thing in our universe, light cannot escape it. Because of this, black holes are the darkest objects in our cosmos. Black holes are the result of large, dying stars that collapse in on themselves. All the mass is squeezed into a very small amount of space.
Very Large Telescope Captures Star's Dying Breath
Using the world’s most advanced optical instruments, scientists have captured the dying breath of planetary nebula: ESO 577-24 . In the star’s final breath, a faint glow was seen to expand from the dying star. Lasting about 10,000 years, this planetary nebula was a mere split second in astronomical time frames. This beautiful image you see below is what was captured by European Southern Observatory’s, Very Large Telescope.
How Drones Are Stopped From Causing Chaos In Airports
Airports in the UK have seen two shutdowns this month due to drones. A whopping 140,000 people at London Gatwick airport were affected, all because of a miniature flying object. One of the ways you can interfere with a drone is a radio jammer. Drones are typically remote controlled and so using a radio jammer means that signals between the remote and the drone. It then triggers a ‘home’ response in the drone which means it returns to its original location. But, how does a radio jammer work?
IBM's First Commercial Quantum Computer
For the first time, IBM has released a quantum computer that can be used outside the research laboratory. The IBM Q System One has been commercialized and sits pretty in a nine-feet tall airtight, glass container. Through the cloud-based IBM Q Experience, members of the public can use this quantum computer to compute the stuff they desire.
'Spaghetti' Magnetic Fields Might Be Powering Cosmic Particle Accelerators
Tweet This Scientists at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California have found a new way to explain how charged particles are ejected in the form of jets from black holes . These exciting findings could help future research on Earth in the fields of fusion and particle accelerators.
New Shrinking 3D Printer
Tweet This A new way of 3D printing, shrinking 3D printing, will make 3D printing small objects a breeze . The idea behind the shrinking 3D printer is to print an object and then shrink it to the required size – a technique known as implosion fabrication. The most amazing part about this 3D printer is that it can be adapted to work with different materials like metals, quantum dots and even DNA. Additionally, complicated shapes like microscopic linked chains can be printed too.
Laser-Powered Probe Might Make It To Alpha Centauri In 100 Years
Share to facebook Share to twitter Share to linkedin Imagine a place like our solar system. A place with a ‘central’ star orbited by planets but light years away. There might be a planet there with water and living organisms. Now imagine if you could get there somehow and see it and analyze it. For many years, humans have sent probes into space, with one of the latest being NASA’s InSight Mission which you can find out more in one of my latest articles here.
Highest Resolution Atomic Movie Of Photosynthesis In The World
Share to facebook Share to twitter Share to linkedin An international collaboration of scientists have created the highest resolution atomic movie of photosynthesis in the world. Photosynthesis is one of the most important processes for life and without it you would not be able to have the vital oxygen you need to breathe and survive. It is thought that photosynthesis came about in the early days of Earth when a single-celled organism developed a mutation.
The Smart Dress That Is Bringing Sexual Harassment Into The Limelight
Share to facebook Share to twitter Share to linkedin Following the #MeToo movement, numerous companies have been addressing sexual harassment in either similar campaigns or in advertisements. To bring these issues up and out in the open, Swiss beverage company Schweppes and Brazilian advertisement agency, Ogilvy, decided to work together on the ‘Dress for Respect’. This is a smart dress that was designed to sense and track moments of where and when the wearer was touched .
Little Sophia: A New Robot Citizen Has Entered Our World
Share to facebook Share to twitter Share to linkedin Recently, I came across a video featuring Jimmy Fallon interacting with the world’s first robot citizen, Sophia, and a new edition to the robot world, her little sister, Little Sophia. If you have not come across Sophia and Hanson Robotics then check out Zara‘s article to find out more. In short, Sophia is a human-like robot created by Hanson Robotics, an artificial intelligence company located in Hong Kong.
Zapping Tumours In Less Than A Second
Share to facebook Share to twitter Share to linkedin Researchers at Stanford University and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have secured funding for two projects that will help make cancer radiation therapies faster and less destructive to healthy tissue. The most amazing bit about this work is that the scientists aim to reduce cancer radiation therapy sessions from minutes down to under a second .
