1. Lungs Don’t Just Facilitate Respiration - They Also Make Blood. Mammalian Lungs Produce More Than

The Magnus Effect is cool! Learn more about it in @veritasium video: https://youtu.be/2OSrvzNW9FE

But that’s not all it can do. Microsoft and NASA teamed up to “bring” you, yes you, to Mars.

Follow @the-future-now

Are Cloaking Devices Coming? Metalens-Shaped Light May Lead The Way

“The biggest challenge facing a real-life cloak has been the incorporation of a large variety of wavelengths, as the cloak’s material must vary from point-to-point to bend (and then unbend) the light by the proper amount. Based on the materials discovered so far, we haven’t yet managed to penetrate the visible light portion of the spectrum with a cloak. This new advance in metalenses, however, seems to indicate that if you can do it for a single, narrow wavelength, you can apply this nanofin technology to extend the wavelength covered tremendously. This first application to achromatic lenses covered nearly the full visible-light spectrum (from 470 to 670 nm), and fusing this with advances in metamaterials would make visible-light cloaking devices a reality.”

What would it take to have a true cloaking device? You’d need some way to bend the light coming from all across the electromagnetic spectrum around your cloaked object, and have it propagate off in the same direction once it moved past you. To an outside observer, it would simply seem like the cloaked object wasn’t there, and they’d only view the world in front of and behind them. Even with the recent advances that have been made in metamaterials, we have not yet been able to realize this dream in three dimensions, covering the entire electromagnetic spectrum, and from all directions. But a new advance in metalens technology might get you the full electromagnetic spectrum after all, as they appear to have solved the problem of chromatic aberration with a light, small, and inexpensive solution. If we can combine these two technologies, metalenses and metamaterials, we just might realize the dream of a true invisibility cloak.

Whether you’re a Star Trek or Harry Potter fan, the ability to turn yourself invisible would be Earth-shattering. Come see how transformation optics might transform the world!

Proof without words - Pi

This was intended to be posted on Pi-day earlier this month, but somehow that didn’t happen.

Hope this beautiful pi gif on this sizzling Saturday puts a smile on your face and guides you through the day.

Have a good one!

Photo credit: Lucas V. Barbosa via Wikimedia Commons

** FYP’s Pi-day post ( if you are interested )

NTU and JTC develop enhanced fire protection for steel

Credit: shutterstock/Anusorn Abthaisong

Scientists from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, and national industrial developer JTC have unveiled what they are calling a 3-in-1 coating for better fire and corrosion protection.

‘In a fire, our coating forms a compact charred layer that acts as a protective barrier against the heat,’ explained Aravind Dasari, a Principal Investigator at the NTU–JTC Industrial Infrastructure Innovation Centre.

Called FiroShield, the coating functions like regular paint and is easy to apply, according to the research team. It can be applied on bare steel without the need for sand blasting, and provides protection against fire for two hours. 

Dasari explained, ‘While typical fire coatings will also form a charred layer, those are thick and foam-like, which can fall off easily and leave the steel exposed to the fire. What we aimed at was an innovative coat that works differently from conventional intumescent coatings and can stick to the steel surface for as long as possible under high temperatures, and yet has durability and weather resistance under normal conditions without a need for a top coat of paint.’

To find out more see the January issue of Materials World or visit  bit.ly/2nft8Z3

Møbius donut.

How did the Greeks know ?

Greeks had a strong geometric approach towards problems and as a result their methods are very intuitive.

In this post, we will look at the Method of exhaustion formulated by Archimedes that stands out as a milestone in the history of mathematics

Method of Exhaustion - Archimedes

                                                       Source

In order to find the bounds of pi, Archimedes came up with a remarkably elegant ‘algorithm’, which is as follows:

Lower bound

Inscribe a n-sided polygon in a circle —> Measure its perimeter(p) —> Measure its diameter(d) —> pi_min = p/d —-> Repeat with  n+1 sides.

Upper bound

Circumscribe a n-sided polygon in a circle —> Measure its perimeter(p) —> Measure its diameter(d) —> pi_max = p/d —-> Repeat with  n+1 sides.

And by following this procedure one could obtain the upper and lower bounds of pi !

Heres an animation made on geogebra for a circle of diameter 1. Watch how the lower and upper bounds vary.

Archimedes did this for a 96 sided polygon and found the value of pi  to be between 3.14103 and 3.1427. This is a good enough approximation for most of the calculations that we do even today!

Happy Holidays !

Adieu 2016 - Best of FYP!

2016 has been a great year for FYP!

And we would like to conclude it with some of the best posts that we have been able to produce

1. Black hole are not so black - series

Part - I , II, III

2.‘Katana’ - A sword that can slice a bullet

3. A denied stardom status - Jupiter

4. The Pythagoras Cup

5. On Pirates and Astronomers                                                           

6. Behold- The Space Shuttle Tile

7. Principle of Least Effort

8. Leidenfrost Effect

9. Major Types of Engines

10. A holy matrimony of Pascals and Sierpinski’s Triangle

11. Curves of constant width

12. Smooth Ride, Bumpy Road

Thank you so much following us ! Have a great weekend :D

 - Fuck Yeah Physics!

apparently one whale years ago was observed doing this for hours and now more and more whales in the area are seen copying it so we think it’s a whole new behavior and it seems to be a response to shrinking food sources.

Instead of expending any energy actively hunting, the whale just holds its mouth open wherever fish are being hunted by birds. To escape the birds, the fish try to hide in the whale’s mouth because it’s a darker area that looks like shelter. …They’re turning into giant, sea-mammal pitcher plants.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/mms.12557?referrer_access_token=bXLTS5BeSw_vlIKHkM0bYIta6bR2k8jH0KrdpFOxC654HjreJ8D19K86UreR5JPsSRb0CuGhiJSV1L1ht-N1Gf_K_1a9MREFzQGU9oJDNctsKDin_HXcYEdsLg3EbcTl