Hat Tip to Al Fin, for spotting a very interesting blimp plane hybrid The Luxury blimp plane hybrid, Aeroscraft ML866 While 70% of the aerodynamic lift comes from helium, the remaining 30% is derived from its innovative “wing” shape. As well as being able to hover the aircraft will be capable of speeds up to …
Superstrong transparent plastic has been made using superior layering technique. Before this process load transfer has been quite ineffective at loadings more than 5-10%. After that the mechanical properties of regular composites actually start degrading with increasing portion of inorganic filler. Kotov’s findings indicate that organization of the composite and tuning of molecular interactions between …
Using conventional e-beam lithography, IBM has successfully fabricated graphene FETs with very narrow nanoribbon channels. FETs are field-effect transistors. So far, the bandgaps opened were relatively small, compared with the excellent properties of nanotubes. This IBM attributes to the imperfections in its method of cutting the nanoribbons. However, by supercooling the device the researchers were …
Time magazine is reporting that various people in the CIA and in the US bureaucracy think that an attack against Iran nuclear facilities and the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps could happen within 6 months Update: More discussions of the possibility for war with Iran I had made a wildcard prediction of the possibility of …
Nasa crowns a Personal Air Vehicle prize winner Pipistral Virus is a 50mpg two seater plane that costs $70,000. Dayjet, air taxi service, is nearing a soft launch Eclipse 500 By Aug 21, 2007, Dayjet will have 11 jets. They are close to launching the first per-seat, on-demand air-taxi operation. before DayJet can fly passengers, …
Researchers at the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research studied rats with crushed spinal cords. The scientists found treatment soon after injury, combining radiation therapy to destroy harmful cells and microsurgery to drain excess fluids, significantly helped the body repair the injured cord. The scientists, led by Nurit Kalderon, said their findings demonstrate conventional clinical procedures …
Hat tip to KurzweilAI, the Toronto Star reports : a landmark discovery by researchers at McMaster University could radically alter the way scientists can use embryonic stem cells to grow replacement tissues and treat cancer. In a surprise revelation, a McMaster study found that human embryonic stem cells – “the great grandmothers” of all the …
A hot ice Neptune sized world with water has been found The star GJ 436, a diminutive star (red dwarf) 30 light-years from the Sun, was known since 2004 to harbour a 22-Earth mass planet, orbiting 4 million kilometers from the star (0.03 Astronomical Units). Measurements show that the planet has a diameter of about …
New combustion engines in cars and other vehicles could be made 15-20% more efficient In today’s internal combustion engines, the pistons turn a crankshaft, which is linked to a camshaft that opens and closes the valves, directing the flow of air and exhaust into and out of the cylinders. The new method would eliminate the …
The Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems has examined what can be developed in labs today and then mapped out a step-by-step plan for the pathways of development that must take place to achieve productive nanosystems. This has been a long anticipated event by those (like myself) who follow molecular nanotechnology. Here is the Technology Roadmap …
Consultant Wendell Cox shows shifting 25 percent of the goods moved by truck with trains could save commuters more than 40 hours per year by reducing traffic, save $44 billion in fuel, and could also take 3 million trucks off the road during the rush hours across the country. Depending on the type of train, …