1. New Scientist [registration required] – Helion Energy has already received something like $5 million in funding from NASA and the US Department of Defense among others, is now looking for $20 million from private investors to build what it says could be a commercially viable reactor. Helion Energy accelerates two small, compact balls of …
Jamais Cascio at Open the Future laments about conventional futurists Consistently accurate predictions about interconnected complex systems are functionally impossible, at least at any real level of specificity. It’s long been known that even people paid far too much money to make predictions about a constrained system (such as the stock market) usually do no …
Scientists have been producing nuclear fusion reactions from muon catalysed fusion for decades – just not consistently, or in sufficient volumes for it to be considered a viable energy source – until now. Star Scientific Limited is perfecting a world-first technique to economically produce pions, and hence muon catalysed fusion, in a CONTROLLED and SUSTAINED …
This site has looked at a Mundane Singularity before and often about getting to higher rates of economic growth and wealth. Previously I talked about a Mundane Singularity with how much : 1. Economic abundance 2. Radical life extension 3. Physical and Cognitive enhancement 4. Blood Stream Robots 5. Supermaterials 6. Open Access to space …
1. China Broad Group making “Can be built” factory mass produced high rises and skyscrapers. Deployment of 5 times improved energy efficiency by 2020 with many partners (30% of new construction) would save 400 million tons of CO2 per year 2. Black Carbon free cookers for 700 million households would save 18% of black carbon …
PNAS – Association of selected persistent organic pollutants in the placenta with the risk of neural tube defects Pregnant mothers who are exposed to pesticides and smoke are as much as four times more likely to give birth to infants with serious birth defects. Neural tube defects, or NTDs, are brain and spinal cord defects …
China COSCO Holdings Co Ltd, the country’s biggest shipping conglomerate by market value, said it has suspended its research into nuclear power as an alternative energy to replace fuel oil in vessels after Japan’s nuclear incident. The study on nuclear, wind and solar power, undertaken to find ways to cut carbon emissions, has been under …
Nuclear technologist Kirk Sorensen has spent much of his career researching the potential of thorium fission reactors. Sorensen has recently founded a company, Flibe energy, which is dedicated to developing small, portable thorium power plants. In an interview with Sander Olson (exclusively for Nextbigfuture.com), Sorensen discusses why he believes that thorium could be used to …
Molar teeth and jaw bone were grown from stem cells in one mouse and then transplanted to another mouse. This was a proof of concept for growing mature organs for harvest and transplant from an individuals stem cells. Plos One – Functional Tooth Regeneration Using a Bioengineered Tooth Unit as a Mature Organ Replacement Regenerative …
Steve Omohundro is a computer scientist who has spent decades designing and writing artificial intelligence software. He now heads a startup corporation, Omai Systems, which will license intellectual property related to AI. In an interview with Sander Olson, Omohundro discuss Apollo style AGI programs, limiting runaway growth in AI systems, and the ultimate limits of …
Mount Sinai researchers have developed a way to stimulate production of an enzyme that enables failing hearts to pump more effectively. Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have developed a new gene therapy that is safe and effective in reversing advanced heart failure. SERCA2a (produced as MYDICAR®) is a gene therapy designed to stimulate …