Particle image velocimetry (PIV) is a process of suspending tiny tracer particles in the air and illuminating them with a laser sheet plane. The process is used to visualize and measure the movement of fluids. In this case the fluid is air, which is being displaced and agitated by water. Notice the airflow in the wake of falling droplets and along the borders of the subsequent splashes.
Download the HD vesion
You can image that preparing a TED talk is no small task. However, a demonstration as ambitious and technical as shooting mosquitoes with lasers proved to be quite a feat.
Between enhancing and cleaning up the software, assembling and mounting all the components, and just making sure everything looked nice and polished, we had a half dozen people occupied for over a month. During the last minute scrabble, some valuable lessons were learned. First, when the shipping company delivers the wrong crate to TED, effectively losing the world’s only Photonic Fence, it helps not to panic. Also, we now know that hotel water glasses are great places to grow extra mosquitoes when you’re running low.
Getting ready for TED was a lot of work, but nevertheless fun and surreal. We are excited about the enthusiastic response following Nathan’s talk, and can’t wait to share our next big idea with you.
These high speed photographic images of mosquitoes were captured by Intellectual Ventures Laboratory scientists using a Vision Research Phantom V12.1, shooting at up to 6,000 frames per second. [read more about IV's malaria research]
Understanding Mosquito Flight: Intellectual Ventures researchers study flight dynamics of mosquitoes to look for novel ways to attack them. This video shows a technique called “Particle Image Velocimetry.” Tiny suspended water droplets, illuminated by a green planar laser, show the movement of the air around the mosquito’s wing.
Download video in high definition (58.9 MB)
Mosquito in Flight: This video depicts an Anopheles stephensi mosquito in flight. To capture this footage in focus, the mosquito was placed in a custom designed chamber that sensed when the mosquito flew through the focal plane.
Download video in high definition (19.3 MB)
Mosquito Shootdown Sequence: Video clips showing mosquitoes being killed by lasers. If played in real time, these segments would be roughly 1/10th of a second long.
Download video in high definition (26.2 MB)
We decided to play around with our phantom V12 highspeed camera while testing subfreezing ballistic carving methodologies.
This poor pumpkin was dropped from a 20′ person lift, after being soaked in liquid NO2 for half an hour.. one very chilly pumpkin. As the video shows, not just the skin of the pumpkin was frozen. The entire core of the pumpkin was frozen solid: around 77 degrees Kelvin (-321 degrees F).
We decided to play around with our Phantom V12 highspeed camera while testing subfreezing ballistic carving methodologies.
The Quarter Shrinker was constructed by Rob Flickenger at Hackerbot Labs.
Quarter Shrinking has three steps.
1. make a coil of wire,
2. stick quarter inside it,
3. discharge an enormous amount of electric current through the coil.
But what does that actually do, other than making a big boom? … (click for more) Read more…