Since the Apollo era, sample return missions have been primarily limited to asteroid sampling. More comprehensive sampling could yield critical information on the formation of the solar system and the potential of life beyond Earth. Hard landings at hypervelocity (1-2 km/s) would enable sampling to several feet below the surface penetration while minimizing the Delta …
While today’s commercial solar panels typically have an efficiency of at most 25 percent, a silicon solar cell harnessing singlet fission should make it feasible to achieve efficiency of more than 30 percent, Baldo says — a huge leap in a field typically marked by slow, incremental progress. In solar cell research, he notes, people …
“We’ve developed the world’s smallest steam engine, or to be more precise the smallest Stirling engine, and found that the machine really does perform work,” said Clemens Bechinger, a physicist at the University of Stuttgart and Fellow of the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Germany. The research team plans to explore the range …
2011 Global R&D Funding Forecast – Battelle, 36 pages Total global spending on R and D in 2011 is anticipated to increase 3.6%, to almost $1.2 trillion. With Asia’s stake continuing to increase, the geographic distribution of this investment will continue a shift begun more than five years ago. The U.S., however, still dominates absolute …
A new study shows that being smart about where we grow algae can drastically reduce how much water is needed for algal biofuel. Growing algae for biofuel, while being water-wise, could also help meet congressionally mandated renewable fuel targets by replacing 17 percent of the nation’s imported oil for transportation, according to a paper published …
Electric Drive Transportation Association has an eight page document Driving Forward: An Action Plan for the Electric Drive Era which unsurprisingly calls for direct and indirect government subsidies for faster rollout of electric cars. Currently they are projecting 500,000 electric drive vehicles annually by 2015. I present my alternative plan for city by city for …
Icarus Project blog discusses the choice between choosing an interstellar flyby versus deceleration mission. Is an interstellar flyby worth the effort ? Project Icarus Study Group decided that we had to go that next step further and consider the difficult challenge of deceleration. With this in mind, this became part of our engineering requirement. Several …
Rice University researchers have moved a step closer to creating robust, three-dimensional microbatteries that would charge faster and hold other advantages over conventional lithium-ion batteries. They could power new generations of remote sensors, display screens, smart cards, flexible electronics and biomedical devices. The batteries employ vertical arrays of nickel-tin nanowires perfectly encased in PMMA, a …
1. Samsung demonstrated Wimax 2 at 330 megabits per second in Japan 2. The Wimax 2 specification is nearly finalized and commercial deployment is expected starting in 2012 3. LTE Advanced has been given official 4G certification. In order to qualify for official 4G status, wireless technologies need to achieve peak rates of 1Gbps in …
http://io9.com/5667125/new-ultra+flexible-waterproof-leds-can-be-implanted-under-your-skin New ultra-flexible, waterproof LEDs can be implanted under your skin. Only one color for now but soon you will be able to get a changeable tattoo. No more regret. Change it to your current girlfriend’s name. If you liked this article, please give it a quick review on ycombinator, or Reddit, or StumbleUpon. Thanks …
Ads : Nano Technology Netbook Technology News Computer Software Zenn Motor has ceased production of the ZENN LSV and the successful sell-down of remaining inventory and ground stock is largely complete. As such, the Company has been able to complete planned organizational changes that reflect its transition from manufacturer to solutions developer. This has resulted in …