Applied Physics

Independent spent fuel storage installations

An independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) is a place to safely store spent nuclear fuel while it is waiting for a geological repository to permanently dispose of the material.   The amount of nuclear fuel required to supply a typical American ...

Blog Post - Robert Hayes - Sep 1 2015 - 8:27pm

Lego Optics Lab: Cell Phone/iPod Mount

I’ll demonstrate how I built my mobile phone/iPod mount out of Lego for my Lego optics lab polariscope project. Parts needed: Mobile phone mount (from my DIY Super Selfie Stick project) 2 Lego plates 1 X 8 4 Lego beams 1 X 2 4 Lego Beams 1 X 8 Here’s how ...

Blog Post - Steve Schuler - Sep 3 2015 - 8:40am

Origin Of The Spin Seebeck Effect Discovered?

The recovery of waste heat in all kinds of processes will lead to making established processes more energy-efficient and more environmentally friendly. The Spin Seebeck effect (SSE) is a rudimentarily understood effect which allows for the conversion of a ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 8 2015 - 7:00am

Lego Optics Lab: Laser Interferometer

Last week the European Space Agency announced the launch of its Lisa Pathfinder mission later this year to test if laser interferometry can be used in space to detect gravitational waves. It's fairly easy to build a laser interferometer so I decided t ...

Article - Steve Schuler - Sep 10 2015 - 3:38pm

Flowing Electrons Help Ocean Microbes Gulp Methane

Good communication is crucial to any relationship, especially when partners are separated by distance. This also holds true for microbes in the deep sea that need to work together to consume large amounts of methane released from vents on the ocean floor. ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 28 2015 - 7:32am

The Fukushima Disaster Was Preventable

The worst nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl meltdown never should have happened, according to a new study. In Philosophical Transactions A of the Royal Society, researchers Costas Synolakis of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and Utku Kâno� ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 28 2015 - 10:00am

Birdsnap Revisited: Goose and Gull

In my previous article about Birdsnap, the app was unable to identify my hawk because I did not get a full profile of the bird. Now that it's autumn and Canada geese have begun migrating, I’ve had some opportunities to photograph birds and get close ...

Blog Post - Steve Schuler - Sep 25 2015 - 10:34am

Celebrate Science Indiana

If you live in Indiana, or at least near Indianapolis, you should go to the Celebrate Science Indiana science festival in the Blue Ribbon Pavilion at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Saturday 3 October 2015 from 9:30am-5:30pm—it’s free. ...

Article - Steve Schuler - Oct 1 2015 - 7:00am

Artificial 'Skin' Provides Prosthetics With Sensation

Using flexible organic circuits and specialized pressure sensors, researchers have created an artificial "skin" that can sense the force of static objects. Furthermore, they were able to transfer these sensory signals to the brain cells of mice ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 26 2015 - 7:17am

Sing To Your Data And It Will Move Faster

Nothing is more frustrating that watching that hourglass in the center of your screen while you wait for your computer to load a program or access the data you need.   Well, maybe status bars are worse. Those used to be a culture war in the political scie ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 5 2015 - 4:19pm