Summary
Researchers at New York University have developed a real-life version of a tractor beam, a concept popularized by science fiction. David Greer, a physics professor and director of the Center for Soft Matter Research, explains that their work builds on historical observations about light's ability to exert force, dating back to astronomer Peter Apien in the 1500s and further explored by Johannes Kepler and James Clerk Maxwell.
The team uses optical tweezers, which manipulate microscopic objects using light, to create a new class of beams called solenoid waves. Unlike traditional beams that push objects away, these new beams can pull objects toward them along their entire length, functioning as true tractor beams. This breakthrough could have significant applications, particularly for NASA, which is interested in using these beams for gathering samples from comets and planetary surfaces.
Greer emphasizes the potential of this technology to bridge the gap between science fiction and real-world applications, highlighting ongoing efforts to refine these tractor beams for practical use in space exploration.
Show Notes
NYU Professor of Physics, David Grier, dropped in to tell us about his team's amazing work building the world's first real life tractor beam. Just like Star Trek, he explains how their light beam pulls things toward it, how it works and how it could soon be used by NASA.::More about this Video::► Prof David Grier's homepage: http://physics.nyu.edu/grierlab/► "Building Star Trek", Smithsonian Channel: http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/shows/building-star-trek/0/3436402► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk::Playlists For Channel::Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorldsCool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearchGuest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuestsQ&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQAScience of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies::Follow us::SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribeCool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.eduTwitter https://twitter.com/david_kippingInstagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worldsTHANKS FOR WATCHING!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
More from Cool Worlds
We're looking forward to the new sci-fi film "Arrival", which explores the barriers to communicating with aliens even face to face. Astronomers really are trying to listen for alien communications, mostly using radio receivers but increasingly by looking for optical laser transmissions too. One of our wild ideas here at the Cool Worlds Lab is that optical SETI could try focussing these efforts to physically-motivated special moments in time to dramatically increase the survey efficiency. Prof Kipping pitches this new concept to all you Cool Worlders!::More about this Video::► Kipping & Teachey (2016), "A Cloaking Device for Transiting Planets": https://arxiv.org/abs/1603.08928► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk::Playlists For Channel::Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorldsCool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearchGuest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuestsQ&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQAScience of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies::Follow us::SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribeCool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.eduTwitter https://twitter.com/david_kippingInstagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worldsTHANKS FOR WATCHING!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Off the cuff (again) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Now and again we make a video that's a bit different from our usual stuff and here's one of them. A fictional narrative that weaves in scientific ideas of deep time and how intelligence might persist, challenging us to imagine what infinite life might truly be like. Thanks for watching.Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping.→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcastTHANK-YOU to D. Smith, M. Sloan, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, N. Kildal, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zajonc, C. Wolfred, L. Skov, G. Benson, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, S. Roulier, B. Smith, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., M. Donovan, N. Corwin, M. Mangione, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, G. Genova, R. Provost, B. Sigurjonsson, G. Fullwood, B. Walford, J. Boyd, N. De Haan, J. Gillmer, R. Williams, E. Garland, A. Leishman, A. Phan Le, R. Lovely, M. Spoto, A. Steele, M. Varenka, K. Yarbrough, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, B. Pearson, S. Thayer, T. Edris, A. Harrison, B. Seeley, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, P. Muzyka, E. Loomans, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, J. Smallbon, B. Reese, J. Yoder, O. Shabtay & X. Yao.REFERENCES► Dyson, F., 1979, "Time without end: Physics and biology in an open universe", Rev. Modern Phys, 51, 447: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1979RvMP...51..447DMUSICLicensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.0:00 Sid Acharya - Journey2:49 Sid Acharya - Stories from the Sky6:11 Falls - Ripley7:45: Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Four9:55 Hill - Echoes of Yesterday (https://open.spotify.com/track/4AfA4TrR2WPUJ6N6Th5j8B?si=eed02e1a8f124345)13:18 Hill - The Now Is Only a Thin Slice of Who I Am (https://open.spotify.com/track/396DSpd9UzSEVNxJORJU1n?si=35659345189a4680)19:25: Y - Joachim Heinrich#EternalIntelligence #LivingForever #CoolWorlds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Wow! Signal was a radio signal detected in 1977 that remains the most compelling candidate for an alien radio transmission ever received. 