The phonon is the physical particle representing mechanical vibration and is responsible for the transmission of everyday sound and heat. Understanding and controlling the phononic properties of materials provides opportunities to thermally insulate buildings, reduce environmental noise, transform waste heat into electricity and develop earthquake protection.   The concept of …

In the wake of increasing electronic gadget sales, the overheating problem for battery chargers has become an increasingly common safety issue. Overheating of chargers certainly can be caused by substandard chargers, faulty batteries, or by misuse of the chargers. In worst-case scenarios the devices melt or catch fire. Unsurprisingly, this …

The U.S.  Navy and DARPA ran a facility–the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) in Gakona, Alaska—before it was passed to the University of Alaska in 2014. HAARP  was a research program to study ionosphere and its response to high frequency excitations from ground. “The official objective of the …