Felix Baumgartner jumps from a preliminary altitude of 96,640ft/29,455meter and reaches 536mph/862kph in freefall.

Felix Baumgartner landed safely near Roswell, NM following a test jump from (preliminary) 96,640 feet / 29.455 meters, after 3 minutes and 48 seconds of freefall leading up to a 10 minute and 36 second decent. It’s an incredible achievement considering this is the fastest and highest jump for Felix so far. Felix Baumgartner plans …

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Ionic liquid improves speed and efficiency of hydrogen-producing catalyst

The design of a nature-inspired material that can make energy-storing hydrogen gas has gone holistic. Usually, tweaking the design of this particular catalyst — a work in progress for cheaper, better fuel cells — results in either faster or more energy efficient production but not both. Now, researchers have found a condition that creates hydrogen …

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Egyptian Student Invents New Propulsion Method

Aisha Mustafa, a 19-year-old Egyptian physics student, patented a new type of propulsion system for spacecraft that uses cutting edge quantum physics instead of thrusters. Mustafa invented a way of tapping this quantum effect via what’s known as the dynamic Casimir effect. This uses a “moving mirror” cavity, where two very reflective very flat plates …

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Carnival of Nuclear Energy 98

The Carnival of nuclear energy 98 is up at Idaho Samizdat Neutron Economy – the EPA issued its first-ever regulation on carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants, limiting emissions to 1000 pounds of CO2 per megawatt-hour of electricity produced. Given the fact that the average coal plant vastly exceeds this limit (weighing in around …

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Metamaterials Boosts Electromagnetism Safely

By using exotic man-made materials, scientists from Duke University and Boston College believe they can greatly enhance the forces of electromagnetism (EM), one of the four fundamental forces of nature, without harming living beings or damaging electrical equipment. This theoretical finding could have broad implications for such applications as magnetic levitation trains, which ride inches …

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Graphene-Based Supercapacitors with energy density of nickel hydride batteries

Professor Jie Tang, Group Leader of the 1D Nanomaterials Research Group of the Materials Processing Unit, Japan National Institute for Materials Science, and Mr. Qian Cheng, a doctoral student and NIMS Junior Researcher in the same Group, have succeeded in dramatically increasing the energy density of supercapacitors, which are used to store electrical energy. Supercapacitors …

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Inexpensive way to obtain graphene in large quantities using edge-functionalized graphite

ACS Nano – Large-Area Graphene Films by Simple Solution Casting of Edge-Selectively Functionalized Graphite Researchers have demonstrated an inexpensive way to obtain graphene in large quantities using edge-functionalized graphite. Besides being a very convenient way to produce graphene from pristine graphite, the technique could be tailored to specific applications. For example, Baek and his co-workers …

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IT Future of Medicine possible EU megaproject

The IT Future of Medicine has been funded for €1.5 million ($2.1 million) for 2011-2012, and 2012 could become a flagships, to be funded at about €1 billion each over a decade. Data-rich, individualised medicine poses unprecedented challenges for IT, in hardware, storage and communication. ITFoM proposes a data-driven, individualised medicine of the future, based …

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Inefficient driving can lead to a reduction in on-road fuel economy of up to about 45% in total

Eco-driving: strategic, tactical, and operational decisions of the driver that improve vehicle fuel economy (19 pages) Researchers calculated that a car that could get 36 mpg will experience a reduction to 19.8 mpg in actual fuel economy (a reduction of 45%) as a result of disregarding all eco-driving practices. This report presents information about the …

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Self-directed microspider could repair blood vessels

New Scientist – Ayusman Sen of Pennsylvania State University in University Park and his colleagues have created the self-propelling microspiders using spheres less than a micrometre wide. Each sphere is made up of two halves – one hemisphere is gold, the other silica – and looks like a gold-and-silver Christmas bauble. Sen hopes to develop …

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