Arctic sea ice volume has declined by 36 per cent in the autumn and 9 per cent in the winter between 2003 and 2012, a UK-led team of scientists has discovered.
Researchers from the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling at UCL used new data from the European Space Agency’s CryoSat-2 satellite spanning 2010 to 2012, and data from NASA’s ICESat satellite from 2003 to 2008 to estimate the volume of sea ice in the Arctic. (more…)
Studies by Berkeley Lab scientists of electron beam quality in laser plasma accelerators include novel tests for slice-energy spread
Part Two: Slicing through the electron beam
Wim Leemans of Berkeley Lab’s Accelerator and Fusion Research Division heads LOASIS, the Laser and Optical Accelerator Systems Integrated Studies, an oasis indeed for students pursuing graduate studies in laser plasma acceleration (LPA). Among the most promising applications of future table-top accelerators are new kinds of light sources, in which their electron beams power free electron lasers.
“If our LPA electron bunches had good enough quality for free electron lasers – and were really only femtoseconds long – we should see a particular kind of radiation called coherent optical transition radiation, or COTR,” Leemans says. “So I assigned my doctoral student Chen Lin, a graduate of Peking University and now a postdoc there, to find it.” (more…)
Game’s creator brings his vision to life with Internet Explorer’s immersive multitouch capabilities.
REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 9, 2012 — After a busy summer with The Find, Pulse and Atari, Internet Explorer 10 today brings another well-known gaming experience to the Web in HTML5. The experience immerses users into a game rich with artistry and music, all while main character Petit – the one-eyed creature – seeks to save his love, The Rose. This world is “Contre Jour,” which is now available to play online as an interactive multitouch experience on the Web with Internet Explorer 10.
“Contre Jour” is not your typical game. Designed by Ukrainian developer Maksym (Max) Hryniv, the game draws many of its visual features, such as the use of black-and-white environment, from modern film noir titles such as “Sin City.” This design aesthetic is at the heart of the game. When making the decision to bring it to the Web, Hryniv was concerned whether it would really be possible. Assuming he could even build it, would any browser be capable of supporting the rich design, visual features and gameplay that requires multiple simultaneous touch gestures (i.e., multitouch)? After seeing Internet Explorer 10, the browser for Windows 8 that is leading the industry in its multitouch capabilities, he was willing to give it a try. (more…)
*Berkeley Lab scientists push chemistry to the edge, testing plans for a new generation of light sources*
For Ali Belkacem of Berkeley Lab’s Chemical Sciences Division, “What is chemistry?” is not a rhetorical question.
“Chemistry is inherently dynamical,” he answers. “That means, to make inroads in understanding – and ultimately control – we have to understand how atoms combine to form molecules; how electrons and nuclei couple; how molecules interact, react, and transform; how electrical charges flow; and how different forms of energy move within a molecule or across molecular boundaries.” The list ends with a final and most important question: “How do all these things behave in a correlated way, ‘dynamically’ in time and space, both at the electron and atomic levels?” (more…)
