Trillion-frame-per-second video
MIT researchers have created a new imaging system that can acquire visual data at a rate of one trillion exposures per second. That’s fast enough to produce a slow-motion video of a burst of light traveling the length of a one-liter bottle, bouncing off the cap and reflecting back to the bottle’s bottom.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-12-trillion-frame-per-second-video.html
NASA Planning for Possible Landings on Europa
Two landers are being proposed which would launch in 2020 and land about six years later. As stated by Kevin Hand of JPL, ”Europa, I think, is the premier place to go for extant life. Europa really does give us this opportunity to look for living life in the ocean that is there today, and has been there for much of the history of the solar system.”
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-12-nasa-europa.html
NASA Mars-Bound Rover Begins Research in Space
NASA’s car-sized Curiosity rover has begun monitoring space radiation during its 8-month trip from Earth to Mars. The research will aid in planning for future human missions to the Red Planet. The rover carries an instrument called the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) that monitors high-energy atomic and subatomic particles from the sun, distant supernovas and other sources. “RAD is serving as a proxy for an astronaut inside a spacecraft on the way to Mars,” said Don Hassler, RAD’s principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo. “The instrument is deep inside the spacecraft, the way an astronaut would be. Understanding the effects of the spacecraft on the radiation field will be valuable in designing craft for astronauts to travel to Mars.”
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/msl20111213.html
Money
A chart of almost all of it, where it is, and what it can do.
http://xkcd.com/980/huge/#x=-11068&y=-7318&z=5
Japan PM declares ‘cold shutdown’ at Fukushima
Engineers have brought the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant to a “cold shutdown condition”, nine months after the earthquake and tsunami, Japan has confirmed.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16212057
Internet Explorer: Microsoft plans ‘silent’ updates
From January, Internet Explorer (IE) users will be automatically updated to the latest version of the browser. Microsoft said it was starting the project to update millions of machines to improve security online. Future updates to the browser would be applied without a user’s knowledge to help beat scammers catching people out with fake updates. Those who did not want their browser updated could opt out or uninstall the software, said Microsoft.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16214912
Intel, Micron introduce world’s first 128Gb NAND device and mass production of 64Gb 20nm NAND
World’s Highest-Capacity NAND flash memory die — New 20nm NAND from Intel and Micron provides unprecedented storage density. The industry’s first monolithic 128 gigabit (Gb) part can store 1 terabit of data in a single fingertip-size package with just eight die—a new storage benchmark that meets the ongoing demand for slim, sleek products.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-12-intel-micron-world-128gb-nand.html
