The World is projected to have over $9 trillion in economic losses from the Great Lockdown. This assumes a relatively prompt and successful reopening of the world economy. The Second quarter could see the US and other major economies with up to -40% GDP growth. China’s GDP was negative in the first quarter this year. …
Robert Zubrin describes the multiplier of producing fuel on the moon or Mars. Producing oxygen on the moon and with hydrogen (that you brought) would be a 7X multiplier for what you brought. There is also water on the moon which can produce fuel directly. This means a 450 ISP engine with oxygen on the …
Researchers have architecturally designed plate-nanolattices – nanometer-sized carbon structures – that are stronger than diamonds as a ratio of strength to density. The team’s design has been shown to improve on the average performance of cylindrical beam-based architectures by up to 639 percent in strength and 522 percent in rigidity. They designed and fabricating the …
Wizz Air is considering flying with empty middle seats to enable social distancing while on flights. This would need to be combined with all passengers have masks and other sanitizing and safety products. Social distancing could remain the new normal. Planes will have higher per seat prices and fewer passengers per plane. They will need …
The world has over 2 million coronavirus cases. Italy’s coronavirus epidemic has been about two weeks ahead of the US. Italy has had a slow reduction in daily cases and daily deaths from its peak. The US is on track to about
BWX Technologies, Inc., Westinghouse and X-energy have contracts to each begin design work on a mobile nuclear reactor prototype under a Strategic Capabilities Office initiative called Project Pele. After a two-year design-maturation period, one of the three companies may be selected to build and demonstrate a prototype. They want a system that can be safely …
University of Queensland researchers have designed a new tarantula venom mini-protein that can potentially relieve severe pain without addiction. A mini-protein in tarantula venom from the Chinese bird spider, known as Huwentoxin-IV, binds to pain receptors in the body. Tests in mouse models and shown to work effectively. This could help with the Opoid epidemic. …
Three new alphacoronaviruses, three new betacoronaviruses, and one known alphacoronavirus previously identified in other southeast Asian countries were detected for the first time in bats in Myanmar. Studies in bats in China found over 400 coronaviruses. SARS-related viruses in these bat populations have the potential to go directly into human cells and do not need …
The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 4 was 11,976,000, an increase of 4,530,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This marks the highest level of seasonally adjusted insured unemployment in the history of the seasonally adjusted series. 22 million have filed for unemployment. The number working or seeking …
Robert Zubrin describes what sets Elon Musk apart from the other Space Entrepreneurs. Elon Musk applied his wealth but also his passion with savvy leadership to create the success of SpaceX. There is also an urgent and fanatical ambition. Elon Musk also has successfully applied the best aspects of software management and development to cars …
Tesla Model 3 has 80% of EV sales and is the number 6 car model in the US based on unit sales in Q1 2020. It has the highest sedan car sales by revenue. This is matching up the Model 3 against combustion engine cars like the Toyota Camry. The Model 3 had about 44500 …