5 Facts You Need To Know About NASA's InSight Mission
It is all over the news. NASA’s InSight Mission Lander has landed on Martian land and is already sending data back to Earth. An incredible achievement. This is the eighth time in human history that humans have landed robots on Mars. You can read more about the Mission in Jesse’s article but for now I’d like to give you five facts about the InSight Mission in an easy to digest manner.
Wildfires Lead To Redder Sunsets And Cooler Temperatures In California
Share to facebook Share to twitter Share to linkedin I am currently doing laser physics research at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory which is a laboratory owned by Stanford University. As I walk around Stanford, I have noticed a considerable drop in temperature. As I look up at the smoke-filled sky, all I can think of is how bad smoke is for light trying to travel in a straight line.
Space Winds In A Laboratory On Earth
Share to facebook Share to twitter Share to linkedin Our Sun is constantly bombarding us with charged particles. These charged particles form the stellar wind and are ejected from stars across our cosmos. But, luckily for us, the Earth has some defence mechanisms to protect us from these energetic particles. Our home planet has its own magnetic field. Its shape is similar to that of a bar magnet but much larger.
CERN Technology Used To Create First Ever 3D Color X-Ray
Home > CERN Technology Used To Create First Ever 3D Color X-Ray
LHC at CERN Accelerates 'Atoms' For The First Time
Home > LHC at CERN Accelerates 'Atoms' For The First Time
A Place On Earth Hotter Than The Centre Of The Sun
Scientists have recreated the conditions within stars and planets on Earth. They reached a whopping 36 million degrees which is 10 million degrees hotter than the centre of the Sun. Creating these conditions could help us understand more about the conditions found in astrophysical objects but also have applications in fusion energy and medicine. The experiments were carried out at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California.
Last Race For Protons At The LHC Until 2021
CERN is the home to the largest science experiment in the world. At CERN, protons are accelerated to incredibly high speeds, close to the speed of light. The proton beams are bashed into each other to make more exotic particles. You can think of CERN as a particle factory. CERN actually stands for the French phrase ‘Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire’ which means European Council for Nuclear Research in English.
A Next-Generation Particle Accelerator
You are probably familiar with CERN, and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the largest science experiment in the world. A huge particle accelerator where protons are smashed into each other to produce other exotic particles in order to learn more about our cosmos. Now imagine, something smaller and just as powerful. That is the dream a laboratory in sunny California is trying to achieve.
Lasers Could Be Used To Store Data
A new way to store data could be on the horizon. A team of scientists are hoping to make new storage devices with lasers. The alpha state of the crystal is where the charge density waves are oriented in the same direction (left). The beta state is where some of the 'waves' are oriented in different directions. (DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aau5501)SLAC ARTICLE CONTINUES AFTER ADVERTISEMENT Data that makes up your pictures and music saved on your computer is saved in binary.
Moons orbiting moons are called moonmoons
A scandalous time in the world of astrophysics. There is a debate on what to call a moon orbiting a moon: a submoon or a moonmoon? I do not know about you, but I certainly prefer moonmoon. Does that mean, if there is a moon, orbiting a moon, orbiting another moon it is called a moonmoonmoon? In our Universe, it is common knowledge that moons orbit planets. Due to the gravitational pull of objects with mass, certain other objects call fall into stable orbits around them.
This Is How Synthetic Diamonds Grow
A scientific collaboration between Stanford University and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California has led to new experimental results that reveal how synthetic diamonds grow on the atomic scale for the first time. Naturally, diamonds are made deep underground in a place of extreme pressures and temperatures. Synthetically, however, diamonds are grown out of a process known as nucleation.
3 Of The Coolest Particle Accelerators On Earth
I’m currently working at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California on my master’s project which focuses on lasers. I’m surrounded by incredibly cool equipment and amazing science. Since, I’m working at the home of the largest linear accelerator in the world I wanted to write an article about the coolest particle accelerators on Earth right now. Possibly the most commonly known particle accelerator is the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva.
New Milestone For The World's Largest Digital Camera
The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) is the world’s largest digital camera. It is being assembled at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California. Recently, the LSST assembly project reached a milestone: the camera’s fully integrated cryostat was delivered. The LSST is made up of three mirrors where the primary mirror has a diameter of 8.4 meters. With this large mirror, the telescope can take an image of the entire Southern sky in just three days .
