The Curse Upon the Obra Dinn The Obra Dinn, a merchant ship, set sail from London in 1802. It was bound for the Orient with over 200 tons of goods and a crew of 51 men. However, the ship mysteriously disappeared and was presumed lost at sea. It wasn't until five years later that the ship reappeared on the shores of Falmouth, England under strange circumstances. When the ship was discovered, there was no sign of the crew except for a few corpses. The ship was in a state of disarray, with blood-soaked decks and evidence of a struggle.
“White” light from a tungsten lamp is focused into the tip of a silver nanowire to check the light scattering and absorption of a sample with high fidelity. (Ma et. al, 2021)
Scientists have developed new materials for next-generation electronics so tiny that they are not only indistinguishable when closely packed, but they also don t reflect enough light to show fine details, such as colors, with even the most powerful optical microscopes. The researchers expect that the new technology can be an important tool to help the semiconductor industry make uniform nanomaterials with consistent properties for use in electronic devices.
The ship was in a state of disarray, with blood-soaked decks and evidence of a struggle. The authorities boarded the ship and discovered a journal belonging to an insurance adjuster named William Davenport. The journal detailed the events that occurred on the ship, as well as the fate of the crew.
“Magic wand” reveals a colorful nano-world
Scientists have developed new materials for next-generation electronics so tiny that they are not only indistinguishable when closely packed, but they also don’t reflect enough light to show fine details, such as colors, with even the most powerful optical microscopes. Under an optical microscope, carbon nanotubes, for example, look grayish. The inability to distinguish fine details and differences between individual pieces of nanomaterials makes it hard for scientists to study their unique properties and discover ways to perfect them for industrial use.
“White” light from a tungsten lamp is focused into the tip of a silver nanowire to check the light scattering and absorption of a sample with high fidelity. (Ma et. al, 2021)
In a new report in Nature Communications, researchers from UC Riverside describe a revolutionary imaging technology that compresses lamp light into a nanometer-sized spot. It holds that light at the end of a silver nanowire like a Hogwarts student practicing the “Lumos” spell, and uses it to reveal previously invisible details, including colors.
The advance, improving color-imaging resolution to an unprecedented 6 nanometer level, will help scientists see nanomaterials in enough detail to make them more useful in electronics and other applications.
Ming Liu and Ruoxue Yan, associate professors in UC Riverside’s Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering, developed this unique tool with a superfocusing technique developed by the team. The technique has been used in previous work to observe the vibration of molecular bonds at 1-nanometer spatial resolution without the need of any focusing lens.
This visualization shows the fiber-in-fiber-out process for optical spectroscopy measurement. Credit: Liu Group/UCR
In the new report, Liu and Yan modified the tool to measure signals spanning the whole visible wavelength range, which can be used to render the color and depict the electronic band structures of the object instead of only molecule vibrations. The tool squeezes the light from a tungsten lamp into a silver nanowire with near-zero scattering or reflection, where light is carried by the oscillation wave of free electrons at the silver surface.
The condensed light leaves the silver nanowire tip, which has a radius of just 5 nanometers, in a conical path, like the light beam from a flashlight. When the tip passes over an object, its influence on the beam shape and color is detected and recorded.
“It is like using your thumb to control the water spray from a hose,” Liu said, “You know how to get the desired spraying pattern by changing the thumb position, and likewise, in the experiment, we read the light pattern to retrieve the details of the object blocking the 5 nm-sized light nozzle.”
The light is then focused into a spectrometer, where it forms a tiny ring shape. By scanning the probe over an area and recording two spectra for each pixel, the researchers can formulate the absorption and scattering images with colors. The originally grayish carbon nanotubes receive their first color photograph, and an individual carbon nanotube now has the chance to exhibit its unique color.
“The atomically smooth sharp-tip silver nanowire and its nearly scatterless optical coupling and focusing is critical for the imaging,” Yan said. “Otherwise there would be intense stray light in the background that ruins the whole effort. “
The researchers expect that the new technology can be an important tool to help the semiconductor industry make uniform nanomaterials with consistent properties for use in electronic devices. The new full-color nano-imaging technique could also be used to improve understanding of catalysis, quantum optics, and nanoelectronics.
Liu, Yan, and Ma were joined in the research by Xuezhi Ma, who worked on the project as part of his doctoral research at UCR Riverside. Researchers also included UCR students Qiushi Liu, Ning Yu, Da Xu, Sanggon Kim; Zebin Liu and Kaili Jiang at Tsinghua University, and UCR professor Bryan Wong. The paper, titled “6 nm super-resolution optical transmission and scattering spectroscopic imaging of carbon nanotubes using a nanometer-scale white light source,” is available here.
“It is like using your thumb to control the water spray from a hose,” Liu said, “You know how to get the desired spraying pattern by changing the thumb position, and likewise, in the experiment, we read the light pattern to retrieve the details of the object blocking the 5 nm-sized light nozzle.”
According to the journal, the crew members started to exhibit strange and aggressive behavior shortly after setting sail. They would mutter incoherent words and act irrationally. The captain tried to maintain order, but soon the entire crew descended into madness. The journal described how crew members started attacking each other, resulting in casualties. Eventually, only a few crew members were left alive. The cause of this madness was believed to be a curse. The Obra Dinn had stopped at a small island called Nuku Hiva, where the crew came into contact with an idol that was believed to have magical powers. It is believed that the idol cursed the crew and caused the chaotic events that unfolded on the ship. The crew members who survived were either killed by their fellow crew members or died from unexplained causes. The curse upon the Obra Dinn remains a mystery to this day. Some believe it was a supernatural force, while others think it was a result of a hallucinogenic substance or a contagious disease. Whatever the cause, the events that occurred on the ship serve as a chilling reminder of the dangers that lie in the unknown. The Obra Dinn has since become a legend in maritime history. The ship and its cursed crew have captivated the imaginations of many, and the story has been passed down through generations. The mystery of the curse upon the Obra Dinn continues to intrigue and fascinate people, even centuries later..
Reviews for "The Time-Traveling Mechanics of The Curse Upon the Obra Dinn"
1. Michael - 2/5 stars - I was really excited to play "The Curse upon the Obra Dinn" after hearing all the hype surrounding it, but I was ultimately disappointed. The unique art style and concept were intriguing, but the gameplay fell flat for me. The puzzles were overly convoluted and difficult to solve, leading to frustration rather than enjoyment. Additionally, the lack of guidance or hints made it frustratingly easy to get stuck and spend too much time on certain parts. Overall, while the game had potential, it didn't deliver an engaging and enjoyable experience for me.
2. Sarah - 1/5 stars - I found "The Curse upon the Obra Dinn" to be incredibly boring and tedious. The monochromatic visuals and repetitive soundtrack became tiresome after a short while. Moreover, the narrative lacked depth and failed to captivate my interest. The game heavily relied on trial and error, which felt more like a chore than a puzzle-solving experience. I ended up quitting halfway through as I couldn't bear to continue playing. Overall, "The Curse upon the Obra Dinn" didn't live up to the hype for me and left me feeling incredibly underwhelmed.
3. Robert - 2/5 stars - I had high hopes for "The Curse upon the Obra Dinn" as a fan of detective games, but I found myself disappointed in the execution. While the concept of identifying the crew members' fates through frozen moments in time was intriguing, the gameplay quickly became repetitive and monotonous. The lack of character development and flat dialogue made it difficult to connect with the story or the individuals on the ship. Additionally, the controls felt clunky and the overall pacing of the game was slow. Unfortunately, I didn't find "The Curse upon the Obra Dinn" to be a satisfying or enjoyable experience.