Graphene transistors ten times faster than silicon

From physorg.com, graphene transistors that are ten times faster than silicon are possible and the method needs to be scaled up. Switching from silicon to carbon has not been possible because technologists believed they needed graphene material in the same form as the silicon used to make chips: a single crystal of material eight or …

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New drug delays Alzheimers by about 14 months

Epix Pharmaceuticals (nasdaq: EPIX) announced that its Phase II clinical trial of experimental drug PRX-03140 showed “compelling” results. Alzheimer’s patients who received 150 mg doses of PRX-03140 orally once per day for two weeks achieved an average improvement of 5.7 points on the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale cognitive subscale (ADAS-cog). The Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale …

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Fuji molten Salt Reactor

The Fuji Molten salt reactor is a japanese design that can run on thorium or a mix of thorium and Uranium or Plutonium. The project plan is to take 8 or 9 years to develop a miniFuji reactor and 12-15 years to develop a Fuji reactor. The R & D is mostly related to the …

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Silicon nanowires for 10 times the amount of electricity of existing lithium-ion

New batteries using silicon nanowire, developed through research led by Yi Cui, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, produces 10 times the amount of electricity of existing lithium-ion, known as Li-ion, batteries. If these batteries are produced in high volume at a reasonable cost this will enable high performance all electric cars and plug …

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Micro and small nuclear reactors

More than 50 new small and medium size reactor designs were developed and are being considered by research groups around the world in 2006. There are a number of small and medium nuclear reactors that are in funded development. Toshiba has designs for a micro nuclear reactor that generates 200 kw for 40 years The …

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21st century mercenary force

Hoping to get into the peacekeeping business, the private Blackwater security firm is acquiring a fleet of aircraft, ships and ground vehicles. Blackwater has bomb-proof Grizzly APC (armored personnel carriers). In March 2006, Cofer Black, vice chairman of Blackwater USA, allegedly suggested at an international conference in Amman, Jordan, that the company was ready to …

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Energy bill passes and spending bill has load guarantees for better energy sources

The Energy bill has passed both the Senate and House of representatives with veto proof margins and will increase the CAFE to 35 mpg Separately, Congress reached a tentative agreement on a major energy package that it plans to enact outside the energy bill. The agreement, to be included in a broad government spending bill, …

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Cuttlefish bones template for new superconductors with almost 100 times higher current density

UK chemists have used cuttlefish bones to template the growth of new superconductors that have almost 100 times higher current density. The weight of 1 cm**3 of superconducting cuttlebone replica is 0.06 g, compared to 6.38 g in the case of an equivalent sized monolith of pure Y123. With an overall decrease in mass of …

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Chemical Pulse detonation engines

Pulse detonation engines (PDE) can achieve a maximum of 50% efficiency verus 30% for conventional jet engines Pratt & Whitney and General Electric now have active PDE research programs in an attempt to commercialize the designs with high pulse rates of 50-100 times per second to allow for less vibration. Some of the top scientists …

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