The Wall Street Journal reports that China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holdings Co., one of the country’s two nuclear-energy firms, said it will need more than 100,000 metric tons of uranium between 2009 and 2020 to feed its growing fleet of nuclear-power plants, a huge jump from current demand levels that underscores the scope of China’s …
Day 3 also appears to be done with no change in the standings or prizes won. Lasermotive has won the level 1 prize of $900,000. No other prizes were won and no other team qualified for a prize. LaserMotive retained their lead, and inched closer to the 5 m/s benchmark – they removed some payload, …
In a pilot study of two patients monitored for two years, an international team of researchers slowed the onset of the debilitating brain disease X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) using a lentiviral vector to introduce a therapeutic gene into patient’s blood cells. Although studies with larger cohorts of patients are needed, these results suggest that gene therapy …
The Potential Gas Committee, a group of academics and industry specialists supported by the Colorado School of Mines, reports the largest increase in natural-gas reserves in its 44-year history. Estimated reserves rose to 2,074 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) in 2008 from 1,532 Tcf in its 2006 report. UPDATE: Robert Rapier made a calculation that if …
From presentations at the American Chemical Society conference. 1. Excess heat, gamma radiation production from an unconventional LENR device —Tadahiko Mizuno, Ph.D., of Hokkaido University in Japan, has reported the production of excess heat generation and gamma ray emissions from an unconventional LENR device that uses phenanthrene, a type of hydrocarbon, as a reactant. He …
1. Multi qubit synchronization of compound Josephson junction rf-SQUIDs is discussed in a research paper. It is one of the key components of Dwave Systems adiabatic quantum computer. In the comments, CTO Geordie Rose reveals that after – another rev (some tweaks) of the 128 qubit design, they will 95% likely be selling the 128 …
J Storrs Hall, President of the Foresight Institute, posited that a technological singularity where artificial human or greater than human intelligence becomes very cheap would mean an early retirement for all people. I propose that although some people may early retire others would be running corporations that take advantage of wave after wave of outsourcing. …
Alberta has several large scale pilot projects to perform many more oil refining and combustion steps underground and coal gasification underground. The advantages can be significantly lower costs and improved environmental effects. This site has covered the work of Petrobank to develop the THAI (Toe-to-Heel Air Injection)and CAPRI processes for upgrading oilsand bitumen underground for …
There are Do It Yourself (DIY) Segway projects where people can spend about $1000-1200 and build their own Segway vehicle. Now University of Louisiana Students have made a crawling version of a DIY Segway that is more stable but has a top speed of 3 mph. One of the more advanced DIY Segways is the …
Eric Drexler at Metamodern points out a two page roadmap to low cost DNA production by one of the top people in the field of DNA synthesis, George Church. George lays out a roadmap synthesize DNA material for dollars per kilogram of DNA. This price is about a billion times cheaper than current costs for …
J Storrs Hall has conceived of Utility Fog and a Space Pier and now his idea for nanotechnology enabled climate control. Version One: 1000 Times More Powerful than Global Warming You build a little balloon—my guess is the balloon needs to be somewhere between a millimeter and a centimeter in size. It has a very …