An interesting concept for solar power appears to be on track for testing in Palau by 2012. The Space Island Group is also proposing low earth orbit solar power beamed to multiple locations. Space Island Group hopes to have its first system up by 2010. Space Island group is targeting 10 cents per kilowatt hour …
The idea of superconductivity without the mediating role of lattice vibrations (phonons) has a long history. According to researchers Pines, Monthoux and Lonzarich, electron attraction leading to superconductivity can occur without phonons in materials that are on the verge of exhibiting magnetic order—in which electrons align themselves in a regular pattern of alternating spins. Pines, …
The Carnival of Space 34 is up at Rainer Gerhards space launch blog. I provided my updated look at the status of scramjets Colony Worlds considers gravity suits for offworld children A Babe in the Universe reports on the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory mission to study the moon There is a lot of speculation …
From physorg.com, R. Dean Astumian, a Physics Professor at the University of Maine, has recently proposed a concept in which molecular machines can operate arbitrarily close to chemical equilibrium at every instant of the cycle, and still perform work at the rate of several micrometers per second against piconewton loads. The study, “Adiabatic operation of …
A new lab on a chip — slightly more than 1.5 square inches in area — detected circulating cancer cells in 115 of 116 blood samples from patients with metastatic cancer for a sensitivity of 99.1%, according to Daniel Haber, M.D., director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, and colleagues. I have proposed widespread …
Robert Zubrin makes the case that conservation will not free us from dependence on middle east oil. Robert shows that only fuel substitution policies have worked. In electricity generation oil for electricity was substituted for nuclear power. Robert indicates that we need all cars to be flex fuel vehicles. I agree that this is a …
The EPA made a [politically based] ruling that denied California a waiver to set its own fuel standard This will be overturned in a lawsuit. California’s standard would be 36mpg by 2016 versus the recently passed 34 mpg by 2020 CAFE. Brian WangBrian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with …
From physorg.com, graphene transistors that are ten times faster than silicon are possible and the method needs to be scaled up. Switching from silicon to carbon has not been possible because technologists believed they needed graphene material in the same form as the silicon used to make chips: a single crystal of material eight or …
Epix Pharmaceuticals (nasdaq: EPIX) announced that its Phase II clinical trial of experimental drug PRX-03140 showed “compelling” results. Alzheimer’s patients who received 150 mg doses of PRX-03140 orally once per day for two weeks achieved an average improvement of 5.7 points on the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale cognitive subscale (ADAS-cog). The Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale …
The Fuji Molten salt reactor is a japanese design that can run on thorium or a mix of thorium and Uranium or Plutonium. The project plan is to take 8 or 9 years to develop a miniFuji reactor and 12-15 years to develop a Fuji reactor. The R & D is mostly related to the …
New batteries using silicon nanowire, developed through research led by Yi Cui, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, produces 10 times the amount of electricity of existing lithium-ion, known as Li-ion, batteries. If these batteries are produced in high volume at a reasonable cost this will enable high performance all electric cars and plug …