Science Fiction author and blogger Charlie Stross has an article about the myth of the starship Yes, I think human interstellar exploration (and yes, maybe even colonization) might be possible, after a fashion. But to get there, we’re going to have to master at least two entire technological fields that don’t yet exist, even before …
Ray Villard, at Discover Channel blogs, about NASA’s WISE mission (Wide Infrared Survey Explorer). Ray predicts two potentially news breaking headlines from WISE (and no doubt there will be other stories too). The first would be the discovery of an entirely new class of dark astronomical object that has previously escaped detection. Since I can’t …
During a presentation on June 26, 2009 chip-making consortium Sematech outlined ways to enable Moore’s Law Sematech also warned about a gap in Extreme Ultra-violet mask inspection tools. To enable EUV in mass production fabs, IC makers must get their hands on defect-free photomasks. Today’s EUV masks have 1 defect per cm^2 at 18-nm. The …
Michal Lipson and pals at Cornell University and Xiang Zhang and buddies at UC Berkeley say they have both built cloaks that are essentially mirrors with a tiny bump in which an object can hide. The cloaking occurs because the mirrors look entirely flat. The bump is hidden by a pattern of tiny silicon nanopillars …
Ultra-strong, high-temperature, high-performance permanent magnet compounds, such as Samarium Cobalt, are the mainstay materials for several industries that rely on high-performance motor and power generation applications, including the Department of Defense (DOD) and the automotive industry. Until now, producing Samarium Cobalt has been a difficult and expensive multi-step process. Northeastern University researchers have broken new …
Scientists at the University of Konstanz in Germany and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated an ultrafast laser that offers a record combination of high speed, short pulses and high average power. [about 100 times faster and more powerful] The same NIST group also has shown that this type of laser, …
Packers Plus Energy Services Inc., Calgary-based company, says its unique technology can deliver precisely-controlled fracs along a horizontal wellbore at an affordable price. “Without our StackFrac system, the Bakken formation in southeastern Saskatchewan would still be uneconomic for the most part,” says Dan Themig, president of the seven-year-old private firm. Producers had already attempted straightforward …
Image at left: This robot shares some features with the lunar truck [below after the jump], but is equipped with a drill designed to find water and oxygen-rich soil on the moon. Credit: Carnegie Mellon University The moon has one-sixth the gravity of Earth, so a lightweight rover will have a difficult job resisting drilling …
During the fourth quarter of 2007, Marathon Oil completed the acquisition of more than 70,000 net leaseholdacres in the Bakken Shale play in North Dakota. The acreage brings Marathon’s total Bakken Shale leasehold to more than 320,000 net acres. Marathon currently has six rigs running in its Bakken program and ended 2007 with a net …
By placing quantum dots on a specially designed photonic crystal, researchers at the University of Illinois have demonstrated enhanced fluorescence intensity by a factor of up to 108. Potential applications include high-brightness light-emitting diodes, optical switches and personalized, high-sensitivity biosensors. A quantum dot is a tiny piece of semiconductor material 2 to 10 nanometers in …
Wired looks at DARPA’s human soldier augmentation programs – Cooling hands helps endurance. The reason is that muscles don’t wear out because they use up stored sugars but because they get to hot. Cooling helps overclock the body. – Working to suspend injured soldiers through oxygen depravation. Mice were give a whiff of hydrogen sulfide …