Middle-class Americans have their own, informal one-child policy these days. And an alarming number of upscale professionals don’t even go that far—they have dogs, not kids. In fact, if it weren’t for the wave of immigration we experienced over the last thirty years, the United States would be on the verge of shrinking, too. The …
Schoolchildren were ordered to halt outdoor sports activities for several days as a dirty cloud of smog shrouded Beijing in January This was among a series of emergency response measures adopted in Beijing when the city’s Air Quality Index exceeded 500 micrograms, the highest level. Anything above this is regarded as “beyond index.” The air …
Fujifilm Corp developed a thermoelectric conversion material using an organic polymer material. The selling point of the thermoelectric converter module is that it can be manufactured by using an organic material and printing technologies. The company expects that the module will be attached to a human body to be used as a power supply for …
Nextbigfuture Articles that made the front page of reddit US Manufacturing jobs are leaving China and Returning to robots in the US This had over 2500 points and 1600 comments. Top Reddit comments – *the robots are manufactured in China – For now. Just until we have more robots that can manufacture more robots. – …
Robin Sachs was most well known as an actor for his science fiction and fantasy work. He was in Babylon 5 as a guest star six TV episodes and the TV movie In the Beginning. He played Minbari Warrior Caste members of the Grey Council and two Narns. He also played the main villain in …
An analysis of thousands of stars in the Kepler space telescope’s database, found 95 possible planets orbiting red dwarfs. Of these, three are Earth-sized candidates in the habitable zone – the region around a star where liquid water can exist. Statistically, that means 6 per cent of all red dwarfs in our galaxy should have …
Gigabit connections are available to governments, educational institutions, and large businesses, it’s difficult to get such a fast connection for regular public use. Santa Monica, California has a 10 Gigabit network, but that’s mostly allocated for business use. Gig.U, Gigabit Squared – Seattle, Chicago and other Cities The University Community Next Generation Innovation Project, or …
A new study lists and quantifies environmental sustainability factors and ranks energy sources under different scenarios for the following technologies: hydro, coal, oil, gas and nuclear. The results show that hydroelectric plants are usually the best solution. Coal and nuclear could be a good choice even if each type of plant has its strengths and …
A group from the Institut Fresnel in Marseille and the ground improvement specialist company, Menard, both in France, say they’ve built and tested a seismic invisibility cloak in an alluvial basin in southern France. That’s the first time such a device has been constructed. Future versions of this system could be used to protect hospital, …
60 Minutes looked at the jobless recovery and the replacement of workers with automation and robotics. * automated warehouses (Nextbigfuture looked at distribution warehouse automation ) Swisslog builds modularized conveyors, stacker cranes, row rovers (called carriers) and autonomous tugs as well as their new AutoStore robots. Swisslog can handle open-case light goods and pallet/case systems. …
Bigelow Aerospace’s historic first commercial space station will open up extraordinary opportunities for countries across the globe. Nations such as Japan, Canada, Brazil, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Sweden could secure the future of their human spaceflight programs and dramatically increase the size of their astronaut corps. Smaller countries with no human spaceflight experience …