Traditional view of a Dyson’s sphere. Metamaterials could mask and alter the observable signature and alter the interaction with magnetism and the spectrum of space. The theory of dark matter is that 85-90% of the mass in the universe is dark and does not interact with the electromagnetic force. Recently there has been the design …
Russia released a plan to build 42 nuclear power plants by 2020. Previously the target was about 35 nuclear reactors. Seven reactors are under construction and 31 are operating. FURTHER READINGThe basic requirements [target goals] for fuel have been set as: fuel operational lifetime extended to 6 years, improved burn-up of 70 GWd/tU, and improved …
Carnival of Space 46 is up at riding with robots My contribution was the premature report of room temperature superconductors. There is a new class of superconductors made under high pressure which could lead to room temperature superconductors. Centauri Dreams talks about David Brin’s speculation on eleven reasons for no contact with aliens (fermi paradox) …
A way to carry out genetic surgery [more precise gene therapy] has been devised by a British Nobel prizewinner that is already under test on diabetic patients and being readied for use to treat Aids, blocked blood vessels and chronic pain. Safety and precision problems and concerns have been holding back wider use of gene …
Comparing deaths/TWh for all energy sources Energy Source Death Rate (deaths per TWh) Coal – world average 161 (26% of world energy, 50% of electricity) Coal – China 278 Coal – USA 15 Oil 36 (36% of world energy) Natural Gas 4 (21% of world energy) Biofuel/Biomass 12 Peat 12 Solar (rooftop) 0.44 (less than …
Charles Barton reports that the US Geological Service will be announcing huge new reserves of Thorium in the United States. Charles also discusses the needs and issues of a comprehensive national energy policy. This information is crossposted at thoriumenergy “Thorium Power, Inc. has told me that they already have the technology to “switch over” from …
David Brin has his defense of the Transparent Society up at Wired. This was in response to a critque by Bruce Schneier that centered around unequal power. My tiny involvement was emailing David Brin to make him aware of the Schneier article. A common problem with attacks on the 1997 book “The Transparent Society” is …
In a major step forward for computational protein design, University of Washington scientists have built from scratch a handful of enzymes that successfully catalyze a specific chemical reaction. These proteins have no naturally occurring counterparts, and the reaction–which breaks down a man-made chemical–has no natural catalyst. David Baker and his colleagues at the University of …
MIT has developed a simple, inexpensive system to sort different kinds of cells a process that could result in low-cost tools to test for diseases such as cancer, even in remote locations. The method relies on the way cells sometimes interact with a surface (such as the wall of a blood vessel) by rolling along …
Electron transport through a structure of nanoparticles (left) and more ordered nanotubes (center) is shown. At right, different wavelengths of light can be absorbed by different-sized quantum dots layered in a “rainbow” solar cell. Image credit: Kongkanand, et al. ©2008 ACS. Solar cells made of different-sized quantum dots, each tuned to a specific wavelength of …
Carnival of Space week 44 is up at Bad Astronomy My contribution was my article on large sheets of carbon nanotubes being produced this year which could be used for high performance solar sails. Several of the posts are about Mars. Why the Mars avalanches were interesting Creating a early warning system for future Mars …