Detecting Neutrinos, The Slippery Ghost Particles That Don’t Want To Interact

November 14, 2023 by 62 Comments

Neutrinos are some of the most elusive particles that are well-known to science. These tiny subatomic particles have no electric charge and an extremely small mass, making them incredibly difficult to detect. They are produced in abundance by the sun, as well as by nuclear reactions on Earth and in supernovae. Despite their elusive nature, scientists are keen to detect neutrinos as they can provide valuable information about the processes that produce them.

Neutrinos interact with matter so rarely that it takes a very special kind of detector to catch them in the act. These detectors come in a few different flavors, each employing its unique method to spot these elusive particles. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at how these detectors work and some of the most notable examples of neutrino detectors in the world today.

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Using Nuclear Decay As Random Number Generator Source For An MCU

November 13, 2023 by 1 Comment

Although there are many ways to get a random number generator (RNG) set up on a microcontroller, it’s hard to argue with the sheer randomness of the various kinds of radiation zipping all around us from nuclear decay events. For [gbonacini] the purchase of a Geiger counter first in 2022 was the reason to tinker with using these as the source for an RNG, which simply runs a counter until a Geiger counter event occurs that ‘selects’ a number and the counter is reset to zero.

With the next version of this system the hardware and layout has changed somewhat, using a commercial handheld Geiger counter (GMC-320+) and its audio output as a generic input for any MCU. The (pulsed) audio signal is amplified with an opamp (left unspecified) that connects to a GPIO pin of the MCU (RP2040-based Pico W). Here the same algorithm is used to create a continuous queue of randomly picked numbers, which can also be queried via the WiFi interface with a custom protocol, essentially making it a network-connected RNG that could be used by other network-connected appliances.

C++ source is provided for the Pico W example, but it should be easy enough to adapt to other platforms. The GMC-320+ is also among the more affordable Geiger counters out there, even if it’s somewhat bulky to pair with just a single MCU, making a more basic Geiger counter module better for a permanent installation. Either way you should get pretty good RNG this way without splurging on exotic hardware.

Thanks to [navigator] for the tip.

Radioactive Water Was Once A (Horrifying) Health Fad

November 10, 2023 by 25 Comments

Take a little time to watch the history of Radithor, a presentation by [Adam Blumenberg] into a quack medicine that was exactly what it said on the label: distilled water containing around 2 micrograms of radium in each bottle (yes, that’s a lot.) It’s fascinatingly well-researched, and goes into the technology and societal environment surrounding such a product, which helped play a starring role in the eventual Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938. You can watch the whole presentation in the video, embedded below the break. Continue reading “Radioactive Water Was Once A (Horrifying) Health Fad” →

Using Gravitational Lensing To Transmit Power And Detect Aliens

November 7, 2023 by 18 Comments

Most of us will have at some point have bought a long power cable to charge the bike on the deck, but [Slava G. Turyshev] has a slightly more ambitious idea. In this recent paper, he outlines how an advanced civilization could use a star or two to transmit power or send signals over an interstellar distance. And his idea is also simple enough that we could do it right now, with existing technology, or detect if someone else is doing it.

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Need A Low-Mass Antenna In Space? Just Blow It Up!

October 31, 2023 by 28 Comments

A parabolic antenna is a simple enough device, a curved reflector designed to focus all the radiation from the direction it’s pointed into a waveguide or antenna at its feedpoint. They’re easy enough to make for a radio amateur, but imagine making one for a spacecraft. It must fold into a minimal space and weigh almost nothing, both difficult to achieve. An engineering academic doing work for NASA, [Christopher Walker], has a new way to make the parabolic surface that solves the spacecraft designer’s problems at a stroke, it forms its parabolic reflector on the inside of an inflatable structure. In this way relatively huge reflectors can be built in space, with easy folding and very little weight. Continue reading “Need A Low-Mass Antenna In Space? Just Blow It Up!” →

A monitoring station as set up in the CEZ, featuring both the legacy (ARMS) and new wireless monitoring system.

How The 2022 CEZ Event Shows The Fragility Of Environmental Sensors In High-Risk Areas

October 10, 2023 by 3 Comments

In what reads somewhat like a convoluted detective story, the events unfolding at the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) in Ukraine during late February had the media channels lighting up with chatter about ‘elevated gamma radiation levels’, which showed up on the public CEZ radiation monitoring dashboard for a handful of gamma radiation sensors. This happened right before this reporting system went off-line, leaving outside observers guessing at what was going on. By the time occupying forces had been driven out of the CEZ, the gamma radiation levels were reported as being similar to before the invasion, yet the computer hardware which was part of the monitoring system had vanished along with the occupying forces. After considering many explanations, this left security researchers like [Ruben Santamarta] to consider that the high values had been spoofed.

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Could Moon Dust Help Reduce Global Temperatures?

October 10, 2023 by 66 Comments

The impacts of climate change continue to mount on human civilization, with warning signs that worse times are yet to come. Despite the scientific community raising an early warning as to the risks of continued air pollution and greenhouse gas output, efforts to stem emissions have thus far had minimal impact. Continued inaction has led some scientists to consider alternative solutions to stave off the worst from occurring.

Geoengineering has long been touted as a potential solution for our global warming woes. Now, the idea of launching a gigantic dust cloud from the moon to combat Earth’s rising temperatures is under the spotlight. However, this very sci-fi solution has some serious implications if pursued, if humanity can even achieve the feat in the first place.

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