The FAA Fired A Military Laser At A Boeing 767 For 8 Seconds: Here’s What Happened http://dlvr.it/TSPtMl #aircraft #Boeing767 #Lasers #UnitedStates

🦈🔦 Researchers at the University of #Melbourne developed a method using laser-induced mass #spectrometry to analyze #elements within shark vertebrae.

The technique allows for more accurate age estimation and environmental tracking than traditional visual growth ring analysis.

👉 https://phys.org/news/2026-05-scientists-lasers-age-sharks.html

#sharks #marinebiology #science #lasers #technology #tech #geochemistry #ocean #research #conservation #ecology #data #discovery

Scientists use lasers to determine the age of sharks

Not many scientific studies sound like a Bond film, but ours really does involve lasers, sharks and doctors (of research, not the evil kind).

Phys.org
Lasers take aim at a galaxy far, far away | Space photo of the day for May 4, 2026
https://atlas.whatip.xyz/post.php?slug=lasers-take-aim-at-a-galaxy-far-far-away-space-photo-of-the-day-for-may-4-2026
Breaking: <p>Looking like a scene out of &quot;Star Wars,&quot
#lasers #galaxy #space #quot
Lasers take aim at a galaxy far, far away | Space photo of the day for May 4, 2026

Looking like a scene out of "Star Wars," this image shows the ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) beaming four separate lasers into the sky towards the Tarantula Nebula.

The Day the (SFX) Circus Came

Lancashire-based live effects wizards BPM SFX recently brought the heat to campus. With an incendiary portfolio including work with Sleep Token, Sum 41, and Oasis, they filled Studio 001 with stage-tech toys of varying lethality.

The session gave (sensibly supervised) students a chance to play with professional kit that ran the gamut from innocuous confetti and bubble machines through to lasers, flamers, pyrotechnics, and sparklers – although it was the hand-held flamethrower that demanded the most interaction.

Loving the smell of accelerants in the afternoon, I rolled up to try my hand at conflagration and take some photos and video in the process. With only my phone camera to hand, I noted a lot of shots with the default app were over-exposed, supersaturated and unusable. Switching to the Blackmagic Camera app for greater control, I was able to adjust ISO and increase shutter speed to better capture the experience – and thankfully record in landscape despite holding the phone vertically. The end result being a short little video to commemorate the day, even if YouTube’s compression fails to preserve the HDR intricacy of the original laser spread.

The soundtrack forms an early work-in-progress teaser of future Trismegistus Hex material. A cheeky, if not outright blatant homage to horror movie maestro John Carpenter, but likely to change substantially in the final cut.

We don’t normally get access to such gear during the course of our studies, so it was great to get hands-on and, for some students, spark new career possibilities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib6JsZ28_c8

📣 Final week to submit!

Europhoton 2026 (21–25 Sept, Arcachon 🇫🇷) invites original research in solid-state lasers, fibre & waveguide devices, and photonics for quantum technologies.

🗓 Deadline: 4 May 2026
🔗 https://www.europhoton.org/submit
#physics #europe #conferences #lasers #photonics

Scientists Say They’ve Tested a Way to Get to Alpha Centauri in Just 20 Years

Scientists say they've come up with a new approach that uses lasers for propulsion, which could cut down the journey to Alpha Centauri.

Futurism
🎨🔬 Wow, #NIST has learned to make #lasers in any color—guess they've finally caught up with my 90s #rave lights! 🌈✨ Meanwhile, the geniuses at .gov are still figuring out how to secure a #website. #Priorities #ScienceComedy
https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2026/04/any-color-you-nist-scientists-create-any-wavelength-lasers-tiny-circuits #Colorful #Science #Innovation #Lights #Security #HackerNews #ngated
Any Color You Like: NIST Scientists Create ‘Any Wavelength’ Lasers in Tiny Circuits for Light

NIST scientists and collaborators have pioneered a way to make integrated circuits for light by depositing complex patterns of specialized materials onto silicon wafers.

NIST
Any Color You Like: NIST Scientists Create ‘Any Wavelength’ Lasers in Tiny Circuits for Light

NIST scientists and collaborators have pioneered a way to make integrated circuits for light by depositing complex patterns of specialized materials onto silicon wafers.

NIST
Ski Slopes For Laser Imaging

Lasers are cool and all, but they can be somewhat difficult to control at times. This is especially true when you have hundreds, thousands, or millions of lasers you need to steer. Fortunately, the…

Hackaday
Ski Slopes For Laser Imaging

Lasers are cool and all, but they can be somewhat difficult to control at times. This is especially true when you have hundreds, thousands, or millions of lasers you need to steer. Fortunately, the…

Hackaday