New British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth will begin sea trails in a few months

The United Kingdom’s first aircraft carrier in more than 30 years is just months from sea trials. HMS Queen Elizabeth is expected to be fully operational by 2020, with her sister ship Prince of Wales following in 2023. The two ships will give the United Kingdom a powerful capability to fight at sea and attack …

Read more

Russia’s S-500 missile system still in development but the 77N6 hypersonic missiles are key to a real ballistic missile defense

Russian media in April reported that S-500 prototypes were “expected to enter service in late 2016 or 2017” as a replacement to the S-300. U.S. observers say the S-500 have not yet been deployed and doubt Russia can stick to that timeline. “I have seen nothing to indicate that the S-500 air/missile defense system has …

Read more

China plans to build 20 floating nuclear powerplants for areas like the South China Sea

In January, Xu Dazhe, the director of the China Atomic Energy Authority, told reporters in Beijing that China was planning to develop offshore floating nuclear energy plants, saying they “must undergo a rigorous, scientific evaluation,” but also linking these to China’s desire to become a “maritime power.” Mr. Xu said at the time that developing …

Read more

Siemens and Emrax claim best power to weight ratio for electric motors in the 5 to 10 kilowatt per kg range

Siemens researchers have developed a new type of electric motor that, with a weight of just 50 kilograms, delivers a continuous output of about 260 kilowatts – five times more than comparable drive systems. The motor has been specially designed for use in aircraft. Thanks to its record-setting power-to-weight ratio, larger aircraft with takeoff weights …

Read more

Avengers 2- Age of Ultron, Agents of Shield and Batman versus Superman

1. At comic-con the title of the second Avengers movie was revealed as the Age of Ultron. Ultron is an evil robot that has been a primary enemy of the Avengers for decades. Age of Ultron was a ten issue series that just completed. There are too many differences between what characters and events have …

Read more

Liveblogging – Emergency Measure & Near Term Actions

Todd Huffman, Brain Imaging and neuroscience researcher Used to work on Alcor and a competitor Alcor is the leading cryonics organization 3scan.com There is a site discussing uploading in detail carboncopies.org Death and Cryo Alive / Personalized Life Extension/ Death / Decent Cryopreservation/ Poor Cryopreservation/ Right now in 2012 Cryonics workflow * Standby when you …

Read more

Next-generation Toyota Small Hybrid Concept

Toyota Motor Corp unveiled the “FT-Bh” a lightweight, next generation small gasoline-electric hybrid concept car, here today at the 82nd Geneva International Motor Show By pursuing weight reduction, a more-efficient powertrain and reduced air resistance, the FT-Bh boasts a fuel efficiency of 2.1 liters per 100 kilometers under the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC), with …

Read more

Brian Wang on Fast Forward Radio Tomorrow

Brian Wang will be on Fast Forward Radio (the Speculist blog on Blog Talk Radio) I will be speaking with Rand Simberg, Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon about Moon colonies and Newt Gingrich’s proposed permanent moon base. The talk will start at 8pm PST February 1pm and will be recorded. My Recent articles on moon …

Read more

New Discoveries in Cell Aging

A group of researchers led by the Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine (IBB) and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) have achieved to quantify with precision the effect of protein aggregation on cell aging processes using as models the Escherichia coli bacteria and the molecule which triggers Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists demonstrated that the effect can be …

Read more

Longevity highlights for 2011

Fightaging has a review of antiaging highlights for 2011. Recent analysis of a bisphosphonate treatment for osteoporosis, or age-related loss of bone mass and strength, has turned up an intriguing finding – the treatment considerably improves life expectancy in the recipients. It’s not often that an effect of this magnitude turns up out of the …

Read more

Paul Allen says The Singularity Isn’t Near

Technology Review – Paul G. Allen, who cofounded Microsoft in 1975, is a philanthropist and chairman of Vulcan, which invests in an array of technology, aerospace, entertainment, and sports businesses. Mark Greaves is a computer scientist who serves as Vulcan’s director for knowledge systems. Rather than the ever-accelerating advancement predicted by Kurzweil, we believe that …

Read more