With 20 years’ notice, white paint pellets could deflect an asteroid

MIT.edu – in the event that a giant asteroid is headed toward Earth, you’d better hope that it’s blindingly white. A pale asteroid would reflect sunlight — and over time, this bouncing of photons off its surface could create enough of a force to push the asteroid off its course. How might one encourage such …

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IBM Watson making progress to becoming a useful medical assistant for diagnosis and treatment planning

IBM is working with several US hospitals to build a virtual physicians’ assistant using Watson, the AI that won the TV show Jeopardy. To test the system, Watson was first tasked with answering questions taken from Doctor’s Dilemma, a competition for trainee doctors that takes place at the annual meeting of the American College of …

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Carnival of Nuclear energy 116

The Carnival of Nuclear Energy 116 is up at Idaho Samizdat. Canadian Energy Issues – Steve Aplin looks at the SILEX (laser enrichment process) and how the opponents of it are really opponents to improved economics for nuclear energy. Nuclear Supplier Group rules already ensure that no other rule-respecting countries than the ones already hosting …

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Foxconn Chairman hates Samsung and says iPhone 5 will put Samsung’s Galaxy III to shame

Focus Taiwan – Foxconn Chairman Gou also urged consumers to wait for the launch of Apple’s iPhone 5, saying that the new model will put Samsung’s Galaxy III to shame. Foxconn builds iPhones and iPads for Apple. With Hon Hai’s (Foxconn) marketing and manufacturing strengths and Sharp’s key technologies, the two will be able to …

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Navy’s New Robotics Lab Will Speed Technology to the Total Force

Scientists based in the nation’s capital are stepping into the desert and rainforest to run experiments on autonomous systems without having to set foot outside the Navy’s new robotics laboratory, officials said April 2. The Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research (LASR), located at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington D.C., is the first addition …

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Three-year study identifies key interventions to reduce maternal, newborn and child deaths

A new global consensus has been agreed on the key evidence-based interventions that will sharply reduce the 358,000 women who still die each year during pregnancy and childbirth and the 7.6 million children who die before the age of 5, according to a massive, three-year global study. The study, Essential Interventions, Commodities and Guidelines for …

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Bill Gates agrees with the Nextbigfuture about the Deaths per Terawatt Hour Energy Analysis

TechCrunch – Bill Gates spoke at a Wired business conference in New York City. Bill spoke about the benefits of nuclear energy, particularly next-generation designs. The backlash [to Fukushima], he thinks, is overblown. “If you compare it to the amount that coal has killed per kilowatt hour,” he points out, “it is way, way less.” …

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New Energy Times Reports NASA investigating Piantelli and other Cold Fusion News

New Energy Times is reporting NASA is investigating the Piantelli low energy nuclear reaction process. The Piantelli group’s Ni-H gas experiments produced excess heat in the tens of watts. On Sept. 2, Samantha McRoskey, an analyst with Diligence Global Business Intelligence, representing an anonymous investor, contacted New Energy Times to learn more about Ni-H LENR …

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Human Brain Project has at least a one in three chance at $1.4 billion over ten years starting in 2013

To prepare the launch of the FET (Future and Emerging Technology) Flagships (EU projects), 6 Pilot Actions are foreseen to be funded over a duration of 12 months starting from May 2011. In the second half of 2012 at least two out of the six Pilots are expected to be chosen to be launched as …

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President Obama has launched an Advanced Manufacturing Partnership

President Obama launched the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP), a national effort bringing together industry, universities, and the federal government to invest in the emerging technologies that will create high quality manufacturing jobs and enhance our global competitiveness. Investing in technologies, such as information technology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology, will support the creation of good jobs by …

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