A NASA satellite in orbit around Mars was able to capture this picture of the split second when Curiosity fell from the skies to its successful landing on the surface of the red planet. In the amazing photograph, the rover’s parachute is fully deployed and the spacecraft is slowing from the screaming speeds of approach …
Magnesium diboride (MgB2), was discovered to be superconducting material in 2001. It has has the highest transition temperature (it becomes superconducting, 39K) for a conventional superconductor. MgB2 could become the superconducting material of choice in numerous medium-range magnetic field applications such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). European companies already play a dominant role in MRI …
The ExoHand from Festo is an exoskeleton that can be worn like a glove. Singularity Hub has coverage The fingers can be actively moved and their strength amplified; the operator’s hand movements are registered and transmitted to the robotic hand in real time. The objectives are to enhance the strength and endurance of the human …
Brian WangBrian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology. Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a …
Seekingalpha – Facebook’s stock is currently burdened with billions of shares poised to be released from lockup in 2012. There are 1.7 billion shares of Facebook currently locked up. 271 million shares will be available for sale in 74 days. A majority of shares, 1.2 billion, will be released from lockup in mid-November. A small …
WSJ – A debt-laden Spanish construction firm became the latest European company to unload assets onto eager Chinese buyers, as Europe’s debt woes force firms to look to China for cash. State Grid Corp., China’s government controlled power-grid operator, said Tuesday it would buy high-voltage electricity transmission assets in Brazil from Spain’s Actividades de Construccion …
Alpha Galileo – A consortium of universities, research institutes, equipment vendors and one telecom operator joined forces in the ‘Scalable advanced ring-based passive dense access network architecture’ Sardana project to develop pioneering techniques to dramatically improve the scalability and robustness of the fibre-to-home networks that already serve millions of European internet users. Supported by EUR …
BBC News – A Japanese researcher has used thousands of strands of spider silk to spin a set of violin strings. The strings are said to have a “soft and profound timbre” relative to traditional gut or steel strings. Physical Review Letters – Spider silk violin strings with a unique packing structure generate a soft …
Vintage space has the Carnival of Space 239 Universe Today reports that the Hubble Telescope has spotted what may be a mysterious clump of dark matter Astronomers are left scratching their heads over a new observation of a “clump” of dark matter apparently left behind after a massive merger between galaxy clusters. What is so …
Universe Today has the full 11 page article, The Alcubierre Warp Drive: On the Matter of Matter by the University of Sydney The region of space behind a superluminally travelling warp bubble is almost entirely devoid of forward travelling particles, however it contains a sparse distribution of particles with greatly reduced energy. Meanwhile the region …
The new McKinsey report Resource Revolution: Meeting the world’s energy, materials, food, and water needs shows that the resource challenge can be met through a combination of expanding the supply of resources and a step change in the way they are extracted, converted, and used. Such resource productivity improvements, using existing technology, could satisfy nearly …