Technology Review – Bezos and In-Q-Tel (CIA Investment arm) are in a group of investors who are betting $30 million on DWave Systems If the bet works out, some of the world’s thorniest computing problems, such as the hunt for new drugs or efforts to build artificial intelligence, would become dramatically less challenging. D-Wave’s supercooled …
IEEE Spectrum – Today, large suppliers and their large customers dominate industrial robotics. But almost any manufacturer can afford a Baxter (or two). In the United States alone, there are roughly 300 000 small and medium-size manufacturers, Brooks points out. So it’s not inconceivable that Rethink could make humanoid robots a normal part of the …
Here is the 46 page paper on the Fusion Propulsion Z-Pinch Engine Concept. The Z-Pinch dense plasma focus method is a Magneto-Inertial Fusion (MIF) approach that may potentially lead to a small, low cost fusion reactor/engine assembly1. Recent advancements in experimental and theoretical understanding of this concept suggest favorable scaling of fusion power output yield …
Alan Bond from Reaction Engines presents a talk about the latest developments about Skylon and Project Troy. This was one of a series of talks from the UK Mars Society Conference 2012 and was held at the National Space Centre in Leicester on the 25th August. Skylon is a concept for a totally re-usable single-stage …
A team of Spanish scientists has developed an intelligent nanodevice that lays the foundation for the future development of new therapies against aging. The device consists of nanoparticles that can selectively release therapeutic use substances in aged human cells. Its potential ranging from the treatment of diseases involving cellular degeneration or tissue such as cancer, …
A team of scientists and researchers from UAHuntsville’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Boeing and Marshall Space Flight Center’s Propulsion Engineering Lab are busy putting together a strange looking machine they’re calling the “Charger-1 Pulsed Power Generator.” It’s a key element in furthering the development of nuclear fusion technology to drive spacecraft. UPDATE – …
University of Adelaide scientists have prevented the progression of multiple sclerosis in mice. MS is a progressive disease where the body attacks its own central nervous system, causing nerve inflammation and scarring. It results in the impairment of motor, sensory and cognitive function. Human trials were underway in other labs around the world, but any …
NZWeek – A new high-speed railway connecting central China’s Zhengzhou City and the eastern city of Wuhan opened last Friday. The Zheng-Wu high-speed railway, covers a distance of 536 km and trains will pass along it at a designed speed of 350 km per hour. The Zheng-Wu high-speed railway has cut the travel time from …
BBC UK – A pioneering team from IBM in Zurich has published single-molecule images so detailed that the type of atomic bonds between their atoms can be discerned. Science – Bond-Order Discrimination by Atomic Force Microscopy ABSTRACT – We show that the different bond orders of individual carbon-carbon bonds in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and fullerenes …
Technology Review – San Francisco-based startup called 3Gear has developed a gesture interface that can track fast-moving fingers. This is a competitor to Leap Motion. Today the company will release an early version of its software to programmers. The setup requires two 3-D cameras positioned above the user to the right and left. The hope …
A metal object can be made invisible with the help of ordinary plastic. The object, however, does not become invisible to the human eye – only to electromagnetic radiation at microwave frequencies. In practical terms, this means that electromagnetic waves travelling, for example, between two antennas, do not detect an object located in their path, …