Times Online UK: Continental Europe now has 3,600 miles of high-speed line in operation, with a further 2,000 under construction. China will have 6,000 miles open by 2012. NY Times: China is investing $292.9 billion (2 trillion RMB) in a nationwide high-speed, energy efficient rail network. China accelerated its high-speed-rail development plan last year in …
The Manhattan Beach Project was a conference of leading scientists, entrepreneurs, anti-aging doctors held in Manhattan Beach, California on November 13-15, 2009. The goal of the event was to create real time lines and real budgets designed to completely change the face of aging. The Summit agenda lists a mix of well known names from …
Experimental ECR-GDM Thruster As a Model for Fusion Propulsion by . Jerome J. Brainerd and Al Reisz A small experimental electric thruster, in which power is supplied via Electron-Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) absorption of microwaves by the propellant gas, has been tested at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The plasma generated is confined radially …
The antenna consists of liquid metal injected into elastomeric microchannels. The antennas can be deformed (twisted and bent) since the mechanical properties are dictated by the elastomer and not the metal. Research from North Carolina State University is revolutionizing the field of antenna design – creating shape-shifting antennas that open the door to a host …
UC Santa Barbara researchers have demonstrated the ability to electrically manipulate, at gigahertz rates, the quantum states of electrons trapped on individual defects in diamond crystals. This could aid in the development of quantum computers that could use electron spins to perform computations at unprecedented speed. Using electromagnetic waveguides on diamond-based chips, the researchers were …
General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems division (GA-EMS) has successfully fired multiple rounds for the first time in a prototype of its new Blitzer electromagnetic railgun air defence prototype system. These tests were performed at the US Army Dugway Proving Grounds under a contract with the Office of Naval Research. Testing is scheduled to continue through to …
Brave New Climate reviews the work of Mark Z. Jacobson (Professor, Stanford) and Mark A. Delucchi (researcher, UC Davis) entitled “A path to sustainable energy by 2030” (p 58 – 65 Scientific American Nov 2009; they call it WWS: wind, water or sunlight). Jacobson and Delucchi argue that, by the year 2030:Wind, water and solar …
Attosecond physics is a burgeoning field in which researchers use ultrashort optical pulses to excite atoms and molecules and follow the electron dynamics. Driving atoms with longer-duration pulse sequences can generate trains of attosecond pulses, but what workers in this field really need are isolated attosecond pulses. However, the technologies for slicing out single pulses …
A link to the 14 page word document on the 2009 EMDrive research which was presented at the the CEAS 2009 European Air & Space Conference The Emdrive Programme – Implications for the Future of the Aerospace Industry Two other groups, one in China and one in the USA are working on EmDrive projects. We …
A recent presentation (73 page pdf) by a Google engineer shows that the company is preparing to manage as many as 10 million servers in the future. (H/T Sander Olson) Google’s Jeff Dean discussed a new storage and computation system called Spanner, which will seek to automate management of Google services across multiple data centers. …
The objective of the Roadmap for Additive Manufacturing (RAM): Identifying the Future of Freeform Processing was to develop and articulate a roadmap for research in the area of additive manufacturing for the next 10-12 years. (102 page pdf) Industries that will drive the market over the next decade include the military, dentistry, jewelry, entertainment products …