Category: Uncategorized

BRITISH SURVEYS. "28% of native plant species have decreased in Britain over the past 40 years, that 54% of native bird species have decreased over 20 years, and that a majority of butterfly species (71% over 20 years) has declined." https://lnkd.in/e5j-V28 View in LinkedIn

ABUNDANCE VS EXTINCTION. Species loss make headlines, but diminished numbers, even local extinctions, do not, that is, until this year. Monoculture, extensive use of fertilizers and chemical poisons, and intensive industrial scale farming have wrought havoc with the British countryside and wildlife, almost unnoticed by the public until recently. Britain is a canary in the coal mine for other European countries. View in LinkedIn

BRITISH SPECIES LOSSES. "We do know that 12% of land mammals, 22% of amphibians and 24% of our native butterflies have been lost." https://lnkd.in/eJjz5aW View in LinkedIn

BRITISH SPECIES LOSSES. "This report documents for the first time the nearly 500 species we’ve lost from England in the recent past. This figure is by no means the true total since, for many species groups like fungi, algae and the marine invertebrates, we don’t know the full extent of those that exist, let alone those that have disappeared." https://lnkd.in/eJjz5aW View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT IN NATURE for the next two weekends looks at changes in British wildlife during the last fifty years. I grew up in the hedgerows, coppices, ponds and streams of an idealized Britain, chasing newts, butterflies, gudgeon, and sticklebacks; but in the space of my lifetime, the abundance, of that rich flora and fauna has dropped by no less than half, with many species disappearing entirely. View in LinkedIn

SYNTHETIC MAGNETISM. "This process actually breaks a key law of physics, known as the time-reversal symmetry of light. And could potentially create “an entirely new class of devices that use light instead of electricity for applications ranging from accelerators and microscopes to speedier on-chip communications.” https://lnkd.in/egWQir9 View in LinkedIn

BREAKTHROUGH IN SYNTHETIC MAGNETISM used to control light via photonic crystals. "Scientists at Stanford, however, have come by a monumental breakthrough after they devised a way to exert virtual force on photons using synthetic magnetism similar to the effect of magnets on electrons. The findings could lead to a whole new generation of highly efficient electronics." https://lnkd.in/e6d7H_E View in LinkedIn

"PHOTONS are slippery fellas. Since they don’t have any electrons, they’re free to run through any matter, no matter how intense an electric field may be." https://lnkd.in/e6d7H_E View in LinkedIn

ARTIFICIAL MAGNETISM is the next theme, timely in that there has been a recent breakthrough on the subject from a Barcelona lab, a city close to my heart and full of innovative science. In addition, it is also applied to magnetic cloaking. In this field again, physicists have broken textbook paradigms with exciting new materials. Throw out all the old textbooks, time to start again. View in LinkedIn

DoD AND STEALTH TECH. "We plan to pursue prospects in the areas of open quantum systems, plasmonics, and transformation optics. Our results may be also applicable to ultrasonics where stealth properties are often desired." https://lnkd.in/b8aBttV View in LinkedIn