J Storrs Hall Foresight on AI and Drexler on Quantum computing and DNA Nanotechnology

1. Drexler comments on the Caltech work “Self-assembly of carbon nanotubes into two-dimensional geometries using DNA origami templates” This achievement is a milestone in framework-directed self assembly of composite nanosystems, a line of development that I’ve argued is a strategic direction in atomically precise fabrication — useful in itself, and as part of a technology …

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Forty-Three Qualified Teams Automotive Xprize

Qualified Teams have passed the second judging stage of the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE. After acceptance of their Registration Application, these teams went on to pass a rigorous review of their Business Plan and initial Technical Specifications. 68 pages of guidelines describe the requirements of the judging process. The PIAXP will encourage production-capable vehicles …

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Road Trains and Dynamically Reconfigurable Modular Vehicles

The EU is working on road trains, where cars have electronics to allow them to automatically follow lead vehicles driven by professional drivers. A new EU project SARTRE is being launched to develop and test technology for vehicles that can drive themselves in long road trains on motorways. This technology has the potential to improve …

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Rice pioneers method for processing carbon nanotubes in bulk fluids

Rice University scientists today unveiled a method for the industrial-scale processing of pure carbon-nanotube fibers that could lead to revolutionary advances in materials science, power distribution and nanoelectronics. The result of a nine-year program, the method builds upon tried-and-true processes that chemical firms have used for decades to produce plastics. The research is available online …

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Breakthrough Will Enable Devices With Electrically and MagneticallyTunable Superconductor Properties

Using precision techniques for making superconducting thin films layer-by-layer, physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have identified a single layer responsible for one such material’s ability to become superconducting, i.e., carry electrical current with no energy loss. The technique, described in the October 30, 2009, issue of Science, could be …

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Magnifye Makes Powerful 17 Tesla Superconducting Magnets That Take up 2 Million times Less Space and Are Cheaper to Charge

Magnifye, a Cambridge University spin-out, would increase the power density of magnets used to produce energy in electric motors. The magnets, which are 10 times stronger than conventional magnets, are so powerful that a 1 inch sample could potentially support the weight of a seven-ton truck. (H/T Talkpolywell) * Stronger magnets that are 7-17 tesla …

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Amory Lovins and President Jimmy Carter Were Also Wrong In Their Energy Predictions Too

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 …

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Digital Rosetta Stone for Digital Storage for 1000 years

Tadahiro Kuroda, an electrical engineering professor at Keio University in Japan, has invented what he calls a “Digital Rosetta Stone,” a wireless memory chip sealed in silicon that he says can store data for 1,000 years. Currently long term data storage requires: Data typically has to be put on new storage systems every 20 years …

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Colfax CXT8000 Eightway Nvidia GPU Server

Hexus features the Colfax CXT8000; a server with eight NVIDIA Tesla GPUs and purportedly the world’s first such system. (H/T Sander Olson) Bright side of news covers the CXT8000 as well. The Colfax GPU server section of their website. The eight GPU (eight Tflop), 4U, rack-mounted supercomputer was rendered even more impressive by its specially …

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