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December 22, 2025 β€’ 14 mins

Want to hear something weird about a dingo, a single-pixel camera, and something called ghost imaging?

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Hey Tagan, Hey Ray, do you want to hear something
weird about a dingo, a single pixel camera and something
called ghost imaging?

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Yes? I do see. I really short circuited there because
I was about to ask you, like, oh, like which
Google pixel like which one we talk about? That I
realized you actually mean a single pixel camera.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
A single pixel camera?

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yes? Please?

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Okay, So my favorite people Australian scientists, Yes, at the
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization, the Australian National University,
Monash University and swim Burne University of Technology.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
So just all of them.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
They have developed a world first way to make three
D elemental ghost images of objects. What exactly I'm going
to explain all of this to you.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Absolutely no context, no understanding, purely going off the words
you said. It kind of sounds like it belongs in
the kind of magician tricksters, things that we talked about
in one of our Halloween twenty twenty four episodes, that
people would use for misdirection and messing them like here's
a ghost. I guess we didn't mess with this photography.
Don't worry about it.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
One hundred percent. This should have been a spooky week topic.
But spooky Week is continuing for the rest of the
gear take. And I've decided because I heard about this
and when I need to tell Teken about this.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yes, look we g at. This is our show. It
can be spooky ik whenever we want it to be, right, excellent.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
So this is a full three D picture that lets
you see what's inside an object and exactly what it's
made of, all at once without having to cut it open.
That's basically what they've made.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
Wait so hang on, So just so we're clear, if
it took a photo of me, it then just sees
just a stomach that's full of like double coded timtams
or something.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
Better than that. Okay, better than that. It sees the
elements that those double codeds are made of. It takes
every down to its chemical structure, right amazing. And they
did this by combining three things which I will also explain.

(02:25):
Neutron computed tomography YEP, neutron activation analysis, and the aforementioned
ghost imaging.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
Okay, I know what topography means, so oh yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
Yeah, so neutron computed tomography not to I.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
See, I didn't know see that, I didn't know I
was wrong when I take it back. I'm like, that's
on naps and things.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, no, it's a little bit the same, but no.
So it works a little bit like a CT scan,
like a medical CT scan, but instead of using X ray,
it uses neutrons. So tiny little neutral particles live in
the nuclei of atoms. They don't have an electric charge,
so they can pass through metals and other dense materials

(03:12):
that X rays can't, and they're especially good at highlighting
light elements like hydrogen. So you put an object in
a neutron beam, rotate it slowly, take lots of two
dimensional pictures of how the neutrons pass through it, and
then you combine all those pictures to create a full

(03:35):
three D view of the insight. Wow, that is neutron
computed tomography, so kind of like mapping, kind of like
three D mapping of an object using neutrons. So that's
one part. Then you add the neutron activation analysis. That's
the part that tells you what elements are inside the object,

(03:55):
and they do this by measuring the energy of the
gamma rays that appear when the new trons hit it.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yeah, okay, because it's able to pass through exactly Yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
Right, then ghost imaging is in two parts. There's so
many parts to this texture. I'm with you still, I've
been researching so long on this. So ghost imaging uses
two detectors. Yeah, one detector looks at the object but
only gives you a single pixel. So that is the

(04:23):
single pixel camera. Genuinely the least helpful camera ever built.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
Okay, except obviously it's useful for some reason in this context.

Speaker 1 (04:31):
In this context only because it is combined with the
other detector. So the other detector doesn't look at the
object at all. It just records random patterns of the
neutron beam. So on their own, these two detectors are useless.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
Yeah, But when you compare how those random patterns change
with how the single pixel detector readings change, they shift
together in a way that the computer can recognize.

Speaker 2 (04:58):
Basically, yeah, okay.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
In other words, when the pattern hitting the object moves,
the single pixel measurement moves in the same way.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
Got it.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
Yeah, And spotting these matching changes across thousands of patterns,
computers are really good at pattern recognition. A computer can
reconstruct a real image of the object, and that's how
they make this ghost photo basically, So back in the nineties, though,
scientists thought that you needed I've got another term for you, please.

(05:34):
This one thought that you need a quantum entanglement to
make ghost imaging work.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, So.

Speaker 1 (05:40):
Quantum entanglement real phenomenon. Two particles become linked so strongly
that measuring one instantly tells you something about the other,
no matter how far apart they are, basically, but ghost
imaging doesn't rely on that at all. It works perfectly
well using the everyday patterns and matching measurements that they've
been able to use. So when you combine the ghost

(06:01):
imaging with the neutron computer tomography the neutron activation analysis,
you get something totally new, which is that full three
D image showing both the structure of an object and
exactly what it's made of at the same time. And
this can be done on objects so much bigger than
anything that previous elemental imaging methods could handle. So it's

(06:25):
a massive, a massive step for Australian scientists. How big
we're talking we're still talking tiny, but bigger, but bigger.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
And so why would this in like the in a
real world sense be useful?

Speaker 1 (06:39):
Yeah, great question, So critical minerals, battery research, aerospace, materials, archaeology,
conservation scientists basically think of any field where you want
to see inside something without sowing it in half.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
Oh yeah, okay, okay, So like when there's all of
those ancient alien when it is like its inside the pyramid,
like they'll actually be able to.

Speaker 1 (07:03):
Do that, sure, absolutely, but they'll be able to tell
you what elements the pyramid is made out of.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
That is actually probably useful considering that you know, there's
things that they still don't know, or if they're still
looking for tombs in different things.

Speaker 1 (07:17):
And they would be able to identify that it is
made of elements found on Earth, right on another planet.
And it turns out brown people can make things.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
So weird, so weird that there might be tech.

