Arxiv – All-optical integrated circuits for computing and information processing have been pursued for decades as a potential strategy to overcome the speed limitations intrinsic to electronics. However feasible on-chip integrated logic units and devices still have been limited by its size, quality, scalability, and reliability. Here we demonstrate all-passive on-chip optical AND and NAND …
CNBC – Google’s Venture fund is planning to invest $1 billion in a wide-range of start-ups over the next five years. While Google Ventures, which is currently invested in over 100 companies, is invested in some social media companies, William Maris, Google Ventures managing partner, said the fund seeks entrepreneurs that “have a healthy disregard …
Robotic Arms being added to UAVs. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), such as those used by the military for surveillance and reconnaissance, could be getting a hand –and an arm– from engineers at Drexel University as part of a National Science Foundation grant to investigate adding dexterous limbs to the aircrafts. A gantry system, like the …
Population changes are a minor factor in CO2 emissions. The chart below shows that you can have an increase in population and a decrease in CO2 emissions. The bigger factors are GDP increases and the economy. The group Population Matters pushes for draconian state controls on birth rates and on immigration because they feel that …
University of Florida researchers have moved a step closer to treating diseases on a cellular level by creating a tiny particle that can be programmed to shut down the genetic production line that cranks out disease-related proteins. In laboratory tests, these newly created “nanorobots” all but eradicated hepatitis C virus infection. The programmable nature of …
Kazakhstan can increase uranium production to 30,000 tons in 2-3 years, Novosti-Kazakhstan quoted deputy head of the Kazakh National Atomic Company Kazatomprom Nurlan Ryspanov as saying. “Our resources and existing capacities allow achieving production of 30,000 tons of uranium or more per year,” Ryspanov said on Wednesday while speaking at the 5th annual Central Asia …
A new approach to quantum metamaterials proceeds along two paths. The first kind of structure is a set of nanowires containing quantum dots. Sketch of a quantum metamaterial made of an array of nanorods doped by quantum dots. Such a structure is interesting for several reasons: it is simple, it has many interesting properties (negative …
Here I lay out the research which I believe shows that Sky City Skyscrapers (200-300 stories) and robotic cars (4 times the density of road traffic) will make certain megacities (future New York, Shanghai, Tokyo etc…) one third to one half of the overall world population and they would have 75% more GDP per capita …
ESO (European southern Observatory) is to build the largest optical/infrared telescope in the world. At its meeting in Garching today, the ESO Council approved the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) Programme, pending confirmation of four so-called ad referendum votes. The E-ELT will start operations early in the next decade. The E-ELT will collect 100 million …
Rand Simberg explains – What is the significance of this successful Spacex flight? 1. Spacex has both a launch system and a capsule that is capable of performing the missions assigned to it. 2. Spacex can now start to fulfill its Cargo Resupply Services (CRS) contract, which helped fund the spacecraft’s development. (About 12 flights …
Technology Review – Nearly 400 million Indians, mostly those living in rural communities, lack access to grid power. For many of them, simply charging a cell phone requires a long trip to a town with a recharging kiosk, and their homes are dimly lit by sooty kerosene-fueled lamps. Nikhil Jaisinghani and Brian Shaad cofounded Mera …