future

Cheap, recyclable ultrastrong magnets that will enable smaller, more powerful engines

by

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 …

Read more

Prediction: Dark Knight will top Titanic United States Box Office

by

This is a small prediction on a trivial topic. Dark Knight will earn more than the non-inflation adjusted total of Titanic. This Mondays numbers were 45% over the Dead Man’s chest numbers, which could be an indication of longer legs than Dead Man’s chest. An extra $4 million this week if the pattern holds throughout …

Read more

What would it take ? New Nuclear electricity at less than two cents per kwh

by

New nuclear plants constructed in the USA can provide electricity at about 5-9 cents/kwh Because of the large capital costs for nuclear power, and the relatively long construction period before revenue is returned, servicing the capital costs of a nuclear power plant is the most important factor determining the economic competitiveness of nuclear energy. The …

Read more

EEStor update from MIT Technology Review

by

EEStor has manufactured materials that have met all certification milestones for crystallization, chemical purity, and particle-size consistency. The results suggest that the materials can be made at a high-enough grade to meet the company’s performance goals. The company also said a key component of the material can withstand the extreme voltages needed for high energy …

Read more

Highest 50 nanometer resolution X-ray holograms

by

Top: the ALS beamline 9.0.1 experiment used a uniformly redundant array (URA) 30 nanometers thick with scattering elements 44 nanometers square (left). At right is the lithograph of Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man. The scale bar is two micrometers long. Bottom: the FLASH experiment used a URA with 162 pinholes, next to a Spiroplasma bacterium. The …

Read more

Thermoelectrics and refrigerators

by

Members of the Quantum Simulations Group at Lawrence Livermore National Labs provide an extensive discussion of how thermoelectrics can replace freon based refrigerators when inexpensive thermoelectric materials reach a ZT of 3. The Livermore group has begun working on simulations [modeling material processes using quantum molecular dynamics methods] for a diverse group of technological applications. …

Read more

Simple and affordable defences against nuclear bombs and Katrina Hurricanes

by

A blast-wave overpressure of 5 pounds per square inch, which is associated with winds around 150 miles per hour, is enough to destroy wood-frame buildings and cause severe damage to brick apartment buildings. However, with simple and cheap construction improvements and retrofits it is possible to enable all wood-frame buildings to survive 5 PSI. Further …

Read more