Standout science and technology in 2015

The blistering advance of technology we are experiencing in the 21st century is nothing short of mind-boggling, and the rate of change being exponential, 2015 was by definition the busiest year yet. So before the Gregorian calendar keels over into 2016, let's take a wander through some of the year's most significant, salutary and attention-grabbing examples of scientific achievement, technological innovation and human endeavor.

From the lab

It's been over a century since Einstein postulated the wave/particle duality of light, but it wasn't until earlier this year that was directly observed by EPFL researchers, who captured the phenomena by using a sophisticated electron imaging technique.

Across the Atlantic geochemists discovered that life on Earth started hundreds of millions of years earlier than previously thought, engineers figured out how to make 3D objects from the much-vaunted wonder material graphene, and physicists set a new distance record for quantum teleportation of information over optical fibers.

Audi created a stir with the creations of synthetic diesel from just water and carbon dioxide, as did UAB researchers when they created the first experimental wormhole that links two regions of space magnetically. But perhaps the oddest thing to emerge from the lab in 2015 was an unboiled egg, which may or may not go well with a newly discovered strain of seaweed that tastes like bacon.

Getting quite brainy

While the ability to fully map the human brain may be some way off, if it's even possible at all, our ability to both understand and imitate its complexities took some serious strides forward in 2015. Examples include the development of a brain imaging tool that can see all of the brain's cellular objects and many of their sub-cellular components, a lab grown "brain organoid" equivalent in size and structure to that of a five-week old fetus, intelligence boosting gene therapy (for mice only at this stage), successfully using brainwaves to help a paralyzed man walk again and an array of new approaches to combating cognitive disorders like Alzheimer's disease.

Fifty years after Moore's Law was conceived, there were many advances that could ensure computing power continues to accelerate exponentially, including the use of memresistors to create advanced computers that function like the human brain. News of the first biologically-powered computer chip emerged just this month and the long-sought goal of practical quantum computing also crept closer on several fronts, with breakthroughs such as photonic processors, quantum hard drives and silicon-based quantum logic gates.

Celebrating space

2015 saw a string of stunning achievements in space exploration, but it is most likely to be remembered as the year we got to Pluto – at least, the New Horizons probe did, sending back beautiful, invaluable images and data from the dwarf planet and its moons some 3 billion miles away.

Some significant space anniversaries also passed in 2015, namely 25-years since the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope and half a century since the first space walk.

But the biggest thing in space this year was the biggest thing in space – a newly-discovered ring of nine galaxies 7 billion light years away and 5 billion light years wide that covers a third of our sky.

In skies closer to home, the age of commercial space flight rolled on with SpaceX providing the clear highlight by successfully nailing the first landing of an orbital space booster rocket earlier this month.

Read more in our full 2015 space round-up.

Printing the future

While 3D printing had already moved well beyond plastic trinkets, 2015 saw it begin to show its true potential as an industrial process. Perhaps more accurately described as "additive manufacturing" in this context, we saw this process used to create the first 3D-printed jet engine, the first FAA approved jet engine part, and a jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicle that can reach speeds of up to 150 mph (240 km/h). Add in a variety of body parts, including replacement titanium sternum and rib cage, teeth, hair, houses, bricks and cars, and you begin to get the picture of just how far-reaching this technology is set to become.

Our pick for the most thought-provoking object to emerge from a 3D printer this year is Mushtari – a 3D-printed photosynthetic wearable embedded with living bacteria designed to produce sugars or bio-fuel when exposed to light. Conceived as a kind of living spacesuit, this wearable microbiome would act like an organ system to ingest biomass, absorb nutrients, and then eject waste products when exploring other worlds.

Robots evolve

Perhaps the most unnerving news from the world of robotics this year came from the University of Cambridge, where researchers created a mother robot that can not only build its own children, but mimic the process of natural selection to improve their capabilities with each generation.

Despite this slightly depressing news, watching the world's most advanced robots struggle to open doors at the DARPA robotics challenge finals does suggest we have a little way to go before robot armageddon strikes – though we shouldn't dismiss that scenario, as we were reminded in July when over 1,000 robotics and artificial intelligence researchers urged the UN to ban on the development of weaponized AI. We also saw the beginnings of another, somewhat surprising element of AI begin to take shape – the creative potential of robots as painters, musicians, architects and storytellers.

High energy

This year saw renewable energy overtake coal in the UK's energy mix, Portland install water pipes in that generate their own electricity, the Wendelstein 7-x experimental fusion reactor fire up and solar energy – particularly cheap Perovskite cells – continue to advance, but innovations in the energy storage arena also grabbed our attention at Gizmag. Tesla unveiled its home battery storage system, Daimler and Nissan gave used EV batteries a second lease of life and solar energy and a number of promising new battery technologies made headlines, including lithium-air batteries, flow batteries and energy dense hybrid supercapacitors.

Recorded history

Finally, let's see out the year with a quick look at some of the record-breaking feats that 2015 delivered. The world's thinnest light-bulb was created using (surprise, surprise) graphene, the largest astronomical image of all time – at 46-billion pixels – was complied, a robot walked 83 miles in 54 hours, a maglev train hit 375 mph (603 km/h), Stuttgart University students took an EV from 0-62 mph (100 km/h) in a blistering 1.779 seconds, and a Canadian cyclist clocked 85.71 mph (137.9 km/h) to set a new world record for human-powered speed.

Of course, we've only just scratched the surface when it comes to significant moments in science and technology, let alone the biggest news of the year across the many fields that Gizmag covers, so for a closer look at more of the best 2015 had to offer, follow the links below.

