This is an update of the late 2007 article about using hyperion power generation uranium hydride reactors with VASIMR plasma rockets. Hyperion Power Generation is moving ahead with the preparations for three factories for its roughly 7 ton 27 MWe nuclear reactors. One to two hundred reactors could be built and deployed from 2014-2019. VASIMR …
Physorg reports that the Lancet in an article to be published Friday in the medical journal Lancet (prestigious medical journal), the researchers write that the process of aging may be “modifiable.” The Lancet is saying there is no fixed ceiling on human longevity. Lancet Abstract: Ageing populations: the challenges ahead If the pace of increase …
DARPA is working on Autonomous Real-time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance – Imaging System (ARGUS-IS) program. ARGUS-IS is to provide military users a flexible and responsive capability to find, track and monitor events and activities of interest on a continuous basis in areas of interest. Wired provides some details The Army launches a quest for a 2.3 …
A panel of futurists, including Brian Wang of Next Big Future, will discuss how and why people are going to be making major enhancements to themselves, and soon on Fast Forward Radio. This will be part 4 of the World Transformed Series by the Speculist blog. We’re all familiar with enhancements intended to make us …
An artist’s impression of a molecule acting as a transistor that makes it possible to use one laser beam to tune the power of another (Image: Robert Lettow) An optical transistor that uses one laser beam to control another could form the heart of a future generation of ultrafast light-based computers, say Swiss researchers. Conventional …
103 page pdf, advanced propulsion study for the US Air Force made in 2004 prepared by Eric Davis of Warp Drive Metrics. Eric W Davis is an advisor to the Lifeboat Foundation. On pages 48-57, the recent nuclear thermal rocket variants are described. They are estimated to require 5 years of technological development and could …
Army is taking submissions for anti-aging research. Wired blogged about the army’s anti-aging projects. If the military can combine the potential of resveratrol with the power of the mole rat. In February, biochemists at the University of Texas Science Center expanded the mitochondrial theory, based on a study of the unbreakable proteins in mole rats, …
Gene Therapy volunteers were evaluated at set intervals through 180 days, and therapy effectiveness was measured by assessing alpha-SG protein expression in the muscle, which was four to five times higher than in the muscles that received only the saline [placebo]. The volunteers encountered no adverse health events, and the transferred genes continued to produce …
Centauri Dreams has a new interview with Friedwardt Winterberg on Starship Design. Note FYI: A reader told me that when they tried to reach this article via a Google news alert they were redirected to a spyware site. Going directly to this article was not a problem. Nextbigfuture has covered the micro-fusion for space propulsion …
This is a brief overview of the current trends toward larger scale genetic engineering of agricultural crops and animals and geoengineering and mega-engineering adaptation to offset or adapt to environmental changes. Primarily these are observations at which solutions are getting significant increases in research and development resources and are getting or are close to being …
A high-efficiency furnace (90% plus) furnace should save you between 20 and 25 percent on your home heating bill The best choice is to choose a furnace with an AFUE rating of over 90 percent. These “condensing furnaces” recover extra heat by extracting water from the combustion gases within a special corrosion-resistant heat exchanger. The …