The Halley Research Station in Antarctica is run by the British Antarctic Survey. The station is used to conduct research into meteorology, glaciology, seismology, radio astronomy, and geospace science.
Recently, the program began focusing on anthropogenic climate change. Halley provides vital information for a global understanding of ozone depletion, polar atmospheric chemistry, sea-level rise and climate change.
The station is mobile, but will likely remain in place for years to come. It took four years to build, and delivered its first scientific research in 2012.
About 20 to 70 people work and live at the station throughout the year, depending on the season.
- Background on living, working, research, history, the weather, and even a webcam: here
- Curious about Halley’s governing institution, the British Antarctic Survey? Go here
- Want a job at Halley station?! Click: Job Vacancies
- More on the modular design: here
- I enjoyed reading the profiles of the station’s variety of vehicles, including Snowmobiles, Sno-Cats, Bulldozers, Cranes, and Tractors with sno-tracks
About the architects. The station was designed by Hugh Broughton Architects, which specializes in extreme environment engineering for unique clients.
Our approach requires us to exercise the lateral thinking abilities of an architect to the full, taking us into new territories, exploring new forms of construction and drawing upon the full breadth of available technologies from a vast array of industries. This is epitomised by the success of our work for extreme environments, where we are one of the global leaders in the design of scientific research facilities in the Polar Regions. Via HBA
Maths breakthrough ups efficiency of teleportation
Physicists have developed mathematical protocols which would enable more efficient teleporting of information using quantum physics.
Teleportation is a key function necessary for development of technologies like quantum computing and relies heavily on entanglement — the ability of physically separated particles to function as connected systems.The protocols are able to send qubits (quantum units of information) either in sequence or as part of a larger package.
“The first protocol consists of sequentially teleporting states, and the second teleports them in a bulk,” said Sergii Strelchuk of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge, who led the research.
“We have also found a generalised teleportation technique which we hope will find applications in areas such as quantum computation.”
While the research is currently purely theoretical, the protocols are an improvement on previous methods for using entanglement as they do not require error correction once the qubits are received and they prevent the entangled state being destroyed after a single use.
“Entanglement can be thought of as the fuel, which powers teleportation,” said Strelchuk. “Our protocol is more fuel efficient, able to use entanglement thriftily while eliminating the need for error correction.”
Image: Kevin Rawlings / CC BY 2.0
Is the 787 Dreamliner a lemon?
A string of incidents casts Boeing’s $32b gamble in a harsh light
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