Before you go ... we'd like to wish all our readers a happy new year! We very much appreciate the support and feedback you've given us in 2015. Have a safe and innovative 2016!

[Read more]

Basic Concepts of Vectors (FSC part 1)

Basic Concepts of Vectors:
1. Vectors:
    As we study that some physical quantities which have requires both magnitude and and Direction for their complete description, like as velocity, acceleration and force. They are vectors. usually in writing use bold text for describe the vectors, Let point A, B and C is Vectors we write A, B and C.
    A vectors is represented graphically by by a directed line segments with an arrow head.


2. Rectangular Coordinate System:
    Two reference lines drawn at night angles to each other. Coordinate axes and their point of intersection is known as origin. This system of coordinate axes is called Cartesian of rectangular coordinate system.

3. Addition of Vectors:
    Given two vectors A and B, their sums obtained by drawing their representative lines in such a way that tail of vector B coincides with the head of B. The vector sum is also called resultant and is indicate by R. Thus R = A + B. Similarly the sum
A + B is illustrated by back lines. Therefore, we can say that
    A + B = B + A

4. Resultant Vectors:
    The resultant of a number of vectors of the same kind-force vectors for example, is that signal vector which would have the same effect as all the original vectors taken together.

5. Vector Subtraction:
    The subtraction of a vector is equivalent to the addition of the same vector with its direction reserved. Thus, two subtract vector B from vector A, reverse the direction of B and A it to A.

    A - B = A + (-B)

6. Unit Vector:
    The product of a vector in a given direction is vector with magnitude on in that direction. It is used to represents the direction of a vector.
    A unit in the direction of A is written as A^ , which we read as ' A hat' , thus
        A = A A^ ( A hat)

7. Null Vector:
    Null vector is a vector of zero magnitude and any direction. For example, the sum of a vector and its negative vector is a null vector.

8. Equal Vector:
    Vector A and B are called equal vector if the both vector have same direction and magnitude. This mean that parallel vectors of the same magnitude are equal to each other.

9. Rectangular components of a vector:
    A components of a vector is its effective value in a given direction. It considered as the resultant of the vector components along the specific directions.
    Let there be a vector A represented by OP making angel with the x-axis. The projection OM of vector OP on x-axis and projection ON of vector OP on y-axis. OM being along x-direction is represented by Ax i^d ON = MP along y-direction is represented by Ay ^. By the rule of head to tail.
    A = Ax ^ + Ay j^
triangle MOP, the magnitude of  Ax i^ or x-components A is,
    Ax = A sin (theta)
    Ay = A cos (theta)

9. Position Vector:
    The position vector r is a vector that describes the location of a point with respect to origin, it is represented by r^.
Hence,
    r = a i^ + b j^

[Read more]

Vector Addition By Rectangular Components ( FSC part 1)

Vector Addition By Rectangular Components:
let A and B be two vectors which are representative by two directed lines ON and OM respectively. The Vectors B is added to A by the head to tail rule of vector additions.
So, the resultant vectors R = A + B is given, in direction and magnitude, by the vector OP.
    In the below fig Ax, Bx, and Rx are the components of the vectors of A, B and R and their magnitude are given by the line OQ, MS, And OR respectively But,
       
        OR = OQ + QR
    or    OR = OQ + MS
or        Rx = Ax + Bx

Similarly the sum of the magnitude  y-components of two vectors of the resultant that is

    Ry = Ay + By
since Rx and Ry are rectangular components of the resultant vector R, hence

    R = Rx i^ + Ry j^
    R = (Ax + Bx) i^ + (Ay + By ) j^
The magnitude of the resultant vector A is given in below fig.

    and the direction of the resultant vector is determined that show in below fig.

The vectors addition by rectangular components consists of the following steps.

(i). find y-components of all given vectors.

(ii). Find x- components Rx of the resultant vectors by adding the y-components of all the vectors.

( iii ). Find the magnitude of resultant vector R using below equation.

(iv). Find the direction of resultant vector R by using below equation.

In the Below Video lecture you can watch helpful contents.

[Read more]

System International (physics FSC PART 1)

System International:

in 1960, an international committee agree on a contain set of definitions and stranded to explain the physical quantities. A system that accepted and established by all committee members it called SYSTEM INTERNATIONAL.
This system set on three types of unit namely: basic units, supplementary units, derived units.

Base Units:
There are seven units for a various physical quantities, that are length, mass, time temperature, electronic current. luminous intensity and amount of substances (with specialty reference to particles numbers). It called base units.(Table of base units with their symbol are blew).

Supplementary Units:
In General Conference on Weight and Measurement has not yet grouped the certain units of SI under either base units and derived nits. These all SI units called supplementary nits.At that time when grouping of certain units, contain only two units of purely geometrical quantities, which are dived in plane angle and solid angle.


1. Radian:
         The radain is the plane angle between two radii (two segments that draw in circle) of a circle which inter-sectioned  circumference and arc, equal in length to radius. (as shown below)

2. steradian:
The steradin is angle of solid three-dimensional angle subtended the center point of sphere by its surface area equal to the square of radius of the sphere.

Derived Units:
SI units for measuring all other physical quantities are derived from base units and supplementary units. (in below table derived units )

scientific notaion:
Numbers are explained by stranded form called scientific notation, which use by the powers of ten. As internationally accepted practice is that threre should be only non-zero digits left of decimal. So, the number 144.6 should be written in scientific notaion as  1.446*10^2. There use some prefixes in scientific notation to format a stander measure.

[Read more]