Microtugs are small robots created by Stanford. The small bots can apply orders of magnitude more force than it weighs. This is in stark contrast to previous small robots that have become progressively better at moving and sensing, but lacked the ability to change the world through the application of human-scale loads. The work focuses …
The race is on around the world as scientists strive to develop a new generation of batteries that can perform beyond the limits of the current lithium-ion based battery. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have taken a significant step toward the development of a battery that could outperform the lithium-ion technology used …
A supercomputer used by China to develop a hypersonic space weapon was too slow, having a processing speed only a tenth of that of its American counterpart, according to a researcher involved in the highly sensitive project. While China possesses some of the world’s most powerful computers, Ye Youda, researcher at the state laboratory of …
1. A proposal to construct two 600 MWe high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTRs) at Ruijin city in China’s Jiangxi province has passed a preliminary feasibility review, China Nuclear Engineering Corporation (CNEC) recently announced. The Jiangxi provincial development and reform commission has already given the go-ahead to begin preliminary work at Ruijin and construction of the reactors …
Arxiv – EMMI – Electric Solar Wind Sail Facilitated Manned Mars Initiative Abstract The novel propellantless electric solar wind sail concept promises efficient low thrust transportation in the Solar System outside Earth’s magnetosphere. Combined with asteroid mining to provide water and synthetic cryogenic rocket fuel in orbits of Earth and Mars, possibilities for affordable continuous …
In 2016, Naval Sea Systems Command will conduct the first at sea test of its electromagnetic railgun, hurling a guided 44 pound projectile and hypersonic speeds off the coast of Florida, NAVSEA officials said on Tuesday. The BAE Systems designed test weapon will be mounted on the newly delivered Joint High Speed Vessel USNS Trenton …
While Russia’s aircraft carrier plans are still on the drawing board, the Russian Navy has expressed a desire for two carriers in each fleet: one at sea and one in reserve. That would mean a total of eight new carriers by 2040, compared to the US’ current 10 and China’s allegedly planned five. The new …
Nextbigfuture ran a survey asking if Star Wars 7 or Avengers 2 would have the larger global box office. Star Wars 7 is expected to have more box office by 73% of those surveyed. 47% think Avengers 2 will exceed $2 billion in global box office. Avengers 2 opened this weekend in several international markets …
There are interesting cultural differences between Americans and Japanese. Americans fear the Terminator movie scenario of a robot or Artificial intelligence apacolypse. However, Japan is facing sharp population decrease from lowering birth rates. This could be accelerated with more realistic sexbots that extend the Japanese sex doll industry. This is part of Japan’s greater cultural …
Avengers 1 was the third highest grossing movie after Titanic and Avatar. Avengers 2 Age of Ultron will open next week. Star Wars 7 will open at Xmas 2015. The Star Wars prequels did not perform as well at the box office but Phantom Menace still was 17th for domestic box office when inflation adjusted. …
Instead of just looking at cities’ administrative borders or “statutory city population,” OECD’s study takes into account surrounding “functional urban areas” (FUA), which may lie outside the administrative borders but are significant to the social and economic makeup of the city. A lot of this is the result of China’s complex “hukou” system, the registration …