What if we created energy using the same method as the Sun? This Earth Day, we're excited to explore fusion energy in the newest edition of our limited-series newsletter, The Lever, featuring perspectives from experts at Columbia Engineering and beyond. Subscribe today to learn about this carbon free, low-waste, always-on source of energy. https://bit.ly/4tBUXas

The plasma used in fusion power is hotter than the Sun. Elizabeth Paul uses AI to design magnetic systems to control plasma in a fusion power plant. Hear more from Professor Paul and her colleagues at Columbia Engineering: subscribe to our Lever series on fusion to learn about this carbon free, low-waste, always-on source of energy. http://engineering.columbia.edu/the-lever/fusion

Broadband imaging in the near-infrared using a single meta-lens, showing the ability of the lens in correcting chromatic aberrations, and manufacturing of meta-lenses using planar fabrication techniques similar to those used in the integrated circuits industry.

Ever wonder how lightsabers work? Watch how plasma physics make these signature Star Wars weapons possible -- in every color of the rainbow.

The wings of Lepidoptera contain a matrix of living cells whose functioning requires appropriate temperatures. However, given their small thermal capacity, wings can overheat rapidly in the sun. Here we analyze butterfly wings across a wide range of simulated environmental conditions, and find that regions containing living cells are maintained at cooler temperatures in a manner that is largely unaffected by visible color patterns. Diverse scale nanostructures and non-uniform cuticle thicknesses create a heterogeneous distribution of radiative cooling that selectively reduces the temperature of living structures such as wing veins and androconial organs.

If the processes powering the fusion reactor at the Sun's core could be recreated on Earth, it would be one of the most important events in the history of our species. Nuclear fusion power plants could end our dependency on fossil fuels and provide a virtually limitless, highly efficient source of clean energy. We went to two of the world's leading nuclear fusion research centers—Sandia National Labs in New Mexico and General Fusion outside Vancouver—to see how close we are to bringing the power of the stars down to Earth. Check out CNET's channel for more: http://bit.ly/2gpeXdr Subscribe to MOTHERBOARD: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-To-MOTHERBOARD Follow MOTHERBOARD Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/motherboardtv Twitter: http://twitter.com/motherboard Tumblr: http://motherboardtv.tumblr.com/ Instagram: http://instagram.com/motherboardtv More videos from the VICE network: https://www.fb.com/vicevideo

Read the full interview in Columbia Engineering magazine. After almost a decade of long-distance collaborations, Keren Bergman, Michal Lipson, and Alex Gaeta are working together in one place, here at Columbia Engineering. Lipson and Gaeta joined the School this summer as the Eugene Higgins Professor in Electrical Engineering (EE) and the David M. Rickey Professor of Applied Physics and of Materials Science, respectively. And now, together with Bergman, who is the Charles Batchelor Professor and EE chair, the trio is set to break new ground in nanophotonics, or, as Lipson, a preeminent leader in nanophotonic fabrication, puts it, “optics on a very, very small scale.”

Latha Venkataraman, Assistant Professor of Applied Physics at Columbia Engineering School, discusses her recent research measuring current transport across single molecules.

Raymond Mindlin. Frontiers of Engineering Science / Frontiers of Molecular Engineering Jeffrey Kysar, Professor of Mechanical Engineering Latha Venkataraman, Associate Professor of Applied Physics