On left is a scanning electron micrograph of a plasmonic Luneburg lens on a gold film. On the right, fluorescence imaging shows intensity of the SPPs propagated by the Luneburg lens (dotted circle). X marks the launching position of the electron beam and Z is the direction in which the SPPs propogate. (Image courtesy of …
BP has a projection of world energy usage until 2030 The BP projection can be compared to the comedic proposal by Stanford’s Mark Jacobson to shift to energy generation that only uses wind, solar, hydro and geothermal. Details of this fantasy are below BP projection The growth of oil in transport slows even more dramatically, …
Illustration of the idea of a “Pendry cloak”. Light rays illuminating the cloak are bent around the central region and allowed to continue on their original path. Figure from BBC News. An introductory overview of invisibility cloaking work and transformative optics In 1988, a mathematician named Nachman provided a rigorous proof that invisible objects do …
An engineer from the University of Missouri studies the glass pane after a test explosion. A team of engineers from the University of Missouri and the University of Sydney in Australia is working to develop a blast-resistant glass that is lighter, thinner, and colorless, yet tough enough to withstand the force of an explosion, earthquake, …
Matthew Simmons expected the price of oil, about $65 a barrel in 2005, to more than triple in the next five years, even after adjusting for inflation. He offered to bet $5,000 that the average price of oil over the course of 2010 would be at least $200 a barrel in 2005 dollars. Matthew Simmons, …
The threshold size of a steady state fusion reactor required to achieve ignition, and offer a safe protective shielding will be quite large. Unlike fission, where the first commercial reactor was 50 MW, a DEMO reactor must start operation at multi-gigawatt powers. A Quasi-Steady Fusion reactor (QSFR) based on the FRC provides for a method …
Pulse Discharge Network Development for a Heavy Gas Field Reversed Configuration Plasma Device A simple LRC circuit model is used to conduct a parametric study of the effects of charging voltage, capacitance, resistance, and inductance on the current waveform of a pulse forming network for field reversed configuration (FRC) plasma production. Using known waveforms from …
For Space I predicted Solar sails in space 2006-2010. Solar sail by 2010 is clearly correct. Japanese solar sail was deployed and flew in space this year. IKAROS was the world’s first spacecraft designed to use solar sailing propulsion to be successfully launched China second largest economy in straight currency conversion measures 2013-2015 China passed …
A Nano-rotor in its honeycomb-cage Scientists from the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) have managed to direct the self-assembly of rod-shaped molecules into rotors only few nanometers in size. The tiny systems serve the study of forces that act on molecules on surfaces and in cage-like structures. PNAS – Rotational and constitutional dynamics of caged supramolecules …
All forms of energy generation are subsidized. Energy is not cheap. There is a recent estimate that $25 trillion will need to be put into building what is needed to meet global energy demand increases between 2010 and 2030 For solar and wind, the analogy is books and libraries. One book may be cheap and …
Virgin Galactic on Sunday said that it had successfully completed the first piloted free flight of the VSS Enterprise, the experimental space ship previously known as SpaceShipTwo. If you liked this article, please give it a quick review on ycombinator, or Reddit, or StumbleUpon. Thanks Featured articles Ocean Floor Gold and Copper Ocean Floor Mining …