This is the third set of highlights for Next Big Future for 2009. Here is the link to the highlights for weeks 7-12. Here is the link to the highlights for weeks 1-6 Nanotechnology 1. DNA origami can now make three dimensional boxes that can be opened and closed and locked. The boxes could be …
University of Ulster Scientists Make a Nanorod Breakthrough. Engineers at the University of Ulster are the first researchers to create diamond nanorods with a diameter as thin as 2.1 nm, which is not only smaller than all the currently reported diamond 1D nanostructures (4-300 nm) but also smaller than the theoretical calculated value (2.7-9 nm) …
Wolfram Alpha is launching in about one hour. 8 pm pacific. Did my first query on wolfram alpha. Get out your popcorn and check it out. CNet reports Wolfram Alpha has delayed the launch because of glitches. They may have a test launch tonight or over the weekend and are trying to get a full …
Related to ultradense deuterium and monopolium is some speculation in Isreal that there could be a way to enable a form of passive femtotech, which would be stable matter from subatomic particles. AB Matter speculation is that they think that they have a series of steps whichcan be taken to use neutrons or protons; elements …
The new 2020 targets are 300 GW Hydro, 75GW nuclear, 150GW from renewable if targets are reached. 46% of power would be from non-coal sources if natural gas usage is increased as projected. In 2006/7 the projection was that China would have about 35% power from non-fossil fuel sources in 2020. 270GW Hydro, 40GW nuclear, …
Phil Bowermaster has an excellent piece at the Speculist on medicare, senior citizens, life extension and financial choices for healthcare. Seniors get more medicare dollars because more seniors die in any year than children or other groups. Most medicare dollars are spent in the last 6 years of life. Fighting aging has a related article. …
This site has forecast that China’s currency will strengthen substantially versus the US dollar and China will re-establish strong economic growth and pass the overall size of the US economy in 2016. Taiwan is opening its economy to Mainland Chinese investment. On May 1, China formally approved Taiwan-bound investment by qualified domestic institutional investors. Four …
The NCCS massively parallel high-performance storage system (HPSS) data archive allows users to store vast amounts of long-term data. HPSS currently consists of tape and disk storage components, Linux servers, and HPSS software. As of October 2008 the system is storing over 3.5 petabytes of data. Tape storage is provided by robotic tape libraries that …
The First 43 Years from 1966 to 2009We start just a little before 1966 (when the first show of the TV series was aired, which would technically be the first 45 years) to get a sense of technology and the world while the Star Trek show was in its development phase through to today. In …
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2009) in Kobe, Japan, is presenting many interesting robots. [H/T Sander Olson] A rapid pole climbing robot from the University of Pennsylvania. Robot-Assisted Rapid Prototyping for Ice Structures Video of ice sculpting robot at this link McGill University researchers are currently developing experimental robotic systems for building …
Researchers from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology propose to use transformation optics [advanced metamaterials] to generate a general illusion such that an arbitrary object appears to be like some other object of our choice. This is achieved by using a remote device that transforms the scattered light outside a virtual boundary into …