James Sims of NIST and Stanley Hagstrom of IU announced a new high-precision calculation of the energy required to pull apart the two atoms in a hydrogen molecule (H2). Accurate to 1 part in 100 billion, these are the most accurate energy values ever obtained for a molecule of that size, 100 times better than …
James Sims of NIST and Stanley Hagstrom of IU announced a new high-precision calculation of the energy required to pull apart the two atoms in a hydrogen molecule (H2). Accurate to 1 part in 100 billion, these are the most accurate energy values ever obtained for a molecule of that size, 100 times better than …
Magnetically inflated cables can spring open a large (kilometer or larger) membrane space structure This can be used to make massive space telescopes, solar power collection systems, solar thermal propulsion and many other structures. This looks like one of the most simple and straight forward yet highest potential of all of the new Nasa institute …
Advancement on powered tether propulsion. Improved for movement in all directions and the structure can be used for other functions The article also has an interesting analysis of power storage systems now and near term. Brian WangBrian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His …
Scalable flat panel nano-particle propulsion is and advancement of ion drive Different size particles are used to get maximum efficiency and to optimize either specific impulse (speed of propellant) or the amount of acceleration force. Brian WangBrian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His …
Telecommunications researchers have demonstrated a novel communications network design that would provide both ultra-high-speed wireless and wired access services from the same signals carried on a single optical fiber. The system could provide 32 different channels, each providing 2.5 gigabit-per-second service. That capacity is already working in the lab. Using a technique developed at Georgia …
Researchers at the University of Dallas have created alcohol- and hydrogen-powered artificial muscles that are 100 times stronger than natural muscles, able to do 100 times greater work per cycle and produce, at reduced strengths, larger contractions than natural muscles. Among other possibilities, these muscles could enable fuel-powered artificial limbs, “smart skins” and morphing structures …
The plan is to build a “sub-critical” nuclear reactor. Such a reactor would not be able to sustain a chain reaction. Instead, the nucleus-transmuting subatomic particles would be supplied from outside, using a particle accelerator.Facilities, which will probably cost around $1 billion each, are being planned by physicists in Japan and Europe to come on …
The DNA origami steps are described In Rothemund’s method, a long strand of DNA snakes back and forth until it forms a desired shape. The key to getting the DNA to form this way, and to holding it in place, are short “staples” of DNA with sequences chosen to attach to specific parts of the …
James Baker designs nanoparticles to guide drugs directly into cancer cells, which could lead to far safer treatments. Cancer therapies may be the first nanomedicines to take off. Treatments that deliver drugs to the neighborhood of cancer cells in nanoscale capsules have recently become available for breast and ovarian cancers and for Kaposi’s sarcoma. The …
Another example that new more precise tools can help reveal important details of problems such as disease. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) a variation of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that allows the study of the connections between different brain areas. Conventional imaging techniques, such as structural MRI, reveal major anatomical features of the brain — gray …