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New metalens powerful enough to capture the Moon

New metalens powerful enough to capture the Moon

March 09, 2023

Plus: Rare surgery: Unborn twin removed from brain of one-year-old in China.

Mar 09, 2023

We know pancake day is over, but…

A research team has developed the first ultrathin, pancake-sized metalens telescope capable of imaging distant objects, including the Moon.

The lens is made up of tiny, antenna-like surface patterns that focus light on magnifying far-away objects. Unlike traditional curved glass lenses, the new lens is completely flat.

Though more research is required, the new findings could be the first step toward completely flat mass-produced camera lenses.

But before you take a look at that, take a good look at this video. It shows the Ohio class submarines, a symbol of U.S. nuclear supremacy.

Good morning. I’m Alice, an Editor at IE.

This is The Blueprint. Let’s dive in.

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VIDEO OF THE DAY

The Ohio class submarines: A symbol of US nuclear supremacy.

Let’s take a deep-dive…

MUST READ

New pancake-sized flat metalens is powerful enough to image the Moon.

A research team led by Penn State University scientists has developed the first ultrathin, compact metalens telescope capable of imaging distant objects, including the moon.

The pancake-like lens is made up of tiny, antenna-like surface patterns that focus light on magnifying far-away objects. Unlike traditional curved glass lenses, the new lens is completely flat.

The curvature of camera lenses means that imaging systems must be adapted to that curvature. Smartphones, for example, require a relatively large protrusion for their cameras.

Though more research is required, the new findings, published in Nano Letters, could be the first step toward completely flat mass-produced camera lenses.

Scientists had developed metalenses before, though none as large as this new version, which was built using a novel technique. The new model is eight centimeters in diameter, or about four inches wide, meaning it is large enough for a telescope.

→ Metalenses are typically made using electron beam lithography, where a focused beam of electrons is scanned onto a piece of glass to create antenna-like patterns. However, the scanning process is time-consuming and has low throughput, limiting the resulting lens's size.

CULTURE

Rare surgery: Unborn twin removed from brain of one-year-old in China.

A new study has documented an extraordinary case of an "intraventricular fetus-in-fetu," wherein an unborn fetus was removed from the head of its living twin.

Doctors from Fudan University, Shanghai, had noticed several indicative problems in the one-year-old girl, such as an enlarged head and problems with her motor skills. IFLScience reported that CT scans of the girl's head revealed that her brain was compressed. Additionally, a build-up of fluid caused by a significant growth was found within the ventricles.

SCIENCE

Years of radiation exposure made dogs of Chernobyl 'genetically distinct.’

It’s been 37 years since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, but there still exists dangerous levels of radiation in the abandoned city of Pripyat in Northern Ukraine.

While most of the humans were relocated and rehabilitated, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and its surrounding areas remain home to generations of dogs.

In a new study, a team of researchers from the U.S., Poland, and Ukraine has conducted a rare genetic analysis of the canines living in and around radioactive environments.

HEALTH

Google marks major milestone towards its 1,000-language AI model.

Search giant Google has completed the 'critical first step' toward building its artificial intelligence (AI) model that will support the world's one thousand most-spoken languages. The company has now released details about its Universal Speech Model (USM).

Google's announcement is part of the build-up to its annual I/O event, where it plans to unveil a slew of products powered by AI. Scheduled for May this year, the event could see Google show off more than 20 products featuring AI capabilities, a much-needed boost as the company seems to be losing ground to Microsoft's aggressive pitch for OpenAI's GPT-powered products.