NASA funds Experimental Demonstration of Plasmonic Force Propulsion

One of NASA’s strategic goals is expanding scientific understanding of the Earth and the universe. NASA envisions a broad class of scientific missions where extremely fine pointing and positioning of spacecraft is required, such as a single Earth observing spacecraft, deployable x-ray telescopes, exoplanet observatories, and constellations of spacecraft for Earth and deep space observations. …

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Armored ground vehicles are testing combat lasers in the 10 kilowatt range now and railguns tests, 30 kilowatt lasers next year

The Fires Battle Lab at Fort Sill is now experimenting with new weapons technology that could potentially replace the howitzers and air defense missile systems of today. Two laser systems and a railgun were demonstrated for the media at Thompson Hill Range Complex on Thursday. The lasers are silent, invisible and deadly. On just a …

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Will the Singularity Artificial General Intelligence winners be Hedge Fund Managers, the Military and Spy Agencies ?

When Artificial Intelligence (AI) work began over 50 years ago, the AI field was directly aimed at the construction of “thinking machines”—that is, computer systems with human-like general intelligence. The whole package, complete with all the bells and whistles like self, will, attention, creativity, and so forth. But this goal proved very difficult to achieve; …

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Improving Brain’s Garbage Disposal May Slow Alzheimer’s Disease as shown in mice experiments

A drug that boosts activity in the brain’s “garbage disposal” system can decrease levels of toxic proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders and improve cognition in mice, a new study by neuroscientists at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) and New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI) has found. The study was published today …

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Will The Simple Act Of Building Cheap Energy Make Possible Superrapid Economic Growth?

A guest article by Joseph Friedlander Neil Craig back in 2012 made a few posts on direct correlation of energy + economic growth that made the astonishing assertion, IIRC that simply building enough energy sources would generate very rapid economic growth. Alas, I can no longer email him to find out more details as he …

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JAK inhibitor drugs could restore hair growth after loss from male pattern baldness

In experiments with mouse and human hair follicles, Angela M. Christiano, PhD, and colleagues found that drugs that inhibit the Janus kinase (JAK) family of enzymes promote rapid and robust hair growth when applied to the skin. Inhibiting a family of enzymes inside hair follicles that are suspended in a resting state restores hair growth, …

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Carnival of Space 428

1. Universe Today – ExoMars Heads to the Red Planet in 2016 The 2016 launch window for Mars missions is fast approaching along with opposition, and ESA is refining its target window for ExoMars. Mars launch season offers the optimal time to make the trip from Earth to Mars, as missions prepare to break the …

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Researchers modify more than 60 pig genes in effort to enable organ transplants into human

For decades, scientists and doctors have dreamed of creating a steady supply of human organs for transplantation by growing them in pigs. But concerns about rejection by the human immune system and infection by viruses embedded in the pig genome have stymied research. Now, by modifying more than 60 genes in pig embryos — ten …

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IMF lowers World Growth Forecast from 3.3% to 3.1% for 2015

The IMF projection for Global growth for 2015 is projected at 3.1 percent, 0.3 percentage point lower than in 2014, and 0.2 percentage point below the forecasts in the July 2015 World Economic Outlook (WEO) Update. Prospects across the main countries and regions remain uneven. Relative to last year, the recovery in advanced economies is …

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India’s Modi looks to Elon Musk Tesla batteries to boost solar electricity

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Tesla Motors this weekend, he will most seeking Tesla batteries to help boost solar electricity in India India receives 5-7 kilowatt hours per square meter for 300 to 330 days of the year. India has a target of 100 GW of solar power by 2022. Currently India has 276 …

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India’s Modi looks to Elon Musk Tesla batteries to boost solar electricity

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Tesla Motors this weekend, he will most seeking Tesla batteries to help boost solar electricity in India India receives 5-7 kilowatt hours per square meter for 300 to 330 days of the year. India has a target of 100 GW of solar power by 2022. Currently India has 276 …

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