Infrared Radiation

INFRARED burners are a hot option on gas barbecues, but are we merely buying marketing sizzle instead of cooking a better steak? The intense heat of infrared energy, the pitch goes, allows backyard grillers to sear meat the way steakhouse chefs do.

Vampire bats like it warm: To home in and bite with fanged efficiency, they've developed a temperature sensor to guide them to their prey, a new study has found. All mammals need heat sensors to help them avoid potentially harmful temperatures such as those that would be encountered from a forest fire or dangerously hot water. This is achieved by a protein called TRPV1 that forms a pore — known as an ion channel — in the membranes of cells. TRPV1 detects temperatures higher than 109 degrees Fahrenheit.

Bemco Inc., a Simi Valley manufacturer of environmental test chambers, has received a $1.1-million contract from the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington to test the effect of infrared radiation on vehicle surfaces. The test chamber--9 1/2 feet tall and 14 feet in diameter--will simulate a range of radiation from sea level to high altitude on the surface parts of aircraft and ships. Bemco employs 50 workers at its Union Place corporate headquarters and reported sales of $5 million in 1994.

INFRARED burners are a hot option on gas barbecues, but are we merely buying marketing sizzle instead of cooking a better steak? The intense heat of infrared energy, the pitch goes, allows backyard grillers to sear meat the way steakhouse chefs do.

Scientists say they have produced antennas the size of a single grain of sand. Unlike the giant antennas needed to receive the longer wavelengths used by communications systems, these tiny antennas can receive extremely short wavelengths of infrared radiation, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, where the small antennas were developed.

Vampire bats like it warm: To home in and bite with fanged efficiency, they've developed a temperature sensor to guide them to their prey, a new study has found. All mammals need heat sensors to help them avoid potentially harmful temperatures such as those that would be encountered from a forest fire or dangerously hot water. This is achieved by a protein called TRPV1 that forms a pore — known as an ion channel — in the membranes of cells. TRPV1 detects temperatures higher than 109 degrees Fahrenheit.

Infant stars swaddled in dust have been discovered as they emerge from a dark interstellar gas cloud, giving scientists a new model of stellar formation and suggesting that sunlike stars are born with the raw materials for planets. The stars described by astronomers last week are among the youngest ever photographed, and were found by using a sensitive new infrared instrument able to penetrate the veil of dark gas and debris that blocks the view of forming stars.

Transmitting infrared signals is nothing new for officials at Irvine Sensors Corp. Most have been at it for years now--for example, every time they change TV channels using a remote control. Soon, though, such commonplace infrared waves may link computers with each other and with printers and other devices.

Firefighting in Los Angeles County took on a high-tech look last week when officials used heat-sensing devices and laptop computers to gain an edge over a 1,300-acre blaze that swept through the Angeles National Forest. Packed inside a red van owned and operated by the county, an infrared mapping system was used for the first time to help determine the intensity, size, direction and hot spots of the fire, which erupted after an auto accident Monday on the Golden State Freeway near Castaic.

Irvine Sensors Corp. said Wednesday that it has developed a complete infrared sensor on a computer chip less than a quarter of an inch long. An earlier version of the chip was developed for the Navy as a homing device for use on air-to-air missiles. The sensor, dubbed a Dual Spectrum Digital Readout, can read two different lengths of infrared waves simultaneously.

An $11,000 high-tech gadget has been added to the Cypress Police Department's crime-fighting arsenal. The Forward Looking Infrared is a small, white apparatus mounted behind the light bar on top of a patrol car. Inside the car, a monitor attached to the dashboard enables a specially trained officer to search for criminals or objects in complete darkness, from a distance. "You can be driving 15 to 20 mph, and you can watch the little monitor and still watch the roadway," Police Chief John D.

Bemco Inc., a Simi Valley manufacturer of environmental test chambers, has received a $1.1-million contract from the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington to test the effect of infrared radiation on vehicle surfaces. The test chamber--9 1/2 feet tall and 14 feet in diameter--will simulate a range of radiation from sea level to high altitude on the surface parts of aircraft and ships. Bemco employs 50 workers at its Union Place corporate headquarters and reported sales of $5 million in 1994.

Transmitting infrared signals is nothing new for officials at Irvine Sensors Corp. Most have been at it for years now--for example, every time they change TV channels using a remote control. Soon, though, such commonplace infrared waves may link computers with each other and with printers and other devices.

Irvine Sensors Corp. said Wednesday that it has developed a complete infrared sensor on a computer chip less than a quarter of an inch long. An earlier version of the chip was developed for the Navy as a homing device for use on air-to-air missiles. The sensor, dubbed a Dual Spectrum Digital Readout, can read two different lengths of infrared waves simultaneously.

Infant stars swaddled in dust have been discovered as they emerge from a dark interstellar gas cloud, giving scientists a new model of stellar formation and suggesting that sunlike stars are born with the raw materials for planets. The stars described by astronomers last week are among the youngest ever photographed, and were found by using a sensitive new infrared instrument able to penetrate the veil of dark gas and debris that blocks the view of forming stars.

Firefighting in Los Angeles County took on a high-tech look last week when officials used heat-sensing devices and laptop computers to gain an edge over a 1,300-acre blaze that swept through the Angeles National Forest. Packed inside a red van owned and operated by the county, an infrared mapping system was used for the first time to help determine the intensity, size, direction and hot spots of the fire, which erupted after an auto accident Monday on the Golden State Freeway near Castaic.

An $11,000 high-tech gadget has been added to the Cypress Police Department's crime-fighting arsenal. The Forward Looking Infrared is a small, white apparatus mounted behind the light bar on top of a patrol car. Inside the car, a monitor attached to the dashboard enables a specially trained officer to search for criminals or objects in complete darkness, from a distance. "You can be driving 15 to 20 mph, and you can watch the little monitor and still watch the roadway," Police Chief John D.

One of the holy grails of solar cell technology may have been found, with researchers at UCLA announcing they have created a new organic polymer that produces electricity, is nearly transparent and is more durable and malleable than silicon. The applications are mind-boggling. Windows that produce electricity. Buildings wrapped in transparent solar cells. Laptops and phones - or even cars or planes - whose outer coverings act as chargers. It might even be sprayed on as a liquid. The promise of cheap and easy-to-apply site-generated solar electricity might now be a lot closer to reality.

Scientists say they have produced antennas the size of a single grain of sand. Unlike the giant antennas needed to receive the longer wavelengths used by communications systems, these tiny antennas can receive extremely short wavelengths of infrared radiation, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, where the small antennas were developed.