1. Centauri Dreams offers the first of a 3-part post on Proxima Centauri, the nearest known star. Are we likely to find planets there? Proxima Centauri (shown by the arrow) in relation to Centauri A and B. The latter appear as a single bright object at upper left. Credit: European Southern Observatory. 2. Simostronomy – …
Dwave systems featured in Wired. How Dwave Won the $10 million Lockheed Contract Lockheed Martin makes some of the most complex systems in the world — things like the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. On average, half the cost of developing a new complex system at Lockheed Martin is system verification and validation, and the major …
Bitworking makes the argument that it is time we stopped believing in the Free Market Fairy. Now no one on the right is using the term Free Market Fairy – they use is “free markets”, or very rarely “invisible hand” – but let’s be very clear that they are invoking not a general theory of …
Wall Street Journal – Space Exploration Technologies Corp. said on Wednesday it has invested about $500 million in commercial-space ventures, shedding light on the closely held company’s efforts to develop private rockets and capsules even as congressional skepticism about such projects grows. The figure is substantially larger than founder and Chief Executive Elon Musk previously …
or the first time, a malaria vaccine that uses the entire malaria parasite has proven safe and shown promise to produce a strong immune response in a clinical trial. Though malaria has been largely eliminated in much of the developed world, it is still a widespread threat in warm, tropical areas where infected mosquitoes thrive, …
China’s Broad group completed national seismic testing of a thirty story building using its ‘Can be built’ approach Can Be Built are factory mass produced buildings * factory produced buildings * several times less building materials than traditional building methods * energy saving * longer lasting structures Broad group has built nine model buildings * …
A hemisphere-shaped antenna developed at the University of Michigan has the capacity to be mass produced and could lead to improvements in wireless consumer electronics. Credit: Carl Pfeiffer Engineering researchers at the University of Michigan have found a way to mass-produce antennas so small that they approach the fundamental minimum size limit for their bandwidth, …
Spacex Dragon Nasa has given an indication of the companies it thinks may be closest to offering commercial systems to carry American astronauts into space. With its shuttles about to retire, the agency has offered $270m (£166m) of funds to four firms to help them mature designs for new orbiting vehicles. Blue Origin, Boeing, Sierra …
20 Megawatt wind turbines are feasible, according to a new report from the EU-funded UpWind project, published at the EWEA 2011 Annual Event in Brussels. The UpWind project explored the design limits of upscaling wind turbines to 20 Megawatt (MW) and found that they would have rotor diameters of around 200 metres, compared to some …
Vikas Berry, assistant professor of chemical engineering at Kansas State University, and his research team are wrapping bacteria with graphene to address current challenges with imaging bacteria under electron microscopes. Berry’s method creates a carbon cloak that protects the bacteria, allowing them to be imaged at their natural size and increasing the image’s resolution. Nanoletters …
a dozen three-contact nickel-iron transistors sit on a silicon chip coated with an ultrathin film of magnesium oxide. Right, a six-transistor chip attached to electrical contacts for experiments showing that the magnetic “spins” of electrons can be aligned as they travel through silicon at room temperature — a step toward “spintronic” computers and other devices …