A discovery made in the RFX-mod Reversed Field Pinch (RFP) fusion device demonstrated that if one keeps on increasing the current, above 1.5 million amperes, the helix becomes very smooth, the trapping of the plasma in the magnetic fields improves and the plasma gets hotter. Moreover, the helical state appears to be the preferred one …
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita explains in Foreign Policy “Why Copenhagen will be a bust, and other prophecies from the foreign-policy world’s leading predictioneer.” Despite the hoopla, the U.N. climate change conference in Copenhagen is destined to fail. Here’s what will happen instead: Over the next several decades, world leaders will embrace tougher emissions standards than …
The San Francisco Bay Bridge was re-opened at 9AM Monday, Nov 2, 2009 An anti-vibration system has been put in place to limit stresses and additional supports installed to prevent any rods – in case they snap off again – from falling on traffic. Initial daily inspections will be conducted of the repair system. The …
The videos of the Singularity Summit 2009 that was held in New York are up at Vimeo (H/T Michael Anissimov at Accelerating Future) A selection of embedded videos are below. Changing the World Panel — Singularity Summit 2009 — Peter Thiel, Eliezer Yudkowsky, Aubrey de Grey from Michael Anissimov on Vimeo. Aubrey de Grey at …
The UK Register discusses the EMDrive and the tone of the article is one of disbelief. (H/T Midas Oracle) Flight International reports that a deputy director at the British National Space Centre – the nearest thing the UK has to a government space agency – envisages a “workshop” on the Emdrive next year. The British …
Rice University scientists today unveiled a method for the industrial-scale processing of pure carbon-nanotube fibers that could lead to revolutionary advances in materials science, power distribution and nanoelectronics. The result of a nine-year program, the method builds upon tried-and-true processes that chemical firms have used for decades to produce plastics. The research is available online …
Attosecond physics is a burgeoning field in which researchers use ultrashort optical pulses to excite atoms and molecules and follow the electron dynamics. Driving atoms with longer-duration pulse sequences can generate trains of attosecond pulses, but what workers in this field really need are isolated attosecond pulses. However, the technologies for slicing out single pulses …
These blue cells are human mesenchymal stem cells that have become senescent –- or lost the ability to divide — after X-ray irradiation. This image, obtained using senescence-associated β-gal staining, helped Berkeley Lab scientists better understand the process that triggers senescence in mesenchymal stem cells. Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National …
There is a live streaming console with video, pictures and up to date messages 19:45:03 PST:NSS has now provisionally qualified to compete in the Games Summarizing Space Elevator Feasibility ArticlesFor a Carbon Nanotube tether that is 30 MYuri [A MYuri is the name we gave the SI equivalent of N/Tex, or GPa-cc/g] strong, and a …