1. MIT Technology Review: Seth Lloyd describes the utility of the new quantum computing algorithm for linear equations. MIT researchers, however, have developed a new algorithm that could solve systems of linear equations with exponential speed–improving video processing, weather modeling, and population analysis, among other applications. For even the easiest trillion-variable problems, “a supercomputer’s going …
Betavoltaics can store about one million times more energy than other battery like devices but currently cannot release it very quickly. Nano-to-Macro Scale Engineering Applications of Nuclear Technology-An Overview by Rusi P. Taleyarkhan, School of Nuclear Engineering, Purdue University (7 page pdf) Nuclear science and technology offers the capability for radical industrial innovations from the …
Ultra-high-density data storage is now a step closer thanks to an advance in device fabrication achieved by Bao-Yu Zong and co-workers from the Data Storage Institute of A*STAR in Singapore. Devices for data-storage applications are created by depositing a ‘resist’ material onto a substrate, which is etched into a pattern using an electron beam and …
The San Francisco Bay Bridge was re-opened at 9AM Monday, Nov 2, 2009 An anti-vibration system has been put in place to limit stresses and additional supports installed to prevent any rods – in case they snap off again – from falling on traffic. Initial daily inspections will be conducted of the repair system. The …
Prof. Leonid Shvartsman and Prof. Boris Laikhtman of the university’s Racah Institute of Physics have invented a novel design of TeraHertz-ray (T-ray) lasers. They said the novel device will have 400 times higher “gain” (a measure of power) than that of the only coherent T-ray sources existing today, called THzQuantum cascade lasers. “The novel method …
In the Grist article by Amory Lovins: “stewart brands nuclear enthusiasm falls short on facts and logic” In its first half-century, nuclear power fell short of its forecast capacity by about 12-fold in the U.S. and 30-fold worldwide, mainly because building it cost several-fold more than expected, straining or bankrupting its owners This is referring …
1. Graphene enhances titanium dioxide-based batteries. Researchers would like to develop lithium-ion batteries using titanium dioxide, an inexpensive material (instead of rare earth metals which China controls most of the current rare earth metal reserves.). Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Gary Yang and colleagues added graphene, sheets made up of single carbon atoms, …
Courtesy / Sheng Shen A diagram of the setup, including a cantilever from an atomic force microscope, used to measure the heat transfer between objects separated by nanoscale distances A well-established physical law, Planck’s law, describes the transfer of heat between two objects, but some physicists have long predicted that the law should break down …
1. GE Aviation is advancing jet propulsion and its next-generation engine core program, called eCore, through several private- and government-funded R&D programs, many with key technology milestones this year. General Electric is working on HEETE (Highly Efficient Embedded Turbine Engine) A three-year program sponsored by the USAF, HEETE focuses on embedded technologies for the endurance …
Jupiter Impact picture taken by Hubble Carnival of space 113 is up at Dynamics of Cats This site provided the interview with Ross Tierney of Direct Launch and an article on breakthroughs in curing radiation sickness. Three is coverage from Samba about the impact on Jupiter. Centauri Dreams reviews a paper on detecting potentially habitable …