Charlie StrossNov 13

I know the researches are enthusing about materials science applications of this new tiny X-ray emitter—a nanoscale synchrotron radiation source—but I look at the world in 2025 and I just think, "drones with X-ray lasers coming to an urban battlefield near YOU!"

https://phys.org/news/2025-11-tabletop-particle-medicine-materials-science.html

Tabletop particle accelerator could transform medicine and materials science

A particle accelerator that produces intense X-rays could be squeezed into a device that fits on a table, my colleagues and I have found in a new research project.

Phys.org
Show threadJdeBP

@cstross

There's a lot of subjunctive, "concept stage", and "in simulations" there.

Doesn't "QUASAR Group" make for a good, innocuous sounding, military-industrial complex corporation name, though? (-:

#QUASARGroup #physics #XRays #synchrotrons

Nov 13 at 6:17pmWeb
Show threadCharlie StrossNov 13
@JdeBP Translation: they're looking for Series-A funding (or something like that). Not necessarily with any expectation of delivering a product: but it's nice work, if you can get it.
Show threadJdeBPNov 13

@cstross

The same thought crossed my mind. (-:

Although the disclosure statement on the original article at https://doi.org/10.64628/AB.rkrnyke4r says otherwise.

It's such a cyberpunk name, though. A quick search turned up that there was indeed a Japan-industrial #QuasarGroup from at least 1974 to 1983. Originally part of #Motorola it was sold to #Matsushita and in 1982 was selling a #MOS6502 hand-held computer that ran MS BASIC and a variant of #FORTH called snapFORTH.

#retrocomputing #HHC #QuasarHHC

Tabletop particle accelerator could transform medicine and materials science

The device could yield intense X-rays which are usually produced in huge facilities.

The Conversation