Glass Nanolattice Structures Four Times Strength but Five Times Lower in Density than Steel

By building a structure out of DNA and then coating it with glass, a research team led by Oleg Gang has created a very strong material with very low density.Gang and colleagues report that by building a structure out of DNA and then coating it with glass, they have created a very strong material with …

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Factoring Russia into the US–Chinese equation on hypersonic glide vehicles

Hypersonic glide vehicles are a growing factor in strategic stability calculations. These systems are characterized by speed, precision and manoeuvrability, which can be applied to defeat missile defences. Traditional calculations of strategic stability rely on the ability to undermine an opponent’s nuclear deterrent capability, and hypersonic glide vehicles are seen as providing this assurance. On …

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Spotting planets and unseen objects in our solar system and beyond with current and near future telescopes

Adam Crowl describes the magnitude (telescope visibility) of new planets in our solar system. Currently the Pan-STARRS1 Sky Survey is trying to capture everything that can be seen from Hawaii down to a magnitude of +22. Eventually Pan-STARRS hopes to push down to +24 in magnitude, which *might* capture Planet Nine, if Pan-STARRS sees its …

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World’s Thinnest Electric Generator

Researchers from Columbia Engineering and the Georgia Institute of Technology report today that they have made the first experimental observation of piezoelectricity and the piezotronic effect in an atomically thin material, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), resulting in a unique electric generator and mechanosensation devices that are optically transparent, extremely light, and very bendable and stretcha Piezoelectricity …

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Lawrenceville Plasma Physics raised $182000 from the crowdfunding effort and another $135,000 from new investors

The crowdfunding campaign of LPPFusion, Inc. and the Focus Fusion Society was a great success, raising $182,000, or 91% of our original goal of $200,000. (This includes $2,000 in Bitcoins not counted in the number on the Indiegogo website.) We received contributions from 1,923 individuals, many of whom gave more than once. The campaign greatly …

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Artificial Intelligence for banking – but not programmed trading for big companies but advice for the 1%

DBS Bank and IBM today announced an agreement in which DBS will deploy IBM’s Watson cognitive computing innovation to deliver a next- generation client experience. This collaboration is part of an ongoing journey by DBS to shape the future of banking. For a start, DBS intends to apply Watson to its wealth management business to …

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UK company plans high altitude solar and wind energy generating drones

UK-based New Wave Energy plans to build the first high altitude aerial power plant, using networks of unmanned drones that can harvest energy from multiple sources and transmit it wirelessly to receiving stations on the ground. The network of drones hover in the sky harvesting both solar and wind power, while moving about at low …

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Ranking of best and worst run States in America

24/7 Wall Street has an updated report on the best and worst run states for 2013 Good governance involves raising and spending enough to provide for the well-being of the population without risking the state’s long-term stability. To determine how well the states are run, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed hundreds of data sets from dozens …

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Focus Fusion impurities measured and indicate that the tungsten electrode will provide a performance boost in a few months

Lawrenceville Plasma Physics (LPP) researchers believe that the main problem impeding higher density and yields in LPP’s FF-1 device is metal impurities in the plasma. A new optical-UV spectrometer from Ocean Optics, has been used to measure the impurities and confirmed what they are and their amounts. This important step forward was taken with the …

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The Climate change report will confirm that the rate of warming has slowed or been flat since 1998

Climatologists and climate-change deniers agree on at least one thing this week: everyone is awaiting the landmark U.N. report on climate change that will be presented at next week’s meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The report will also include data that indicates the rate of warming from 1998 to 2012 slowed …

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