A Particle Accelerator Between Your Fingertips
Normally, when you think of particle accelerators you think of very large structures that are made of lots of shiny metal, wires hanging from the ceiling and are normally located in remote locations. But imagine an accelerator that you could hold in your hand, or even just in-between your fingertips. This is exactly what scientists that work at Stanford University are trying to do. If you’re not familiar with particle accelerators, then it’s basically a machine that accelerates particles.
CERN Technology Used To Create First Ever 3D Color X-Ray
Normally, when you think of an x-ray image, you probably think of a black and white image of bones. But now imagine a world where x-ray images have all the colors of the rainbow. Don’t know about you, but that’s right up my street. A company based in New Zealand has scanned the human body with a color medical scanner, for the first time. The scanner utilized the Medipix3 technology which was developed at CERN by father and son scientists, Professors Phil and Anthony Butler.
LHC at CERN Accelerates 'Atoms' For The First Time
For the very first time, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN has injected and accelerated lead ‘atoms’. This was part of the Gamma Factory idea under the CERN’s Physics Beyond Colliders project. With this new advancement, scientists could be able to make 'exotic' particles like dark matter or a muon (heavy electron) beam with the Large Hadron Collider. The Gamma Factory idea involves aiming to accelerate high-energy beams of partially stripped ions.
Artificial Intelligence And Prosthetics Join Forces To Create New Generation Bionic Hand
A team of scientists from Imperial College London and the University of Göttingen have teamed up to create a ‘next generation’ bionic hand. This bionic hand is special because it uses artificial intelligence to improve its functionality. The work carried out by the team and published in Science Robotics, shows that with the help of machine learning, fluid motion of prosthetics can be achieved.
Future Robot 'Muscles' Could Be Powered By Gallium 'Hearts'
New research that will be published in Physical Review Letters could be used to power the muscles of robots in the future. For the first time, scientists have shown that liquid metal can be made to pulse using electric currents in a controlled way. A team of scientists led by Xiaolin Wang at the University of Wollongong in Australia have demonstrated that they can make droplets of gallium beat like miniature hearts.
New Device Could Help Bring Back Lost Brain Function
Scientists at Stanford University and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California are developing a device that could help bring back lost brain function . The device combines electrical brain stimulation with electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings, which is where electrodes are attached to the scalp and measure electrical activity.
One Of The World's Most Sensitive Dark Matter Experiment Is Being Constructed
A multi-institutional collaboration led by SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California, known as Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) SNOLAB, is leading the hunt for dark matter into new directions. On top of this, the experiment being constructed by the collaboration will be one of the world’s most sensitive dark matter experiments .
Atomic Movie Of Gold Could Help Us Achieve Fusion Faster
Scientists have created one hell of an atomic movie at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California. With this killer movie, scientists could help design materials for future fusion reactors. The movie they made was an atomic movie of gold that was heated with a laser. The coexistence of both solid and liquid laser-heated gold was shown for the first time in history.
What You Need To Know About NASA's James Webb Space Telescope
NASA announced that the next launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was to be in May 2020. However, due to budget overruns and various delays over the last 20 years the launch date has been postponed to a later date : March 2021.
New Facility Home To Nobel Prize Winning Technique Opens At Stanford
A new state-of-the-art facility for cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) has unveiled at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California. Cryo-EM is a technique that has provided scientists with outstanding images of the inner workings of cells and has been an invaluable tool for the advancement of biology and the other sciences.
Uber Self-Driving Car Crash: What Really Happened
Back in March, an Uber self-driving car killed 49-year-old Elain Herzberg in Tempe, Arizona, after failing to do an emergency stop. After a US federal investigation, it is thought that the car did not stop because the system put in place to carry out emergency stops in dangerous situations was disabled . So, how do self-driving cars actually work? Most self-driving cars have a GPS unit, a range of sensors such as radar, video and laser rangefinders as well as a navigation system.
Water Molecules Are Actually Dancing
An investigation, recently published in Nature, and carried out by scientists at Stockholm University has shown that liquid water is much more complex than meets the eye. With the use of the x-ray laser at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California the team of scientists have probed the finer movements of liquid water on incredibly short timescales.
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