Search by tag «Physics» 131 results
Researchers Suggest Simple, Cheap Method of Accelerating Chemical Reactions
Researchers from ITMO University have designed a laboratory set-up for the study of chemical reactions in microvolume. This technology allows them to reduce the necessary amount of reagents and accelerate chemical reactions by hundreds of times. In the future, this invention may be used to synthesize large libraries of substances in mere seconds – and to analyze their biological activity to quickly identify new compounds for medical development. The research team is currently raising investments at ITMO and securing grants from charity foundations.
13.03.2025
Higgs Boson for People: How Fundamental Discoveries Transform Everyday Life and Where Physics Is Heading Now
Attosecond pulses, neutrino oscillations, and the Higgs boson – the recent decades have yielded many fundamental breakthroughs, some of which were awarded with the prestigious Nobel Prize. But what’s next? How do these discoveries impact our life? And what will science bring us in the future? All these topics were covered in the talk by Dmitry Karlovets, a senior researcher at ITMO’s Faculty of Physics, held as part of the pop-sci festival at ITMO University. Here are the takeaways.
04.03.2025
Always Calculate: Physicist Ivan Terekhov on Fundamental Studies and Scientific Anecdotes
Ivan Terekhov has been passionate about science since childhood: in primary school, he wanted to build his own laser and studied the imaginary unit; in fifth grade, he was already solving university-level problems. This passion has colored his whole life, taking him to universities in the UK, Germany, and Australia. Recently, he has joined the team of ITMO’s School of Physics and Engineering, where he performs calibrations that can help increase optic-fiber traffic capacity and studies electron interactions in 2D materials. In this interview, he shares where to look for inspiration in fundamental research and why experienced researchers should keep working with students.
03.02.2025
Be a Cool Scientist, Not a Boring Nerd: Physicist Alexey Kokhanovskiy on His Career in Science and Neuromorphic Computing
When Alexey Kokhanovskiy read Richard Feynman's biography as a kid, he not only finally decided to become a physicist – but also realized that scientists don’t have to be these stereotypical coat-wearing weirdos. Today, he continues to stick to this principle, with quite a few achievements under his belt:completed studies and research projects in Russia and France and a multimillion-ruble grant within the Priority 2023 program. His current research field at ITMO lies in optical neuromorphic computing. In this interview, the researcher explains what neuromorphic computing is, why combine physics and AI, and how to find inspiration in everyday tasks.
15.01.2025
ITMO Fellow Alena Kulakova on Merging Chemistry and Physics
As a child, Alena Kulakova used to dream of becoming a doctor, but ended up pursuing chemistry at university. Since then, she’s completed a double PhD degree in France and Russia, moved from Moscow to St. Petersburg, and authored several projects. Now, she’s one of the few chemists at ITMO’s Faculty of Physics, where she is part of the team designing metal-organic frameworks – sorbents used for fast, durable sensors and drug delivery systems. In this interview, she shares her journey in academia with ITMO.NEWS.
13.01.2025
Unsolvable Problems and Human Computers: Physics and Fantasy in The Three-Body Problem
Liu Cixin’s The Three-Body Problem is one of the most well-known sci-fi novels of the 21st century. In the book, fictional ideas are intertwined with complex scientific theories – and it may be hard to tell them apart. Stanislav Baturin, a leading researcher at ITMO’s School of Physics and Engineering, sheds some light on the science of the novel.
09.01.2025
Everything Wrong With Arrakis: A Physicist’s Take on Dune
The universe of Dune knows how to impress: with its giant worms, a desert planet, and human supercomputers. Is anything from this fictional world based in scientific fact? Which inventions did Frank Herbert foresee? And what do stillsuits and spacesuits have in common? Mikhail Sokolov, a senior researcher at ITMO’s Institute of Laser Technologies, dotted all the i’s in his recent open lecture.
06.01.2025
ITMO Researchers Solve Mystery of Ultrafine Plasmonic Particles
Researchers from ITMO University and the Krasnoyarsk Science Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS) have advanced the theory of light absorption in ultrafine plasmonic nanoparticles. This breakthrough enhances our understanding of nanomaterials' behavior, improves techniques for targeting and destroying cancer cells, and opens up avenues to new areas of research, including quantum plasmonics. The findings were published in Nanophotonics.
12.12.2024
Real-Life Superheroes: A Scientific Take on Superpowers
Telepathy, invisibility, levitation – no, these are not just for superheroes; these days, it’s something you can accomplish with science. In this article, we ask Pavel Belov, the head of ITMO’s School of Physics and Engineering, if it’s possible to become a superhero in real life.
29.11.2024
Classification From ITMO To Help AI Generate Random Noise on Request
Random noise is useful for generating truly random numbers, such as for stronger passwords and data protection, but it’s also what helps reconstruct full-scale images obtained from small cameras placed within the body during medical screenings. Using machine learning and fractal analysis methods, researchers from ITMO University have studied a source of random noise – the textures inside a layer of liquid crystal – and created a classification based on the analysis of large- and small-scale fractal dimensions. Using this data, it's possible to train a neural network to select the parameters for random noise generation, adjusting it for various purposes. The results of the study have been published in Journal of Molecular Liquids.
21.11.2024