• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Photonic Beetle

Photonic Beetle

June 24, 2008
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/080624_sciup_phot.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

BOB HIRSHON (host):
An insect that could improve computers. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

If computer chips ran on light instead of electricity, they would run much faster. But first, you would need a three-dimensional crystal that can manipulate light in useful ways. Now, scientists at the University of Utah have found a model: the scales of a green Brazilian beetle. Physical chemist Michael Bartl says the beetle caught their attention because its scales reflect green light from every angle.

MICHAEL BARTL (University of Utah):
And the other reason was that when we did the first optical measurements, we discovered a really broad reflection band, also something that you would not expect for simple structures.

HIRSHON:
These clues pointed to a highly organized underlying structure, which Bartl says can guide engineers making artificial computing crystals. Remarkably, the research started as a high school science project by student Lauren Richey, who co-authored the paper. I’m Bob Hirshon for AAAS, the Science Society.

Category: Daily ShowTag: Animal Behavior, Biology, Engineering & Technology, Materials Science, Physics, Wildlife
Previous Post:Frog Legs
Next Post:Bacterial Computing

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Mayan Honeybee hives
House sparrow wearing top hat rides aboard a red fireworks rocket

Copyright © 2023 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos