A lead box with a small aperture sits on a desk. A ruler leads away from it. A small disk on a stand is held in front of the aperture.

Testing The Wave-Particle Duality With Gamma Rays

April 6, 2026 by Aaron Beckendorf No comments

Everything on the electromagnetic spectrum has some properties of both waves and particles, but it’s difficult to imagine a radio wave, for example, behaving like a particle. The main evidence for a particle-like nature is quantization, the bundling of electromagnetic energy into discrete packets. One way around this is to theorize that quantization is due to the specific interaction between the electromagnetic field and matter, not intrinsic to the field itself. To investigate this theory, [Huygens Optics] conducted several experiments with gamma rays, including Compton scattering.

For these experiments, he used a Radiacode 110 X-ray and gamma ray detector, which uses a photodetector to detect radiation’s passage through a scintillation crystal. By summing the energy contained in the light emitted by one ray, it can measure the ray’s energy and, over time, create an energy spectrum. [Huygens Optics] used the americium capsule from an old smoke detector as a radiation source, and cast a lead enclosure to shield the Radiacode from most background radiation, with a small opening for measurements.

Continue reading “Testing The Wave-Particle Duality With Gamma Rays” →

Lab Gloves May Be Skewing Microplastics Data

April 6, 2026 by Maya Posch 5 Comments

The topic of micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) has become increasingly prevalent over the past years, as amidst dismissal and panic, researchers attempt to distinguish just how much of a problem MNPs truly are. The most essential problem here is that we are still developing the tools to accurately measure the levels of MNP contamination. Recently, [Madeline E. Clough] et al. demonstrated in an article published in Analytical Methods how gloves worn in laboratory settings can create false positive MNP signals.

As we covered previously, detecting MNPs is tough due to the detection methods used, many of which rely on interpreting signals from methods like pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS), with protocols for this and other methods still being worked on, particularly on how to filter out false positives.

The article by [Clough] demonstrates how dry contact of lab gloves on samples can deposit stearate salts – left over from their production, which are subsequently misidentified as being MNPs, specifically polyethylene (PE). These false positives occur with µ-Fourier transform infrared (µ-FTIR) spectroscopy and µ-Raman spectroscopy, but can occur with Py-GC-MS as well, as has been determined previously. Substances like the fatty lipids that are commonly found in the human body, and in particular the brain, will closely match the PE signature.

With these very common stearate salts now also a likely source of contamination with MNP measurements, it just becomes more obvious that it’s incredibly hard to make accurate assessments about any hazards of MNPs until we can determine their presence with any level of reliability.

Exposing A Radiation-Hardened 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi Receiver To 500 Kilograys

April 4, 2026 by Maya Posch 5 Comments

From outer space to down here on Earth, there are many places where ionizing radiation levels are high enough that they effectively bar access for humans, but also make life miserable for anything containing semiconductor technology. This is especially true for anything involving wireless communications, such as Wi-Fi. However, recently Japanese researchers have created a Wi-Fi chip that is claimed to be so radiation-hardened that it can be used even in gamma ray-rich environments, such as in the worst contaminated depths of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor.

The indicated dose exposure of 500 kilograys that the chip survived during testing is quite significant. A single gray (Gy) is the absorption of one joule of energy per kilogram of matter. In radiation therapy, a solid epithelial tumor can receive as much as 60 to 80 Gy in a single dose, for example.

Continue reading “Exposing A Radiation-Hardened 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi Receiver To 500 Kilograys” →

Addressing The Divisive Topic That Is Boiling Water

April 2, 2026 by Maya Posch 27 Comments

The topic of boiling water is apparently a rather divisive topic, with plenty of strong opinions to go around on what is safe and the most efficient way to go about it. Thus in a new video [Cahn] sought to address the many comments that came in after his previous testing of electric kettles on either 12 VDC or 240 VAC.

What’s interesting about this whole topic is that at its core the overall efficiency of boiling water is simply a matter of calculating the energy input minus energy losses, with the remaining energy going into the water.

As we can see in the video, using a higher battery voltage doesn’t really change the efficiency of a 12 VDC kettle, but the higher current draw does manage to melt a fuse that can’t take the heat — requiring a 20 amp fuse instead of the 15 A one.

One change that does make a difference is how it’s connected. Replacing the thin gauge wiring and the attached cigarette lighter plug on the 12 VDC kettle with beefier cable and an Anderson plug made things run cooler, resulting in an efficiency bump of about 10%. This cut the time required to get the water boiling by around 6 minutes.

Added to this test were an induction hob and an iso-butane-powered Jetboil, both of which scored rather unimpressively. For the induction option it’s obvious that a lot of energy is wasted by having the pan radiate it away from the water, while burning iso-butane loses energy through the exhaust gases. Ultimately what you pick to boil water with should thus be mostly determined by convenience rather than sheer physics.

Continue reading “Addressing The Divisive Topic That Is Boiling Water” →

Watch An Electro-Permanent Magnet In Action

April 1, 2026 by Donald Papp 12 Comments

Electro-permanent magnets (EPMs) are pretty nifty concepts, and if you aren’t familiar with them, they are permanent magnets with the ability to be electrically switched on or off. Unlike an electromagnet — which maintains a magnetic field only while power is applied — an EPM can remain “on” even when power is removed. Want to see one work? There’s a video embedded below that shows one off, but if you’d like to know how they work, we have you covered.

Inside are two types of magnet, one of which is permanent and the other being a semi-hard magnet paired with an electromagnetic coil. A semi-hard magnet’s flux can be changed by exposing it to a strong enough magnetic field, and that’s the key to making it work.

When both magnets work together, the EPM is “on” and acts like a permanent magnet. To turn the EPM off, the polarity of the semi-hard magnet is flipped with a short and powerful electromagnetic pulse, after which the two magnets oppose one another and more or less cancel each other out. So rather than generating a magnetic field, an EPM more accurately reconfigures it.

As intriguing as EPMs are, we haven’t really seen one properly in action until it was brought to our attention that [Dave Jones] of EEVblog tried one out last year. He received a Zubax FluxGrip EPM, which is intended for drone and robotic applications and can hold up to 25 kg. Watch [Dave] fire it up in the video (link is cued up to the 7:30 mark), it’s pretty interesting to see one of these actually work.

EPMs are not prohibitively expensive but they are not exactly cheap, either. But if a switchable magnet sounds up your alley and you can’t afford an EPM, consider an alternative “switchable” magnet design that works by momentarily canceling out a permanent magnet with a paired electromagnet. Unlike an EPM, it’s not a permanent switch but it would be enough to drop a payload.

Continue reading “Watch An Electro-Permanent Magnet In Action” →

Improving FDM Filament Drying With A Spot Of Vacuum

March 31, 2026 by Maya Posch 31 Comments

Keeping your filament safely away from moisture exposure is one of the most crucial aspects of getting a good 3D print, with equipment like a filament dryer a standard piece of equipment to help drive accumulated moisture out of filament prior to printing or storage. Generally such filament dryers use hot air to accomplish this task over the course of a few hours, but this is not very efficient for a number of reasons. Increasing the vaporization rate of water without significantly more power use should namely be quite straightforward.

The key here is the vapor pressure of a liquid, specifically the point at which it begins to transition between its liquid and gaseous phases, also known as the boiling point. This point is defined by both temperature and atmospheric pressure, with either factor being adjustable. In a pressure cooker this principle is for example used to increase the boiling temperature of water, while for our drying purposes we can instead reduce the pressure in order to lower the boiling point.

Although a lower pressure is naturally more effective, we can investigate the best balance between convenience and effectiveness.

Continue reading “Improving FDM Filament Drying With A Spot Of Vacuum” →

See The Computers That Powered The Voyager Space Program

March 30, 2026 by Julian Scheffers 11 Comments

Have you ever wanted to see the computers behind the first (and for now only) man-made objects to leave the heliosphere? [Gary Friedman] shows us, with an archived tour of JPL building 230 in the ’80s.

A NASA employee picks up a camcorder and decides to record a tour of the place “before they replace it all with mainframes”. They show us computers that would seem prehistoric compared to anything modern; early Univac and IBM machines whose power is outmatched today by even an ESP32, yet made the Voyager program possible all the way back in 1977. There are countless peripherals to see, from punch card writers to Univac debug panels where you can see the registers, and from impressive cabinets full of computing hardware to the zip-tied hacks “attaching” a small box they call the “NIU”, dangling off the inner wall of the cabinet. And don’t forget the tape drives that are as tall as a refrigerator!

We could go on ad nauseum, nerding out about the computing history, but why don’t you see it for yourself in the video after the break?

Continue reading “See The Computers That Powered The Voyager Space Program” →