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Large Hadron Collider

The Large Hadron Collider, or LHC being built by CERN is without question the largest and most complex machine ever constructed by Man. It has to be – the universe doesn’t give up its deepest secrets very easily. The LHC is the world’s largest refrigerator, requiring 10,080 tons of liquid nitrogen and nearly 60 tons of liquid helium to bring the temperature of the collider’s huge electromagnets down to -271.3°C (1.9 Kelvin). Want more? The interior of the LHC’s ring tunnel is the emptiest place in the entire solar system – the machine’s particle beams will travel through an ultra-high vacuum with ten times less pressure than you’ll find on the Moon.

Shared from : http://weburbanist.com/2009/09/20/7-more-amazing-engineering-wonders-of-today-tomorrow/

Storing data in 5 dimensions

No, they’re not warping the space-time continuum – but optoelectronics researchers at Britain’s University of Southampton have figured out how to encode computer data in five dimensions.

The first three dimensions are the standard spatial dimensions, with data encoded at different depths in an optical disc made of transparent quartz. The two extra dimensions come from varying the intensity of the high-speed laser beam writing the data. The result is a technique capable of saving 360 terabytes on to a standard-size disc.

More importantly, the quartz discs should be stable for thousands of years and resist temperatures of more than 980 degrees Celsius – properties that may be attractive enough to justify the higher cost of the new technique.

- Alex Hutchinson

- See more at: http://www.popularmechanics.co.za/tech/how-to-save-data-in-five-dimensions/#sthash.4BlC77qI.dpuf