Applied Physics

Using LEDs as Light Sensors

In my previous article DC Versus AC I discussed how a diode can be used as a rectifier to convert alternating current (AC) into direct current (DC) because the diode allows current to flow in one direction, but not the other. The diode is the simplest semi ...

Blog Post - Steve Schuler - Feb 27 2014 - 11:41am

Not Charge Or Spin: Shaken Will Mean Less Data Loss In Future Computers

By now, almost everyone understands computers and that current technologies for writing, storing, and reading information are either charge-based or spin-based. Spin-based devices operate on the principle that in materials like iron, electron spins genera ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 4 2014 - 3:12pm

Spectroscopy Science: Did You Really Buy A Priceless Work Of Art?

Collectors,museums and art dealers face a lot of problems determining origin, authenticity and discovery of forgery of artwork. Experts are easily fooled- but science, not so much. They get help through the application of modern, non-destructive, "hi ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 8 2014 - 12:30pm

Oh, What A Tangled Web The NSA Weaves

There’s a popular YouTube video featuring mathematician Edward Frenkel where he describes how the NSA hacked our emails. It is a backdoor into the National Institute of Standards and Technology public key encryption standards. I’ll borrow an analogy for a ...

Article - Steve Schuler - Mar 8 2014 - 6:39am

Living Materials- Bacteria That Conduct Electricity And Emit Light

Our bones are a matrix of minerals and other substances, including living cells, though most people don't think of them that way and assume bones are 'natural' —  but nature can be coaxed to do all kinds of things. MIT engineers have coaxed ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 25 2014 - 4:11pm

Keeping Quantum Secrets In An NSA World

Revelations of the extent of American government surveillance into the private lives of both the American public and foreign leaders worldwide has shone a spotlight on the lack of security in digital communications. Even today's encrypted data is vul ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 26 2014 - 4:00pm

Silicon Is So 20th Century: Let's Compute With Slime

Silicon has been very good to us. It has given us Angry Birds and virtual protests we can participate in from the comfort of our home, but it may be time to enter the Age of the Biological Computer. Writing in the journal Materials Today,researchers revea ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 30 2014 - 10:00am

CockroachBot Tries To Run When You Switch On Light

In honor of the upcoming National Robotics Week (April 5-13, 2014), I’ve created “CockroachBot” based on my Snap Circuits programmable robot I designed for last year’s robotics week. CockroachBot will try to run away when it detects a particular level of l ...

Article - Steve Schuler - Mar 27 2014 - 1:43pm

Snap Circuits Science: Infrared Detector

Occasionally I’ll come across a web page that shows you how to make an infrared (IR) filter for your iPhone (in my case the iPod Touch) out of an old floppy disk. I had an old floppy disk so I decided to see if it would actually work. The process is actual ...

Article - Steve Schuler - Apr 3 2014 - 8:12pm

Quantum Cryptography for Cell Phones

In a previous article I demonstrated an unbreakable code for secure communication through the United States Postal Service using One Time Pads created with Scrabble tiles (or Boggle cubes). It seems some clever folks at the University of Bristol have devel ...

Blog Post - Steve Schuler - Apr 3 2014 - 1:02pm