Stanford Linear Accelerator Lab (SLAC) scientists were able to observe “diamond rain” for the first time as it formed in high-pressure conditions. Extremely high pressure squeezes hydrogen and carbon found in the interior of these planets to form solid diamonds that sink slowly down further into the interior. The glittering precipitation has long been hypothesized …
A team of researchers from MIT, Harvard University, and Sandia National Laboratories reports a new technique for creating targeted defects in diamond materials, which is simpler and more precise than its predecessors and could benefit diamond-based quantum computing devices. Quantum computers are experimental devices that offer large speedups on some computational problems. One promising approach …
Russia’s reserve fund could be depleted in mid-2017, perhaps a few months later,” said Ondrej Schneider, chief economist at the Institute of International Finance. Russia may start building up its Reserve Fund in the second half of 2017, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said January. This would be if oil prices average $50 per barrel and …
F-35s, F-22s and other fighter jets will soon use improved “artificial intelligence” to control nearby drone “wingmen” able to carry weapons, test enemy air defenses or perform intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance missions in high risk areas, senior Air Force officials said. Air Force Chief Scientist Gregory Zacharias said that technology was progressing quickly at the …
In China’s three big population centres—the areas around Beijing in the north, Shanghai in the east and Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, in the south—life and work have started to follow the sinews of the high-speed rail system. Trains were previously too infrequent, too slow and too crowded to allow for daily commutes. Now, …
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 …
Cells in the amniotic fluid that surrounds a developing baby can revive ageing and weak bones, say UK scientists. The discovery could help babies with genetic diseases, elderly people and even astronauts, they say. The findings in mice, published in Scientific Reports, showed cells in the fluid strengthened bone and cut fractures by 80%. Human …
The Great Smog, which blanketed London for five days in December 1952, is estimated by some experts to have killed more than 12,000 people and hospitalized 150,000. Thousands of animals also died. “People have known that sulfate was a big contributor to the fog, and sulfuric acid particles were formed from sulfur dioxide released by …
In 2016, Russia has twice tested a hypersonic glider meant to replace traditional warheads for new generations of intercontinental ballistic missiles, including the heavy Sarmat ICBM. Military expert Boris Litovkin said that after entering the atmosphere the ultra-maneuverable hypersonic reentry vehicles are able to shift their targets in flight thus making them extremely hard to …
Switzerland has voted to keep their nuclear reactors. Five nuclear reactors provide over one-third of Switzerland’s electricity. Nuclear power is Switzerland’s second largest source of electricity, providing about 35% of electricity in 2015 and complementing 52% hydro to give the country one of the cleanest and most secure electricity systems in the world. Now Swiss …
The Marines completed a proof-of-concept test in which a Marine Corps F-35B detected a cruise-missile decoy (a drone), passed targeting information to a remote sensor, and set up a shot by an Aegis combat system of the sort you’ll find on modern destroyers. A battery controlled by the Aegis fired a live SM-6 missile, which …
