The technological singularity is a hypothesized point in the future variously characterized by the technological creation of self-improving intelligence, unprecedentedly rapid technological progress, or some combination of the two. I would want to focus on the aspect of “unprecendentedly rapid technological progress“. I feel that a proxy for measuring “technological progress” can be the rate …
MIT/Westinghouse are developing annular fuel and looking at nanoparticles to improve the thermal properties of water for nuclear plants. The peak hotspot operating temperature can go down while efficiency is increased. I usually mention this technology as something which would make a huge difference in nuclear power generation. I am reviewing the work and updating …
Mark Whittington had a submission for the week 16 space carnival on what could happen in 2057 for space The following is my scenario for space in 2057. At the end of this article, I provide pointers to key projects that should be pursued to enable this version of Space in 2057. Developing key technologies …
From EEtimes, Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) scientists will next month describe a technique that would allow spintronics to be inserted into the standard silicon CMOS processes using ferromagnetic materials similar to those already used for magnetic random access memory. Our demonstration showed a 30 percent polarization of the injected electrons, which is not bad considering …
Michael Anissimov over at Accelerating Future discusses CNN polls target=blank>that CNN presented as part of their future summit One facet of enhancement that is not controversial but is widespread is vision enhancement. In the further reading section, I refer to my past articles on other methods of enhancement which are being developed such as regeneration, …
Nuclear rockets can have 2 to 200 times the performance of chemical rockets. They are a technology that we only need the will to develop. The science is solid and straight forward. We just have to have the courage to become a truly interplanetary civilization. This article will review the various pulsed plasma (using nuclear …
Dr. Abdulhakem Elezzabi and his colleagues have applied plasmonics principles to spintronics technology and created a novel way to control the quantum state of an electron’s spin. The new technology, which the researchers call spinplasmonics, may be used to create incredibly efficient electron spin-based photonic devices, which in turn may be used to build, for …
Centauri Dreams discusses how applying Devon Crowe space bubble ideas with nanotechnology could fully enable the ideas of Robert Forward for interstellar solar sails. The prior article about Devon Crowe’s space bubble concepts. Prior article on the state of solar sails Prior article on putting the brakes on laser mirror solar sails Article on laser …
The most interesting study released from the March 2007 meeting is Devon Crowe of PSI corporation for making large space structures from bubbles that are made rigid using metals or UV curing A single bubble can be 1 meter in earth gravity, 100 kilometer in low earth orbit or 1000 kilometers in deep space. Foams …
Robert Bussard Inertial Electrostatic Fusion work The gear from the last round of testing are with Jim Benson of Spacedev in San Diego.More info on Robert Bussard’s Inertial confinement fusion It would take $250 million and 5 years to create a full scale demonstration plant which should be able to produce more power than it …
Stem cells used to grow teeth in animal models Utilizing stem cells harvested from the extracted wisdom teeth of 18- to 20-year olds, Shi and colleagues have created sufficient root and ligament structure to support a crown restoration in their animal model. The resulting tooth restoration closely resembled the original tooth in function and strength. …