Business Week – Libyan production rose to 1.3 million barrels a day last month, up 150,000 barrels from the previous month, according to IEA estimates. The country’s output is about 300,000 barrels less than its average before the uprising against Muammar Qaddafi last year. Saudi will probably produce 9.8 million barrels a day this month, …
Nature – Snails have joined the growing ranks of animals whose own metabolism can be used to generate electricity. Next lobster implants and rats and eventually human bio-blood powered implants. Designing devices that are far more energy efficient or only needs occasional bursts of power will increase the range of applications. This technology clearly has …
DARPA – Today, the lowest echelon members of the U.S. military deployed in remote overseas locations are unable to obtain on-demand satellite imagery in a timely and persistent manner for pre-mission planning. This is due to lack of satellite overflight opportunities, inability to receive direct satellite downlinks at the tactical level and information flow restrictions. …
Kazutaka Kurihara site – In this paper we report on a system, “SpeechJammer”, which can be used to disturb people’s speech. In general, human speech is jammed by giving back to the speakers their own utterances at a delay of a few hundred milliseconds. This effect can disturb people without any physical discomfort, and disappears …
Yesterday, Nextbigfuture reviewed a couple of the predictions of $5000 gold prices and a prediction that the US financial situation is not sustainable. The CBO (Congressional Budget Office) assumes that the yield on the 10-year Treasury will rise from an estimated 2.3% this year to 5% by the end of the decade; and the yield …
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has successfully test fired SuperDraco, a powerful new engine that will play a critical role in the company’s efforts to change the future of human spaceflight. The engine will enable launch escape at any point in the launch. “SuperDraco engines represent the best of cutting edge technology,” said Elon Musk, SpaceX …
By Joseph Friedlander One line summary: Irresponsible governmental behavior has made us most vulnerable at the precise time a major societal crisis—and choice of futures– is due to be faced. 30 Second version: Reckless government manipulations and spending often with a conscious attempt to ‘smooth out’ the short term economic cycles, may have adversely affected …
A new system for delivering a drug to organ transplant patients, which could avoid the risk of harmful side effects, is being developed by scientists at Strathclyde. The drug, cyclosporine (CsA), is widely used in transplant operations and helps prevent the patient’s body rejecting the organ but it can cause adverse drug reactions, of which …
Stanford Law Review discusses The Iraq War, the Next War, and the Future of the Fat Man The Obama Administration’s emphasis on targeted killing of terror suspects—what President Obama has called eliminating our enemies—is also a form of anticipatory self-defense. Indeed, as the administration continues to ratchet up its use of remote drone attacks, we …
Sony has funded a series of movies where a guy’s room totally change into the movie he is watching. No SFX, no post production, no cuts, everything you see here is 100% for real. They made a series of movie related videos using ‘Immersive Imaging’ which takes 3D projection mapping as its starting point, but …
Joseph Friedlander’s ideas on future engineering with AB-Matter (Bolonkin Femtotech). A guest article by Joseph Friedlander. If Professor Bolonkin’s AB-Needles and AB-Matter can be formed and used in quantity then what would be possible in far future space technology ? Nextbigfuture has reviewed Prof Bolonkin’s AB Needle proposal and paper. Earlier Bolonkin femtotech speculation. Going …