After several years of production in situ, it has become clear that current THAI (Toe Heal Air Injection) methods do not work as planned. Amid steady drops in production from their THAI wells at Kerrobert, Petrobank has written down the value of their THAI patents and the reserves at the facility to zero. They have …
The New York Times covers China high speed rail system. Just five years after China’s high-speed rail system opened, it is carrying nearly twice as many passengers each month as the country’s domestic airline industry. With traffic growing 28 percent a year for the last several years, China’s high-speed rail network will handle more passengers …
Lawrenceville Plasma Physics (LPP) researchers believe that the main problem impeding higher density and yields in LPP’s FF-1 device is metal impurities in the plasma. A new optical-UV spectrometer from Ocean Optics, has been used to measure the impurities and confirmed what they are and their amounts. This important step forward was taken with the …
Centauri Dreams covered the Charles Quarra Light Bridge (laser stairway) which was presented at the 2013 Starship Congress (48 pages). Preprints of the paper is here The ‘laser starway’ concept Charles Quarra present is a natural evolution of the work of both Robert Forward and Geoffrey Landis in extending the reach of beamed power into …
Data from NASA’s Curiosity rover has revealed the Martian environment lacks methane. This is a surprise to researchers because previous data reported by U.S. and international scientists indicated positive detections. The roving laboratory performed extensive tests to search for traces of Martian methane. Whether the Martian atmosphere contains traces of the gas has been a …
Orbital’s Cygnus spacecraft was into the final leg of berthing with the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday morning, prior to a discrepancy relating to the way the ISS and Cygnus determine GPS data. The fascinating issue can be fixed via an update to Cygnus’ software, allowing for a second rendezvous and berthing attempt no …
Stigo is the world’s fastest-folding electric scooter that can be taken along wherever one wishes to go – a restaurant, apartment, on public transportation or a small elevator. This novel, max 25 km/h electric scooter weighs only 17 kg and its footprint is mere 45×40 cm when folded. The Stigo is priced at €2,370 (about …
Yale School of Medicine researchers have discovered a protein that is the missing link in the complicated chain of events that lead to Alzheimer’s disease, they report in the Sept. 4 issue of the journal Neuron. Researchers also found that blocking the protein with an existing drug can restore memory in mice with brain damage …
DARPA seeks to create a working supersuit prototype that significantly boosts endurance, carrying capacity and overall Soldier effectiveness-all while using no more than 100 watts of power. They want it to be somfortable, durable and washable. The garment would not interfere with body armor or other standard clothing and gear. In fiction like Iron Man, …
China is to lease 3 million hectares (7.4 million acres) of Ukrainian farmland. China’s official Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps has signed an agreement with Ukrainian agricultural firm KSG Agro, which would see Ukraine provide 100,000 hectares to China. That would eventually rise to 3 million hectares. This would be 11,583 square miles of Ukrainian …
Researchers used a comprehensive analysis with global modeling methods that looks at relationships between deaths and exposure to particulate matter and ozone air pollution. They found that 500,000 premature deaths per year could be avoided by the year 2030, of which two-thirds would be in China. By 2050, 800,000 to 1.8 million premature deaths could …