Carbon nanotube fiber on spindle from Alan Windle group. 2007 picture The Times UK claims Alan Windle’s team at Cambridge University has created the world’s strongest ribbon: a cylindrical strand of carbon that combines lightweight flexibility with incredible strength and has the potential to stretch vast distances. There may have been no advance or minimal …
A cure for debilitating genetic diseases such as Huntington’s disease, Friedreich’s ataxia and Fragile X syndrome is a step closer to reality, thanks to a recent scientific breakthrough. A plant model for genetic diseases with a relatively short lifespan would allow scientists to study DNA mutations over several generations, Dr Balasubramanian said. Dr Sureshkumar Balasubramanian …
Eric Drexler indicates in a new post that stiffness matters for nanotechnology. Drexler also continues his discussion on stiffness of materials and different proteins at e-drexler.com Drexler also has an article about molecular assembly lines and getting away with less programmability. In the comments, Chris Phoenix notes that it is easy to add a useful …
Christian Bale is signed up for three Terminator Movies as the character John Conner who is the savior of humanity in the Terminator Movies. Christian Bale has a more important role in reality as the savior and revivor of major hollywood action movie franchises. Christian Bale was Batman for the fifth and sixth Batman movies. …
Carbon nanotube fiber on spindle from Alan Windle group. 2007 picture the Times UK claims Alan Windle’s team at Cambridge University has created the world’s strongest ribbon: a cylindrical strand of carbon that combines lightweight flexibility with incredible strength and has the potential to stretch vast distances. The Cambridge team is making about 1 gram …
Adaptive A.I. Inc. (a2i2) of Playa del Rey, CA plans to announced Monday, Jan 12, 2009 the “world’s first commercial AGI (artificial general intelligence) system” — a virtual IVR (interactive voice response) call center operator that can hold “smart, productive conversations,” CEO Peter Voss, a computer scientist and entrepreneur, told KurzweilAI.net in an exclusive interview. …
This site has looked at arrays of laser modules for launching into space several times before and considers it a very promising approach. Jordin Kare had a proposed development plan to demonstrate a one megawatt launch system over 4.5 years for $32 million back in 2005. It did not get funded but Jordin is working …
Graphene Energy Inc., an Austin, Texas-based startup formed in December 2008 to commercialize chemically modified graphene (CMG) ultracapacitors has raised $500,000 in seed money from Quercus Trust and 21Ventures. The company also concluded licensing terms for its technology from the University of Texas at Austin and The College of William and Mary. Graphene Energy says …
China’s BYD E6, a pure electric vehicle GM announced on Jan. 12, 2009 that it would buy lithium ion cells from LG Chem of Seoul, South Korea. The cells will be manufactured in Korea and assembled into battery packs at a new facility that GM will build in Michigan. Robert Lutz, a GM vice chairman, …
A Biodesign Institute research team is working on applying the same principles used to remove contaminants from the environment, on the human body, in an effort to reverse the effects of aging. This work is the Lysosens project. Their collaboration addresses age-related problems, such as heart disease, macular degeneration, and Alzheimer’s disease, by understanding the …
The Chinese economy expanded a revised 13% in 2007 from a year earlier, up from an original estimate of 11.9%, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement on its Web site. Therefore, China economy at the end of 2007 was 25.731 trillion yuan ($3.766 trillion) as compared to Germany’s GDP was $3.54 trillion …