Spasers herald a new dawn for optical computing

IT’S a laser, but not as we know it. For a start, you need a microscope to see it.

Gleaming eerily green, it is a single spherical particle just a few tens of nanometres across.

(Image: Jeffrey Coolidge/Getty)

Tiny it might be, but its creators have big plans for it. With further advances, it could help to fulfil a long-held dream: to build a super-fast computer that computes with light.

Dubbed a “spaser”, this minuscule lasing object is the latest by-product of a buzzing field known as nanoplasmonics. Just as microelectronics exploits the behaviour of electrons in metals and semiconductors on micrometre scales, so nanoplasmonics is concerned with the nanoscale comings and goings of entities known as plasmons that lurk on and below the surfaces of metals.

••• Click through to original article …

Below: Major General Jim Molan accepts the Australian Thinker of the Year Award from SOT Principal, Dr Michael Hewitt-Gleeson

•••Click here to read his acceptance speech …

•

Guests at the Reception enjoy the fine hospitality of the Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre (MCEC)

L to R: CEO of MCEC Mr Leigh Harry, Maj Gen Molan with his award, SOT Principal, Dr Michael Hewitt-Gleeson

Each year the prestigious Australian Thinker of the Year Award is presented in recognition of the contribution Australian thinkers make both nationally and globally.

The current recipient is Jim Molan AO DSC Major General (Retired), best-selling author of Running the War in Iraq in recognition of his unique contribution as an Australian general overseeing a total force of 300‚000 troops‚ including 155‚000 Americans.

The award was presented to General Molan at the new Melbourne Convention Centre in the presence of distinguished national and international guests.

Previous Recipients

•••Click here to see previous awards in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 …

__________________________________________________________________

GENERAL PETER COSGROVE, Former Chief of the Defence Force said:  “Hats off to Jim Molan”.

HERALD SUN: Click for full address by Prince William …

“WHAT an exciting place Australia is, though!

This truly is a country for the 21st century. I only wish I had a little longer to see a bit more of Melbourne, this legendary city of sport and culture.

But if I may, I’ll be back!

So, coming to Australia is the realisation of this long-held dream. To be standing here, in beautiful Melbourne, on a glorious summer’s afternoon, is one thing. But to be asked to address you at the state of Victoria’s Australia Day celebrations is a great honour for me.

Thank you for asking me to be here and making me feel so very welcome.

Happy Australia Day.”

Prince William in Melbourne for Australia Day event

HERALD SUN: Click for full address by Prince William …

What is Australia?

Australia is a constitutional monarchy created by the Majority of Electors of 1900. The Governor-General is Head of State and Elizabeth II is Sovereign.

Since the creation of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1900 the Crown of Australia has been worn by six monarchs: Victoria, Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII, George VI and Elizabeth II.

•

Peoplepower:  the Majority of Electors

200 years ago Napoleon’s master, Prince Talleyrand, said, “There is someone more intelligent than Voltaire, more powerful than the emperor–and that is the people“. 100 years later in 1900, this peoplepower ideal became a reality in Australia.

As we celebrate Australia Day, in 2010, peoplepower is still one of the enduring truths of our Commonwealth.

The Majority of Electors was the original power in 1900 that created The Constitution.

In 2010, the Majority of Electors is still the only power in Australia that can change The Constitution.

In contrast to other political realities like in Iraq, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Fiji or even the Vatican, the USA, India and China, the fact is that the Electors of Australia have been able to hold, without interruption, the ultimate constitutional power in Australia for over a hundred years!

This continuous record of peoplepower and political stability is unprecedented in modern world history.

Australia is the name given to an agreement between The Majority of Electors of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Tasmania, and Western Australia to unite in one federation under the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia.

So who really created what we now know as ‘Australia’?

••• Click here for more on this article …

••• Click and enjoy this entertaining and educating 20-minute TED talk:

Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses — and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person “being” a genius, all of us “have” a genius. It’s a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk.

THE ECONOMIST: Click for full article …

For companies, the past year has been first and foremost about short-term survival. In 2010 the challenge will be to refocus on the long term. In many ways, this will be the harder part of the recovery.

Keeping the show on the road during a period of turmoil required certain skills, but setting a company on the right course afterwards will provide the true test of corporate leadership.

German expert on Thinking Skills–Florian Rustler–asks Michael about teaching thinking and the universal brain software (cvs2bvs) …

Michael, you created the School of Thinking (SOT). For some people that might be an unusual concept that you need a school that teaches you how to think. A lot of people are of the opinion that they know already how to think. Why is there a necessity for having a School of Thinking?

Click through here for the interview …

VIDEO: If you’re fascinated by robots, as I am, you’ll love this short video.

In this video interview, Noel Sharkey, professor of robotics and AI at the University of Sheffield, discusses developments in robotics – from the proliferation of robots in Japan’s automotive industry to the stair-climbing dexterity of Honda’s Asimo robot and beyond.

NewScientist article:

The internet and other communications networks could use one-ten-thousandth of the energy that they do today if smarter data-coding techniques were used to move information around.

That’s the conclusion of Bell Labs, the research centre in Murray Hill, New Jersey, where both the laser and transistor were invented.

••• Click for the full article

NEW SCIENTIST article:

SINCE its economic reform began in 1978, China has gone from being a poor developing country to the second-largest economy in the world. China has also emerged from isolation to become a political superpower.

Its meteoric rise has been one of the most important global changes of recent years: the rise of China was the most-read news story of the decade, surpassing even 9/11 and the Iraq war.

••• Read full article here …