Researchers at MIT have found a way to use thermophotovoltaic devices without mirrors to concentrate the sunlight, potentially making the system much simpler and less expensive. The key is to prevent the heat from escaping the thermoelectric material, something the MIT team achieved by using a photonic crystal: essentially, an array of precisely spaced microscopic …
The extraordinary claim of nuclear fusion of 1 megawatt in a rice cooker size device that is being further developed with the Australian military into a 10 megawatt device is probably Star Scientific muon catalyzed fusion. (H/T reader Robert Lynn for reminding me about my own article from July) Scientists have been producing nuclear fusion …
Researchers at the University of Maryland have made a fuel cell that could provide a far more efficient alternative to a gasoline generator. Like all fuel cells, it generates electricity through a chemical reaction, rather than by burning fuel, and can be twice as efficient at generating electricity as a generator that uses combustion. The …
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have invented a new type of electronic switch that performs electronic logic functions within a single molecule. The incorporation of such single-molecule elements could enable smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient electronics. “This new switch is superior to existing single-molecule concepts,” said Hrvoje Petek, principal investigator and professor of physics …
New Scientist – Two diamonds as wide as earring studs have been made to share the spooky quantum state known as entanglement. The feat, performed at room temperature, blurs the divide between the classical and quantum worlds, since typically the quantum link has been made with much smaller particles at low temperatures. Physicists there led …
Prague Post – Thorium Energy Pty. Limited is a Czech and Australian partnership with around 50 scientists working on the development of commercial thorium-fueled molten salt reactors. For the past five years, a group of Czechs and Australians have been working on the beginnings of a partnership to develop an energy source they say could …
A new Kachan report on new safer, cleaner nuclear technology, interviewed dozens of scientists at nuclear research outfits like Flibe Energy, General Atomics, General Fusion, Helion Energy, Hyperion Power Generation, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), Invap, Lightbridge, NuScale, Ottawa Valley Research, QPower, Radix Power and Energy Corp, Rare Earth Extraction Co., Rhodia, Scandinavian Advanced …
The next generation of D-Wave’s adiabatic quantum computer technology is called Vesuvius, and it’s going to be a very interesting processor. It will have 512 qubits and the system is scheduled for release late in 2012. The testing and development of this new generation of quantum processor is going well. Originally Dwave had talked about …
Citing historical examples, U.S. secretary of energy Steven Chu argues that the nation can still regain its manufacturing leadership. Americans should not regret that solar panels were invented here but are now mostly made in China. “They’re Henry Fording us,” he said of the Chinese innovations that lowered the cost of solar-panel production. But in …
Current generic fitness assessments (including push-ups, sit-ups and chin-ups) are often poor predictors of performance in strength based job tasks. In a DSTO study involving over 100 soldiers, the effectiveness of push-ups, sit-ups and chin-ups was compared to a ‘box lift and place’ assessment method (pictured) that involves lifting a weighted box in a manner …
Washington Post – Georgetown University has released a 363-page study on china’s nuclear weapons and tunnel system. It is the largest body of public knowledge about thousands of miles of tunnels dug by the Second Artillery Corps, a secretive branch of the Chinese military in charge of protecting and deploying its ballistic missiles and nuclear …