Speaker 1 (07:28):
Thanks ancient aliens. Yep, yeah, I watch that show is Cereble.
That's not all the scientists did, though, Tagan, Yeah, you
mentioned a dingo, I did mention the They've also achieved
something that they've called ghost projection.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
Okay, I love this so much, And how is this different?
You just like popping out a projector in your backyard.

Speaker 1 (07:52):
So it basically flips the whole idea around of the
ghost imaging. So instead of using random patterns to rebuild
an image, they use random patterns to shape the neutron
beam itself into any image they want, so they only
need one randomly patented mask. It's like if you've worked

(08:12):
in theater and you've had to slide things in front
of theater lights. They're called gobos. It's kind of like
a gobo neutron images.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
Wait, is this a neutron deep face.

Speaker 1 (08:25):
No, it's very old school. It's almost like neutron shadow puppetry.
So one randomly patent mask they slide it into different positions,
but over time to sculp the beam. I think of
like screen printing that you do in layers with different colors.
That's basically what they're doing with the neutron beams. Because

(08:49):
the neutron imaging instrument they used is called dingo. The
first thing that they shaped the beam into was a
dingo and didn't go poor print and taken. I've got
a photo with these I want to show you so
sidetrack news. Well, while I'm air dropping this downloaded picture

(09:10):
from my MacBook to my iPhone so that I can
message it to you on signal, did you hear that
Google has broken the air drop coat protocol.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
What no, what?

Speaker 1 (09:24):
And they did it so above board that they even
did all of their security testing as well, so that
when they announced it, they were like, don't stop us, Apple,
there's no security threat. This is fine, this is fine.
So basically, they're making it so that Android devices using
Google's OS's can use air drop and air drop to
each other, which is a massive, it's really funny, aasive

(09:46):
game changer. So we'll see what. We'll see what Apple
does about that, because at this point in time, it's
one of the core reasons why people stay with Apple. Literally, okay,
I have this on my phone. I am now going
to signal you the message you sho have received.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
Now, what's so cute? Look at the little dingo?

Speaker 1 (10:05):
Isn't it cute?

Speaker 2 (10:06):
So cute?

Speaker 1 (10:07):
Isn't it cute? I just love this, Like you cannot
hand an Australian scientist a machine called Dingo. Tell them
they can create any image they want, and expect them
not to create a dingo in a Dingo Paul print, Like,
come on.

Speaker 2 (10:19):
I think they didn't like Honestly, I like how the
sixth photo on this actually does look like one of
those grainy nineteen twenties like this has proved there was
a ghost in the house. I love it.

Speaker 1 (10:33):
That was one of the things that really struck me
when I saw these image like this is blurry, but
so were the earliest photos in history, which is very
consistent with ghost photography throughout time. So the fact that
this is the latest chapter in ghost photography and now
we're simply projecting and creating our own ghost photos, I

(10:56):
think this is awesome. And they've made these beautiful images
while also creating technology that's super useful for doing things like,
you know, testing electronics in space and studying radiation effects.
Because the real breakthrough with this isn't isn't creating It's
not just creating pretty pictures of Dinghos Tagan.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
What I want to see with this is the most
I think significant use of all which is a modern
version with dingos of the Cottingly Fairings.

Speaker 1 (11:28):
Well, then they shouldn't have released the white paper on
it taken. They should have kept it a secret, and
we're just there's ghosts. There's ding goo ghosts haunting everything.
The real breakthrough, the real proper application of this is
shaping neutron beams like this, let's scientists aim radiation at
specific parts of a sample while avoiding others.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
Ah, so cancer.

Speaker 1 (11:51):
When you think of reasons why we might need to
have radiation hit one thing but not things surrounding it,
that's that's the kind of application that we could be
looking at for this.

Speaker 2 (12:02):
So's really cool.

Speaker 1 (12:03):
I love this news. And even though it required a
lot of reminding myself and explaining what the components are
and how it actually works, which is the parts that
I always find fascinating. It's like, yeah, they can do
a thing, but how, Yeah, but how.

Speaker 2 (12:19):
We're still waiting on that answer. By the way, Samsung
with your one chord for your TVs? But how but how?

Speaker 1 (12:26):
But how your one clear chord? No one would tell
me how it worked, and they flew me to New
York and they wouldn't tell me how it worked, and.

Speaker 2 (12:35):
To the point where it became a meme on our
website where it's just like, why can't you answer the question?

Speaker 1 (12:42):
And those articles are available in the wayback machine because
someone didn't want to continue to pay for Gizmoto dot
com dot at you.

Speaker 2 (12:49):
That's exactly right. It's almost as if I don't know
that maybe archiving is an important thing that should be
forced by law.

Speaker 1 (12:58):
Anyway, we were told that anything you post on the
Internet will be there forever, so that is still true.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
Yeah, it's time find right.

Speaker 1 (13:08):
Well, thank you for letting me tell you about ghost
photos and dingos and what on earth they have to
do with each other and how austrained scientists have made
them both.

Speaker 2 (13:18):
I loved it, and I even by the end I
think understood a good sixty percent of it, So that's
a netwin to me. And that's it for this episode
of weird Tech. If you have any weird tech that
you would like us to cover, or if some of
your tech is being weird we want to hear about it.

(13:41):
You can hit us up on all social media platforms
at weird Tech Media. We're a Weird Tech media production
and a proud member of the iHeartRadio Network. This episode
was edited by the podcast Butler. Please remember to subscribe
on your favorite podcast platforms so you don't miss the
next episode, and until next time, stay weird Impu.
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