The Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO) reported oil production in Texas totaled a record 1.54 billion barrels (bbl) in 2018 which surpassed a previous record of 1.28 billion bbl set in 1973. If Texas were a country it would be the fourth largest oil producer after the USA, Saudi Arabia and Russia. …
First Light Fusion is trying to generate energy using inertial confinement fusion. They spunout from the University of Oxford in June 2011. First Light uses a high-velocity projectile (58 times the speed of sound) to create a shockwave to collapse a cavity containing plasma inside a ‘target’. The design of these targets is First Light’s …
One of Elon Musk’s speeches was animated by After Skool. Elon discussed how societal and technological progress is not inevitable. Elon cited the examples of the Egyptians forgetting how to build Pyramids and the Romans forgetting how to build their massive aqueduct systems. It takes a lot of hard work by many people and good …
Newsom said California will complete a 110-mile (177 km) high-speed rail link between Merced and Bakersfield. This would not meet the requirements of the original bond measure. California had originally planned to build a 520-mile system in the first phase that would allow trains to travel at speeds of up to 220 miles per hour …
Next year the world will have its first ExaFlop Supercomputer. This supercomputer will likely be built in China. The USA will follow about 12 months after with the A21 ExaFlop supercomputer in 2021. Ten researchers from China’s National University of Defense Technology (NUDT) recently published a paper that describes pushing current technologies to 1000 times …
IBM will invest $2 billion to develop artificial intelligence hardware and boost AI performance by 1000 times over the next ten years. IBM is partnering with State University of New York to develop an AI Hardware Center at SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Albany. New York will also provide a subsidy of $300 million. The IBM …
The first Exaflop supercomputers are just scaling up with energy efficient modifications the technologies that have enabled the 100-200 petaFlop supercomputers. Super Cool Technologies Beyond the Exaflop Supercomputer DownUnder GeoSolutions (DUG) has started making petaflop supercomputers that are much more energy efficient by switching to dielectric liquids for cooling. They are cutting energy usage and …
Patrick Tucker at Defense One has reported that James Smith, SOCOM’s acquisition executive has stated that the Special Ops Exoskeleton is nowhere near ready for use in combat. There have been improvements in lightweight body armor and improved helmet displays. There are tests of partial suits to help support walking and running with heavy loads. …
Purdue has created part of a new cubesat thruster which electromagnetically accelerates plasma to produce thrust. They have successfully tested the ignition system for more than 1.5 million pulses. This is a giant leap for extending the lifetime of electric propulsion systems for CubeSats. With an on-board propulsion system, CubeSats are able to achieve orbital …
A new chemical conversion process could change the world’s polyolefin waste, a form of plastic, into useful products, such as clean fuels and other items. Once the plastic is converted into naphtha, it can be used as a feedstock for other chemicals or further separated into specialty solvents or other products. The clean fuels derived …
The Mayor of San Jose, California, Sam Liccardo, is in talks with Elon Musk’s Boring Company for a tunnel from the airport to Diridon Station. Mayor Sam Liccardo told reporters at City Hall that this represents a chance for the station “to grow with the city. Google is expected to build a massive campus near …