Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is meeting his French opposite number, Francois Hollande, Thursday evening, as France seems keener than ever to bring Russia in from the cold to join its anti-Islamic State (IS) coalition force. The meeting is going ahead as Russia and Turkey are embroiled in tit-for-tat recriminations over the downing of a Russian …
The invention of the world’s first white laser, which could revolutionize communications, lighting and displays, is being recognized as one of the top 100 breakthroughs of the year by Popular Science magazine. Nextbigfuture had covered the white lasers in August Arizona State University electrical engineering professor Cun-Zheng Ning worked on the problem for 10 years …
The Army Research Laboratory, or ARL, is in the middle of testing a prototype “Energy Harvesting Backpack” at the Soldier Performance and Equipment Advanced Research, or SPEAR. How It Works A frame mounted to the standard-issue assault pack contains a two-spring, rack-and-pinion suspension system that allows it to gently glide up and down as the …
Russia’s international reserves, liquid foreign assets managed by the Central Bank of Russia, fell by $5.4 billion to $369.2 billion in the week of Oct. 23-30, Tass, a state-owned news agency, reported Thursday. This was the official numbers and the real numbers are a lot worse. Many of the reserves may not be actually available. …
India and Russia are working on 4.5 geenration Su-35S. Full stealth jets like the F-22A Raptor create drastic reductions in radar detection range. The Su-35S will have IRST (infra-red search and track) system to enable detection of stealth fighters like the F-22A. The F-22A will be able to spot the more detectable Su-35s at larger …
The IMF projection for Global growth for 2015 is projected at 3.1 percent, 0.3 percentage point lower than in 2014, and 0.2 percentage point below the forecasts in the July 2015 World Economic Outlook (WEO) Update. Prospects across the main countries and regions remain uneven. Relative to last year, the recovery in advanced economies is …
SolarCity has built the world’s most efficient rooftop solar panel, with a module efficiency exceeding 22 percent. The new SolarCity panel generates more power per square foot and harvests more energy over a year than any other rooftop panel in production, and will be the highest volume solar panel manufactured in the Western Hemisphere. SolarCity …
China is building two aircraft carriers that will be the same size as its sole carrier, a 60,000-tonne refurbished Soviet-era ship, according to a new Taiwanese Defence Ministry report on the capabilities of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Little is known about China’s aircraft carrier program, which is a state secret, although Chinese state media …
A new report by two American think tanks asserts that Pakistan may be building 20 nuclear warheads annually and could have the world’s third-largest nuclear stockpile within a decade. Pakistan could have at least 350 nuclear weapons within five to 10 years, the report concludes. Pakistan then would probably possess more nuclear weapons than any …
Stanford University scientists have invented the first high-performance aluminum battery that’s fast-charging, long-lasting and inexpensive. Researchers say the new technology offers a safe alternative to many commercial batteries in wide use today. “We have developed a rechargeable aluminum battery that may replace existing storage devices, such as alkaline batteries, which are bad for the environment, …
The Carnival of Space 397 is up at Brown Spaceman. Universe Today – This Is The Asteroid That Didn’t Hit Us The designation for the object above is 2015 EO6. On March 10, 2015, a 12–28 meter asteroid dubbed 2015 ET cosmically “just missed us,” zipping past Earth at 0.3 lunar distances – 115,200 kilometers, …