Super-camera shows how light moves
Scientists in the US have built a camera that can show light moving by taking pictures with an exposure time one billion times shorter than a normal camera.
The device, built at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, can take an image every two picoseconds.
Far fucking out - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23536536 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23536536)
(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/08/21/article-0-14A2E185000005DC-320_634x325.jpg)
For perspective, picoseconds and femtoseconds are the speed range of chemical reactions which scientists can sometimes video tape in real time. The fastest camera today is in zeptoseconds, the range of reactions in the nucleus of an atom, but it doesn't use visible light. Ideally ordinary cameras could collect every photon that hits them converting all of their information into more compact plasmonic signals for processing or for their own source of energy. However, this can be done in a variety of ways including the use of topological insulators and the semi-conducting industry is famous for their brute force wait-and-see approach to adopting new technology. Ironically, as sales of PCs crash a new materials science arms race has ensued in the semiconducting industry.
Nice but when I think of the amount of data generated... some people still need to delete 427 photos after their holiday trip ends.