Optical

Researchers have developed a new type of adaptive liquid lens that changes its focal distance when a voltage is applied. Made with an electrically responsive fluid, the lens is lightweight and could be easily manufactured for use in smartphones.

An innovative anamorphic illusion has taken the top prize in the annual Best Illusion of the Year contest. Twisting minds for 17 years the contest highlights the ways our brain can be tricked using simple perceptual illusions.

For now, quantum computers are mostly limited to labs and big experimental setups. But Japanese researchers have now made a step towards more accessible quantum computing devices, finding a way to “twist” light at room temperature.

Project Loon may have been deflated, but its legacy lives on in Project Taara. The team has salvaged the technology to deliver internet connectivity with lasers, demonstrating the viability in a test between two cities separated by the Congo River.

Engineers have found a way to make liquid metals switch between reflective surfaces or those that scatter light. The transition only requires a small zap of electricity and could be used to make mirrors that can be switched on or off.

Engineers at Stanford have created a new optical device that can easily manipulate light into basically any color desired. The system uses a series of modulators to fine-tune the frequencies of individual photons to change their color.

Usually optical coatings either reflect or transmit a given color of light, but now researchers at the University of Rochester have developed a new class of optical coating that can both transmit and reflect the same wavelengths at the same time.

Nokia and Vodafone have tested a new broadband technology that delivers a blistering 100 gigabits per second (Gbps). Conducted using the kind of network seen in the last mile between an ISP and a user, it could eventually be rolled out commercially.

Japanese mathematician Kokichi Sugihara has won the annual Illusion of the Year Contest with a fascinating 3D model of a nearly 200-year old 2D illusion. The contest, run by the UK-based Neural Correlate Society has been bending brains for 16 years.

Sci-fi has been promising holograms for decades, but they always feel out of reach. Now Samsung has made strides towards realistic holograms, with a prototype thin-panel device that can display 3D images in 4K resolution with a wide viewing angle.

Austin-based game developer Frank Force has won the Best Illusion of the Year prize for his mind-bending yet simple animation of twisting rings that seem to be rotating in different directions simultaneously.

The mysteries of human perception are endlessly fascinating. For over a decade the Neural Correlate Society has been running an annual competition celebrating the best new perceptual illusions, and the 2018 winners are sure to short-circuit your brain … in the best possible way.