Nextbigfuture Highlights for Weeks 46-52 of 2009

This is the seventh set of highlights for Next Big Future for 2009.

Here is the link to the highlights for weeks 39-45

Here is the link to the highlights for weeks 33-38

Here is the link to the highlights for weeks 20-32

Here is the link to the highlights for weeks 13-19

Here is the link to the highlights for weeks 7-12.

Here is the link to the highlights for weeks 1-6

Nanotechnology and nanoscale tech

1. New nanobot designs from Robert Freitas included nutribots that let you eat bad food while staying healthy and a nuclear nanobot for making ATP to replace eating food

2. Boron Nitride nanotubes spun into commercially usable fibers. They have higher usable temperatures than carbon nanotubes and will enable other applications.

3. Singapore has 5 nanometer resolution electron beam

4. Fujitsu labs can form graphene transistors on silicon

5. Switchable DNA nanostructures for energy and data storage

6. DNA origami makes large area of ordered gold nanoparticles

7. Graphene quilts used to cool electronics

8. Taiwan makes 16 nanometer SRAM using nano injection lithography which will compete for 2013 lithography business

9. Self assembled 20 nanometer transistors using diblock coploymer lithography

10. Ultrafast switching of quantum dots could enable lower energy usage optical computers that generate a lot less heat

11. Digital Quantum Batteries would leverage nanocapacitors to store concentrated energy that can be quickly released, and enough of them could rival atomic bombs as weapons.

12. If enough Digital Quantum Batteries could be made they would enable Winterbergs 1 gigavolt nuclear fusion device.

Space
13. Electron-cyclotron Resonance thrusters for space propulsion

14. Maxing out VASIMR plasma rocket performance with vapor core fission reactors or IEC fusion reactors. Both VASIMR plasma rockets and vapor Core fission are enabled with powerful superconducting magnets.

Superconductors and Energy
15. Superconducting wire is improving fast and will enable many applications but lower cost and high volume production of wire is critical. Expect breakthroughs around 2016.

16. Development path for Helion Energy Nuclear Fusion

17. Magneto Inertial fusion development status

18. Hyperion Power generation reactor design. It has been changed from uranium hydride to uranium nitride-fueled, lead bismuth-cooled, fast reactor for their ‘launch’ design.

19. Glitter sized solar photovoltaics generate the same amount of energy using 100 times less silicon

AI and computers
20. Peter Voss was Interviewed by Sander Olson on AGI (artificial general intelligence

21. Nvidia Fermi GPU lowers supercomputing costs by ten times

22. Roadmap for organic and printed electronics

Lasers, Metamaterials and Plasmonics
23. Shattering traditional notions of laser limits with plasmonic lasers

24. Nano-electromagnets turn a cloak of invisibility into a practical possibility

25. MIT is designing optical chips that can be built with existing processes. Success will result in 10-20 times systems performance

26. Spintronics in silicon at room temperature

DARPA and Supersoldier tech
27. DARPA will build and ground test 750 kg 150 kilowatt laser in 2012

28. Super soldier technology update

29. Myostatin inhibiting gene therapy advance in monkeys

30. Reak SARM steroids are available online for purchase

Transportation
31. CEO of China’s Cosco is seriously considering nuclear merchant ships.

32. This would have benefits for military power and civilization resilience by enabling power supplies to be brought to disaster areas

33. Nuclear powered container ships would also provide power for functionalized container shipping modules.

34. China will be the world leader in high speed rail by 2012 with even more by 2020

35. Jacob innovations designs first class comfort in economy class space.

36. Suborbital tourism as a stepping stone around the world hypersonic travel.

Medical Related
37. Fighting fat with brown fat cells

38. Presbyopia laser surgery

39. Immortality Inc extreme life extension effort

40. IBM has silicon chip tests for rapid disease detection

41. Faster and cheaper DNA sequencing

42. 3D bioprinters

Controversial
43. Blacklight Power plans for 2010-2013

44. Astronomical evidence of what might be parallel universes

45. Possible detection of dark matter particles

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