45 years later, and after dozens of failed hours spent trying to catch it again, can we conclude the Wow signal was bogus? Join us today as we discuss a new research paper from the Cool Worlds Lab that explores this question and everything Wow.Written & presented by Prof David Kipping→ Support our research program: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support→ Get Stash here! https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-storeTHANK-YOU to our supporters D. Smith, M. Sloan, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, N. Kildal, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zajonc, C. Wolfred, L. Skov, G. Benson, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, H. Jensen, J. Rockett, N. Fredrickson, D. Holland, E. Hanway, D. Murphree, S. Hannum, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, F. Van Exter, S. Roulier, B. Smith, P. Masterson, R. Sievers, G. Canterbury, J. Kill, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, T. Wheeler, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, J. Alexander, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, S. Krasner, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., I. Attard, M. Donovan, N. Corwin & M. Mangione.::References::► Kipping, D. & Gray, R. (2022), "Could the “Wow” signal have originated from a stochastic repeating beacon?", MNRAS, accepted for publication: https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.08374► "The Elusive Wow" book by Robert Gray: https://www.amazon.com/Elusive-Wow-Searching-Extraterrestrial-Intelligence/dp/0983958440/ref=sr_1_1?crid=N9C88NODCZ6G&keywords=the+elusive+wow&qid=1655582974&sprefix=the+elusive+wow%2Caps%2C88&sr=8-1► Gray R. H., 1994, Icar, 112, 485. doi:10.1006/icar.1994.1199► Gray R. H., Marvel K. B., 2001, ApJ, 546, 1171 doi:10.1086/318272► Gray R. H., Ellingsen S., 2002, ApJ, 578, 967. doi:10.1086/342646► Harp G. R., Gray R. H., Richards J., Shostak G. S., Tarter J. C.,2020, AJ, 160, 162. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/aba58f::Music::Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], or via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist► Brad Hill - A Slowly Lifting Fog (0:00) [https://open.spotify.com/album/0i7df7bwsTHcJ7zRCHqq1G]► Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Four (2:38)► Falls - Ripley (4:41)► Falls - Life in Binary (8:34)► Brad Hill - There Is but One Good (13:04) [https://open.spotify.com/album/4pmiXcyRpPlFjWjb45pYLx0]► Chris Zabriskie - Stories About the World That Once Was (19:31)► Joachim Heinrich - Y (23:51)► Brad Hill - Downcast Spirit (26:12) [https://open.spotify.com/album/2oDAnUfX0OYYOnuIToAEcX]::Film/TV clips used::► Wow Documentary (2017) Peacock► Agora (2009) Focus Features International► Contact (1997) Warner Bros.► Independence Day (1996) 20th Century Fox::Chapters::00:00 Introduction02:51 Four Facts07:15 False Positives?08:15 Four Unknowns12:06 Black Swans13:54 Observatory Emulation16:01 Hypothetical Signals18:51 Big Ear Results19:52 Multi-Observatory Results22:43 Wow's Properties24:49 Robert Gray26:12 Outro and credits#WowSignal #AreWeAlone #CoolWorlds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Does life's early emergence mean life starts easily? Growing evidence shows that life got started very quickly (within ~100 million years) after conditions became suitable for life on Earth (~3.7 billion years ago). This is often taken as evidence that life starts easily, but is this really true? Prof Kipping explains why things aren't as simple as they seem.::More about this Video::► Nutman et al. 2016, "Rapid emergence of life shown by discovery of 3,700-million-year-old microbial structures": http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v537/n7621/full/nature19355.html► Allwood 2016, "Geology: Evidence of Life in Earth's Oldest Rocks": http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v537/n7621/full/nature19429.html► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk::Playlists For Channel::Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorldsCool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearchGuest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuestsQ&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQAScience of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies::Follow us::SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribeCool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.eduTwitter https://twitter.com/david_kippingInstagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worldsTHANKS FOR WATCHING!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices