Popular science blogger shares spintronics video

A video on the research by University of Groningen physicist Bart van Wees has been shared by the popular science blogger Hashem Al-Ghaili. In just a few days, the video has been viewed over 260,000 times on his Facebook channel and was shared by over 2,100 Facebook users.

Although the University of Groningen is very happy with these numbers, it is only fair to point out that so far only a part of the 15,5 million (!) Facebook followers of Al-Ghaili saw the video. They liked it over 4,200 times. The channels of the science communicator, who was born in Yemen and now works from Berlin, can attract millions of viewers. A sure sign that the Internet isn’t just about cat videos!

The video Al-Ghaili shared tackles a complex line of research: spintronics, a field that promises faster and more energy efficient electronics. Normal electronics are based on the presence or absence of an electron current, representing the 1 and 0 that form the basis of all computer operations. But spintronics makes use of a magnetic property of electrons which can take more than these two values. Furthermore, spintronics makes it possible to integrate data processing and storage on one chip, something that can’t be done in regular electronics. Thanks to the work van Bart van Wees, the spintronics revolution is becoming reality.

The video on the work by Professor Van Wees was produced by Sensu , a company specialized in science visualization based in Groningen.