Solid State Drives Cheaper, 100 times Faster than SAN Hard Disk Arrays

The Enterprise solid state storage disruption is happening now. Enterprise solid-state drives typically offer much better performance than even the fastest hard-disk drives. Fusion-io claims that its IoDrive improves storage performance by as much as 1,000 times over traditional disk arrays while operating at a fraction of the power and at a tenth of the …

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How to Think Like A Quantum Computer Programmer

Matt Hastings writes in an understandable way about adiabatic quantum computer algorithms. The last half of this article describes the question and answer analysis that Matt Hastings uses to try and create a useful algorithm for quantum computing. Adiabatic Quantum Computers are the kind of computer that Dwave systems of vancouver is trying to make. …

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Welsom Space Consortium: Solar Space Power From Megawatts to Gigawatts

New lightweight material for collecting solar power and deploying the solar collectors could radically increase the solar power that could be delivered in one rocket launch. The Welsom Space Consortium has several interesting presentations and plans for scaling up space based solar power. Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics (CFRP) booms are already 20 meters long and …

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Monoclonal Antibodies Can Provide Durable Immunity to Against Avian Flu and Other Flu

Researchers have discovered human antibodies that neutralize not only H5N1 bird flu but other strains of influenza as well and say they hope to develop them into lifesaving treatments. Flu at wikipedia. Flu kills about 250,000 people every year. This can increase to 1-2 million during a pandemic. The spanish flu killed over 50 million …

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Super-cheap Paper Based Medical Tests

Harvard researchers have made the paper chips into a three-­dimensional diagnostic device by layering them with punctured pieces of waterproof tape. A drop of liquid can move across channels and into wells on the first sheet, diffuse down through the holes in the tape, and react in test wells on the second paper layer. The …

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Racetrack Memory Charges Ahead

From MIT Technology Review, racetrack memory is making experimental progress towards surpassing flash memory. Racetrack memory stores data in vertical nanowires, it can theoretically pack 100 times as much data into the same area as a flash-chip transistor, and at the same cost. There are no mechanical parts, so it could prove more reliable than …

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Towards Wireless Brain Computer Interface: Light Activation of Neurons Via Nanoparticles

Light rather than electrical current: The inner or outer surfaces of glass micropipettes can be coated with nanoparticles of a narrow-band-gap semiconductor. When visible or near-infrared light is used for excitation, these micropipettes (labeled PE Stim in the image) can activate nearby neurons (labeled *) in brain tissue without the damage associated with electrical stimulation. …

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MIT Mini Helicon Plasma Space Propulsion

Mini-Helicon plasma thrusters are the first three parts of a Vasimr plasma propulsion unit. The Mini-Helicon is the first rocket to run on nitrogen, the most abundant gas in our atmosphere. Nitrogen is cheaper than Xenon and other gases used in other electric propulsion. The new system, called the Mini-Helicon Plasma Thruster, is much smaller …

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Are We Getting Enough Capabilities with Self Assembly, Directed Assembly and Pick And Place to Kluge together Molecular Manufacturing ?

We are looking at faster computing developments based on recent breakthroughs. There are now several ways that we can get computing down to 1-2 nanometer feature or element size. These manufacturing methods could be scaled up and delivering computer hardware products within 4-10 years. Many thought that computer hardware might permanently stall at 10-20 nanometer …

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