Day: August 7, 2014

Entering an ancient magical world with flowers.

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Watch the birdie: Eagle-eyed photographer catches incredible pictures of orchid that looks just like a bird

  • Photographer Christian Kneidinger, 50, captured images in Linz, Austria
  • He was trying to focus on colours but after a closer look spotted the ‘bird’
  • Centre of pink moth orchid shows an optical illusion of animal in flight
  • Showed other visitors at Botanical Garden who could not believe it
  • Said he was surprised and ‘never expected to see something so magical’

An eagle-eyed photographer has captured these incredible pictures of an orchid that looks just like a bird.

Photographer Christian Kneidinger, 50, was taking pictures in a botanical garden in Linz, Austria, when he realised he was looking at something special. 

Initially the software engineer was trying to focus on the colour of the flowers but after an hour he took a closer look at the pink moth orchid and noticed an optical illusion of a bird in its centre.

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He used a DSLR 5D Mark III camera with a Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L lens and a Macro IS USM lens for the image  Christian Kneidinger, 50 (pictured), said: 'I never expected to see something so magical¿

The pyramids on the Giza plateau…are they a ancient cloaking device and is it still working?

Forget cloaks, this invisibility BOTTLE bends sound waves to hide objects

  • Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California developed the ‘acoustic bottle’ to make objects invisible to sonar detection
  • Bottle is made up of high acoustic pressure around zero pressure region
  • Sound from speakers is directed in a specific way to create bottle shape
  • The force of the outer shell can also be used to levitate objects such as particles and drops of water 

Sound waves may not appear to hold much power, but scientists believe directing them in the right way could allow them to hide objects and even levitate them in the air.

Researchers in the US have developed technology to manipulate sound waves on fixed paths around an acoustic ‘bottle’.

The technique could be used to re-route sound waves around an object making them invisible to sonar detection.

This animation shows the self-bending and obstacle-circumventing capabilities of the acoustic bottle  compared to a conventional  beam (top). Sound energy can be seen flowing through the shell of the bottle

The acoustic bottle could also help in levitation, where sound waves are used to lift and manipulate objects like particles, micro-organisms and drops of water.

Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California developed the acoustic bottle, which is a three dimensional structure made up of high pressure acoustic waves.

These acoustic bottles in open air can bend the paths of sound waves along preplanned paths.

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PLASTIC PYRAMID ACTS AS AN INVISIBILITY CLOAK FOR SOUND

It might look like a quirky plastic model of an ancient Egyptian pyramid, but this model is in fact a 3D ‘acoustic cloak’, created using just a few perforated sheets of plastic.

The device reroutes sound waves to create the impression that both the cloak and anything beneath it are not there.

Like the ‘acoustic bottle’, a refined version of the technology could one day be used for sonar avoidance and to refine noise in concert halls.

Engineers from Duke University in North Carolina, claim that unlike other efforts, the acoustic cloaking device works in all three dimensions, no matter which direction the sound is coming from.

‘The particular trick we’re performing is hiding an object from sound waves,’ said Steven Cummer, professor of electrical and computer engineering.

The pyramid is constructed using plastic plates with a repeating pattern of holes that are stacked on top of one another. Its design means that sound waves can be manipulated by plastic and air.

The cloak alters the sound waves’ trajectory to match what they would look like had they had reflected off a flat surface.

The 'invisible' pyramid: The world's first 3D acoustic cloak (pictured) was created by U.S. engineers using just a few perforates sheets of plastic and a great deal of number crunching.The device reroutes sound waves to create the impression that both the cloak and anything beneath it are not there

 

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