The Stratolaunch press kit has 11 pages Stratolaunch Systems, a Paul G. Allen project, is developing an air-launch system that will revolutionize space transportation by providing orbital access to space at lower costs, with greater safety and more flexibility. Delivering payloads in the 10,000lbm class [13,500 pounds into low earth orbit, the system allows for …
A war among the five commissioners of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission broke into the open Friday night when Republican Rep. Darrell Issa released a letter in which four of the commissioners said they have “grave concerns” about NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko. A letter was sent by the four commissioners to the White House in October …
Washington D.C. went live with the first link of a 100-gigabit network Wednesday. The new network, called the D.C. Community Access Network (DC-CAN), will provide links out to communities east of the Anacostia River, but the ultra-high-speed network will soon serve the entire District. However, the pricing for the service still looks expensive with 1 …
Japan is currently the only country with a focused solar power satellite plan. In fact, space power is one of the nine official goals of the Japanese space programme. The country’s space agency is planning to construct a solar power station in space and use it to beam energy down to earth using lasers by …
UK Guardian – Widely conflicting reports emerge of apparent explosion in the north-east of Isfahan near where nuclear facilities are located. Isfahan is home to Iran’s uranium conversion facility (UCF), which operates under IAEA surveillance. Iran’s main uranium enrichment facilities are situated in the city of Natanz to the north-east of Isfahan, where many of …
Technology Review – Researchers in Zurich, Switzerland, are developing nanomagnets that could someday strip potentially harmful substances from the blood. The technology might be used to treat people suffering from drug intoxication, bloodstream infections, and certain cancers. The project involves magnetized nanoparticles that are coated with carbon and studded with antibodies specific to the molecules …
UK Guardian – Christopher Busby, a visiting professor at the University of Ulster, is championing a series of expensive products and services which, he claims, will protect people in Japan from the effects of radiation. Among them are mineral supplements on sale for ￥5,800 (£48) a bottle, urine tests for radioactive contaminants for ￥98,000 (£808) …
American Journal of Transplantation – Bioartificial Lung Engineering End-stage lung disease is a major health care challenge. Lung transplantation remains the definitive treatment, yet rejection and donor organ shortage limit its broader clinical impact. Engineering bioartificial lung grafts from patient-derived cells could theoretically lead to alternative treatment strategies. Although many challenges on the way to …
Forbes – The metrics of success that Bill Gates is concerned about now are lives saved, kids who aren’t crippled. Bill Gates’ vaccine-based giving is closing in on $6 billion to fight measles, hepatitis B, rotavirus and AIDS, among others—is part of the largest, most human-driven philanthropy in the history of mankind. “A 23-cent vaccine,” …
New algorithm could substantially speed up MRI scans. Faster scans could reduce the time patients spend in the machine from 45 to 15 minutes. Using GPUs (graphical processing units) could improve the speed even more. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields and radio waves to produce images of the body. Rather than taking just one …
Andrea Rossi reports on his blog that the 1 megawatt energy catalyzer test has started October 28th, 2011 [Rossi almost always posts everything in all caps, I will remove some of the caps] First information regarding the 1 MW Plant Test: We started regularly the test this morning. Everything is going well so far. The …