eSolar, a global provider of reliable and cost-effective concentrating solar power (CSP) plants, and Penglai Electric, a privately-owned Chinese electrical power equipment manufacturer, today announced a master licensing agreement to build at least 2 gigawatts (GW) of solar thermal power plants in China over the next 10 years. The deal was signed in the Chinese …
A professor of horticulture at Penn State, Lynch believes that understanding plant root architecture may be the key to producing enough food to feed the world’s expanding population. The goal is the generation of new crop varieties and cropping systems adapted to the stressful soils of eastern and southern Africa. Correlated with genetic information, root …
Technology Review reports – Aspera has now announced an alternative protocol designed to accelerate wireless transfer speeds. Called fasp-AIR, it includes new proprietary approaches to addressing problems of data transfer that are unique to wireless communications. The original fasp protocol is already used to boost regular Internet transfers. The main problem with the TCP protocol, …
General Motors researchers have made an extremely strong adhesive that comes apart when heated. The adhesive is 10 times stickier than Velcro and the reusable gecko-inspired glues that many research groups have been trying to perfect. The polymers in the glue bond to each other within minutes when they are initially heated. Thus, when two …
Northwestern University researchers are the first to design a bioactive nanomaterial that promotes the growth of new cartilage in vivo and without the use of expensive growth factors. Minimally invasive, the therapy activates the bone marrow stem cells and produces natural cartilage. No conventional therapy can do this. “Unlike bone, cartilage does not grow back, …
Chinese auto makers added the capacity by 30 percent to 20 million units in 2009 Fuel-efficient cars have already shown some signs of overheating, as the demand for auto with displacement less than 1.6 liters was about 3 million units before 2011, less than half of the capacity of 7 million units, said Jia Xinguang, …
Matrix movie quote: Agent Smith: I’d like to share a revelation that I’ve had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you’re not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do …
Here is an interview of Geoffrey Noer. (interview by Sander Olson) Mr. Noer is the Senior Director of Product Marketing for SGI, formerly Rackable. At the Supercomputing 2009 conference SGI unveiled the Altix UV supercomputer, which scales to petaflop levels and is capable of running standard software without recompilation. SGI is focused on becoming a …
Another research paper that describes an aspect of how the Dwave System adiabatic quantum computer works. Synchronization of multiple coupled rf-SQUID flux qubits (10 page pdf) A practical strategy for synchronizing the properties of compound Josephson junction (CJJ) radio frequency monitored superconducting quantum interference device (rf-SQUID) qubits on a multi-qubit chip has been demonstrated. The …
Fujitsu Ltd. (6702) on Wednesday successfully operated a prototype of its next-generation supercomputer, in spite of a government panel’s decision to freeze funding for the project. The Ministry of Science and others are calling for the project to be continued, and Fujitsu says it is ready to start production as soon as it gets the …
Researchers are making progress in developing new types of transistors, called finFETs, which use a finlike structure instead of the conventional flat design, possibly enabling engineers to create faster and more compact circuits and computer chips. The fins are made not of silicon, but from a material called indium-gallium-arsenide, as shown in this illustration. (Birck …