The New Aircraft carriers for UK, Japan, USA, China and India by 2020

The estimated cost for the UK of building the two large aircraft carriers has almost doubled to more than £6bn. The F-35 programme, meanwhile, has faced serious technical problems and the cost of the aircraft has spiralled to an estimated £70m each. HMS Prince of Wales is the second Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier under construction …

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Android has 80% of the smartphone market and Apple has 14%

Global smartphone shipments grew 47 percent to hit 230 million devices in the second quarter of 2013, according to a new report from research firm Strategy Analytics. And Android captured record market share of 80 percent. Apple iOS reached 14 percent global smartphone share in the quarter. Microsoft has 4%. There will likely a bit …

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Regeneration repairs hair, eyes and heart cells in mice

Nature – Three studies published this week show that introducing new cells into mice can replace diseased cells — whether hair, eye or heart — and help to restore the normal function of those cells. These proof-of-principle studies now have researchers setting their sights on clinical trials to see if the procedures could work in …

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Progress on compressed air power storage

Researchers at the University of Nottingham in the UK are currently testing the Energy Bag, a large inflatable energy storage device submerged in water’s off Scotland’s Orkney Islands. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology floated a similar idea last year using hollow concrete spheres instead of inflatable bags as a storage vessel. Now the …

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Areva Anteres prismatic modular reactor selected for Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP)

An Areva prismatic steam-cycle high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (SC-HTGR) concept has been selected by the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) Industry Alliance as the optimum design for next generation nuclear power plants. In addition to generating electricity, these modular plants could produce process heat for use by industry. Three companies were selected to conduct design and …

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Fission rockets could open up the solar system

Although the nascent commercial space industry is focusing almost exclusively on chemical rockets, the inefficiency of chemical propulsion places serious limitations on orbital and extra-orbital activities. The most efficient liquid propellant combination, employing liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, requires cryogenic storage and large hydrogen fuel tanks. Fission rockets are substantially more efficient than chemical rockets, …

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Hurricane suppression system – Salter Sink

Energy from the sun heats up the surface of the ocean. As that heat irradiates up and fuels storms, they can become ever more dangerous hurricanes. Reducing their destructive potential is possible if we can just cool off the surface of the ocean. Even just one degree centigrade might be the difference between a category …

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The anti-nuclear lobby has misled us all by George Monbiot

George Monbiot UK Guardian – The anti-nuclear movement to which I [George Monbiot] once belonged has misled the world about the impacts of radiation on human health. The claims we have made are ungrounded in science, unsupportable when challenged, and wildly wrong. We have done other people, and ourselves, a terrible disservice. I began to …

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Interstellar space travel prediction needs comparable advances in all areas

There has been recent discussion of a possible way to travel faster than light using dark energy, but that to move a 1000 cubic meter object it would take 10**45 joules (convert Jupiter into energy). However, it makes no sense to assume being able to convert a planetary mass into energy without having increased control …

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