Inductrack III configurations are suited for use in transporting heavy freight loads. Inductrack III addresses a problem associated with the cantilevered track of the Inductrack II configuration. The use of a cantilevered track could present mechanical design problems in attempting to achieve a strong enough track system such that it would be capable of supporting …
Ericsson expects over 500 billion devices to be connected to the Internet by 2020 and diversity in the network is key to enabling all that activity. He also points out that the aim is for 10 Gbps transmission. 5G for the Networked Society beyond 2020 from Ericsson Labs If you liked this article, please give …
A key nuclear research project for China is the demonstration Shidaowan HTR-PM. It will have 210 MWe (two reactor modules, each of 250 MWt) which is being built at Shidaowan in Shandong province, driving a single steam turbine at about 40% thermal efficiency. It is now expected to be completed in 2015. IAEA (Aug 2012 …
In part one of a Seeking Alpha series by Michael Filloon, he addressed some issues with the Oildrum article Is Shale Oil Headed for a Run with “The Red Queen”? Its author, Rune Likvern, has a bearish view of Bakken production. He believes Bakken production is close to hitting a plateau. Seeking Alpha – the …
A technique that uses acoustic waves to sort cells on a chip may create miniature medical analytic devices that could make Star Trek’s tricorder seem a bit bulky in comparison, according to a team of researchers. The device uses two beams of acoustic — or sound — waves to act as acoustic tweezers and sort …
Technology Review – an accumulation of improvements have lowered the cost premium on hybridcars from $6000 to $2500. The extra cost is about 40% of what it was a few years ago. The drop in cost is due to an accumulation of incremental technology improvements, along with economies of scale. And advances going forward—better batteries, …
Mark Jacobson is antinuclear so his estimates skew high. Examples of his bias is when he calculated greenhouse gas emissions. He has previously assigned carbon emissions to nuclear from coal power for the time during which a nuclear plant is being built. He has also assigned his estimate for carbon emissions from a hypothetical nuclear …
Sharp Corporation has achieved the world’s highest solar cell conversion efficiency of 43.5% using a concentrator triple-junction compound solar cell. These solar cells are used in a lens-based concentrator system that focuses sunlight on the cells to generate electricity. Compound solar cells utilize photo-absorption layers made from compounds consisting of two or more elements, such …
Made in Space, Inc. is a space manufacturing company that leverages the rapid advancements in 3D printing and additive manufacturing to offer unique solutions for the aerospace industry. Additive manufacturing is the process of building (or “3D printing”) a product layer by layer. A wide range of materials can be printed with additive manufacturing machines, …
Wired – “Two revolutionary advances in information technology may bring the Turing test out of retirement,” wrote Robert French, a cognitive scientist at the French National Center for Scientific Research, in an Apr. 12 Science essay. “The first is the ready availability of vast amounts of raw data — from video feeds to complete sound …
The computer chips of the future are likely to have hundreds or even thousands of cores. For chip designers, predicting how these massively multicore chips will behave is no easy task. Software simulations work up to a point, but more accurate simulations typically require hardware models — programmable chips that can be reconfigured to mimic …