The largest dinosaur print ever recorded: a 5-foot-9-inch print from a sauropod, or long-necked dinosaur was found in Australia. The tracks provide the first evidence that spiky tailed stegosaurs lived in the land down under. Paleontologists create a cast of the gigantic sauropod print. (University of Queensland) An unprecedented 21 different types of dinosaur tracks …
Researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas have created an atomic force microscope on a chip, dramatically shrinking the size — and, hopefully, the price tag — of a high-tech device commonly used to characterize material properties. “A standard atomic force microscope is a large, bulky instrument, with multiple control loops, electronics and amplifiers,” …
Hypersonic glide vehicles are a growing factor in strategic stability calculations. These systems are characterized by speed, precision and manoeuvrability, which can be applied to defeat missile defences. Traditional calculations of strategic stability rely on the ability to undermine an opponent’s nuclear deterrent capability, and hypersonic glide vehicles are seen as providing this assurance. On …
Arxiv – Semihierarchical quantum repeaters based on moderate lifetime quantum memories The construction of large-scale quantum networks relies on the development of practical quantum repeaters. Many approaches have been proposed with the goal of outperforming the direct transmission of photons, but most of them are inefficient or difficult to implement with current technology. Here, we …
When costs are levelized across the lifecycle, nuclear is one of the most cost-effective methods of power generation. Indeed, OECD research shows that nuclear is the lowest levelized cost option for power generation for all OECD countries under certain capital cost projections. Regional differences in the cost of capital for nuclear projects mean that while …
As of August 2016, the US has already appropriated, spent, or taken on obligations to spend more than $3.6 trillion in current dollars on the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria and on Homeland Security (2001 through fiscal year 2016). To this total should be added the approximately $65 billion in dedicated war spending …
Molecules 10,000 times narrower than the width of a human hair could hold the key to making possible wooden skyscrapers and more energy-efficient paper production. The two most common large molecules – or ‘polymers’ – found on Earth are cellulose and xylan, both of which are found in the cell walls of materials such as …
Dave Majumdar, the defense editor for The National Interest, assessment is that an Advanced Super Hornet could perform could offer a less costly 80 percent solution for the U.S. Navy’s requirements. Once developed to its full potential, the Advanced Super Hornet could perform most of the missions envisioned for the F-35C except penetrating strike—it would …
Femtosecond laser writing of vacancies into diamond can be used to produce optically coherentNV−color centers at desired locations. The submicrometer positioning accuracy achieved is sufficient for placing NV−centers in optical structures such as multimode waveguides and whispering gallery resonators or under solid immersion lenses. The demonstrated accuracy is limited by the diffusion of the vacancies …
Ion trap quantum computers hold and manipulate charged particles, called ions, to encode information. But to make a processor that works faster than a classical computer would require millions of such traps, each controlled with its own precisely aligned laser – making it extremely complicated. Now, Winfried Hensinger at the University of Sussex in the …
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will spend 19.5 billion yen ($173 million) to build a 130 petaflop supercomputer in 2017. It will be called the AI Bridging Cloud Infrastructure (ABCI). The US is also planning to build a 200-250 petaflop supercomputer dedicated for Artificial intelligence in 2017 ABCI will be an open innovation …