Parabolic mirrors concentrate sunlight to power lasers

Legend tells of Greek engineer and inventor Archimedes using parabolic mirrors to create "heat rays" to burn the ships attacking Syracuse. Though the underpinnings of that claim are speculative at best, a modern-day team ...

Symmetry breaking during flapping generates lift

(Phys.org)—A small, translucent sea slug called Clione antarctica swims through the cold waters near the polar regions by flapping its wings. At the same time, tiny cilia that circle the sea slug's body in three bands may ...

Snapshots differentiate molecules from their mirror image

(Phys.org) —Small difference, large effect: Most biological molecules occur in two variants, an original and its mirror image. As a result, they are related to one another like the left hand to the right. For instance, ...

Aztec origin of Elizabethan spirit mirror confirmed

New research has confirmed that an obsidian mirror used by John Dee, confidante to Queen Elizabeth I, to contact otherworldly spirits in his occult practices has Aztec origins.

Diamond mirrors for high-powered lasers

Just about every car, train and plane that's been built since 1970 has been manufactured using high-power lasers that shoot a continuous beam of light. These lasers are strong enough to cut steel, precise enough to perform ...

Roosters may have passed the self-recognition test

A team of neuroscientists and psychologists from the Institute of Agricultural Engineering at the University of Bonn, and the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Bochum, both in Germany, has found possible ...

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