(H/T to Joel Upchurch for the links) The interstellar spaceship that is used in the Avatar movie story is based upon the Valkerie Antimatter Starship designed by Charles Pellegrino and Brookhaven physicist Jim Powell Dr. Pellegrino served as a scientific consultant on James Cameron’s Avatar movie. The interstellar vehicles seen in the film are based …
This is an article that will discuss aspects of the Avatar movie and it will have spoilers. Avatar has reached a worldwide box office of $1.858 billion. It has the record for worldwide box office and foreign box office. It will have the domestic box office record in a couple of weeks. Monday had 3.2 …
Popular Science reports – DARPA believes that replicating the semiconductor industry manufacturing model will enable other manufacturing sectors to experience similar economic booms. Vertical integration has become inefficient, dragging creative companies down with costs associated with maintaining manufacturing facilities. “The seams between each stage of development; between design and prototyping, early production runs, limited, and …
EEtimes reports on an Intel Facility in Ireland that is researching on pushing lithography and self assembly for chip manufacturing on the 11 nanometer and smaller nodes. Intel has an advanced research facility in Ireland that is looking 5-10 years out. Much of Intel’s nanotech research is done with the Center for Research on Adaptive …
A speed gene in horses is enabling thoroughbred owners to sort would-be sprinters from plodders from just a teaspoonful of the galloper’s blood. The research, published Jan. 20 in the Public Library of Science Journal PLoS ONE, is the first known characterization of a gene contributing to a specific athletic trait in thoroughbreds, the authors …
The January issue of the premier scientific magazine Nature Photonics publishes an ultra-small and fast, electrically pumped all-optical memory on a silicon chip with record low power consumption. This result achieved by imec and its associated laboratory INTEC at the Ghent University, paves the way for optical packet switching with drastically reduced overall power consumption …
1. Utility companies and the government have agreed to allow all of Germany’s 17 nuclear power plants to keep operating, Der Spiegel magazine reported on Saturday, even two which were scheduled for closure soon. The two older reactors scheduled to be taken offline in the near future, Biblis A in Hesse and Neckarwestheim I in …
Cameco says Cigar Lake uranium project ready for development as early as April, 2010 Cameco has already pumped most of the water out of the northern Saskatchewan mine, which has been flooded for three years. Goheen said refurbishment of shaft one, the main shaft, is three-quarters complete and the water level is down to the …
The Atomic Show has a 38 minute podcast which has an interview with Forrest Rudin and TJ Trapp of Hyperion Power Generation. * the shift to a lead bismuth cooled liquid metal reactor and the design decision were to enable a faster development and approval of the 75 MWth/25MWe reactor * the reactor is being …
BBC News – The confirmed death toll from Haiti’s devastating earthquake has risen above 150,000 in the Port-au-Prince area alone, a government minister has said. Many more remain uncounted under rubble in the capital and elsewhere, including the towns of Jacmel and Leogane. Leogane had a population of 134,000 and 90% of the buildings were …
Arxiv- Piezoresistive heat engine and refrigerator made smaller than half a cubic micron. (H/T MIT Technology Review blog Heat engines provide most of our mechanical power and are essential for long-range transportation. However, whereas significant progress has been made in the miniaturization of motors driven by electrostatic forces, it has proven difficult to reduce the …