Tag: LASER

Share Rather than cause more damage, scientists say lasers could improve the healing process of scars. According to Scientific American, researchers at the Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital Wellman Center for Photomedicine used a green laser and a pink dye to reconnect nerves, blood vessels, tendons and incisions in the cornea. The study's goal was to find ...

Last May, scientists completed the construction of the National Ignition Facility, a massive undertaking that includes the largest laser in the world. Even though the last year harbored significant doubts about the future of the project, researchers remain optimistic that they'll eventually use it to successfully solve the energy crisis. CNN recently enjoyed a tour of the laser facility at ...

Blasting away with a laser doesn't seem, at first glance, to be the most logical way to restore an ancient, artistic masterpiece. However, beams have long been a weapon of choice among those who polish old stone and metal artifacts -- far longer, in fact, than they've been used to remove arguably less gorgeous things like tattoos. Now, a group of physicists in Italy have reportedly figured out a ...

It's no secret that malaria is a huge problem in developing nations. Bill Gates has even brought the problem to the attention of the American public. But here's the question: how do we battle this deadly disease? According to Intellectual Ventures Lab, lasers could be the key to saving thousands of lives. Think of this system as a bug zapper on steroids. Now, this idea isn't a new ...

For most of us, getting "twisted" isn't all that complicated. But for a group of scientists, who play with beams of light and not bottles of Henny, an otherwise simple, two-step process can get very complex, indeed. As LiveScience reports, physicists at the University of Bristol in England have found a way to turn beams of light into pretzel-shaped knots, an achievement that's apparently ...

Designer Moritz Waldemeyer loves lights. Having worked with the likes of Hussein Chalayan and Ron Arad (on products like Arad's famous Lolita chandelier), and having designed LED suits for U2 and OK Go, Waldemeyer is something of the go-to guy when you want digital haute design. He was recently challenged by Wallpaper, one of our favorite design-porn mags, to design a product based on the ...

Searching for the perfect present for that home design nut on your Christmas list? Well, avoid the jammed aisles of Ikea, and check out this collapsible lamp shade from ultra-hip design studio Dror, which designed a line of home accessories for Target. According to Fast Company, this latticework cube was cut with lasers and uses the same design concept as those Hoberman spheres we used to play ...

Let's face it. Fruit's gotten kinda boring. Unless they're wearing pajamas or belting out Motown classics, most household fruits lack character. A new labeling system, though, might finally give fruit that bad-boy, tattoo-parlor image it's been lacking for so long. Instead of bearing the same dull sticker labels, fruit may soon appear on supermarket aisles with laser brands directly etched ...

There's technology in place to detect counterfeit money, but what about counterfeit breakfast cereal? It might sound like a dumb question, but it's one that Kellogg's is taking very seriously. According to the Daily Mail, the cereal maker used a laser to burn its cursive logo on a limited batch of Corn Flakes that will soon hit store shelves. If this test run is successful, Kellogg's plans to ...

Andrea Barisani and Daniele Bianco, two researchers from network security company Inverse Path, will soon be demonstrating how to power lines and off-the-shelf lasers to capture a user's keystrokes at the Black Hat 2009 security conference in Las Vegas. Both methods are similar in that each uses different fluctuations to determine what keys are being pressed: The first uses voltage differences ...

If you have an abundance of flashlights and a dearth of futuristic armaments in your house, then you'll want to take a look at what the weaponry wizards over at TechEBlog.com and Kipkay.com have for you. Without revealing whether the blueprints came from 'The A-Team' or 'MacGyver,' the video on Kipkay.com provides step-by-step instructions for converting a "regular mini-mag flashlight into a ...

Watch out, Alderaan; the world's largest laser is finally complete. Created to blast tiny hydrogen atoms into a self-sustaining fusion reaction, the giant laser system -- located in Livermore, California -- is known as the National Ignition Facility (NIF). According to the Daily Mail, the system is comprised of 192 laser beams and is 60 times more powerful than the next most powerful laser. It'll ...

What did your mom tell you about pointing lasers in other people's eyes? Apparently, U.S. troops in Iraq have recently suffered a rash of laser "friendly fire" incidents; since November, one unit has experienced 12 such incidents, resulting in the injuries of 14 soldiers. Of the 14, one soldier was permanently blinded in one eye and three more were forced to undergo medical evacuation, according ...

Next time Dr. Evil asks his cohorts for a "frickin' laser," they just might be able to give him one; Northrop Grumman, a military manufacturer and defense systems developer, has successfully tested a 100-kilowatt (kW), electric laser for the first time. This weapon is far different from the mosquito-killing laser we talked about last week. The development of this laser is significant because ...

Seriously, is there anything a laser can't do? A team of mad scientists in Washington have concocted a system that could essentially eliminate malaria-carrying mosquitoes with lasers, and the whole thing can be built from parts sourced on eBay. The so-called mosquito laser is credited to an idea from Lowell Wood, an astrophysicist who worked with Edward Teller, the "architect of the original plan ...