Peter Thiel donated $3 million to SENS life extension research which matches50% of SENS Donations up to the remainder of 1,465,866.41 until 2009-12-31. Donate at this link here Also, join the facebook cause: Once we reach 10,000 members, every one of us will donate $100 to defeat aging Brian WangBrian Wang is a Futurist Thought …
Carnival of Space 131 is up at Starrycritters This site provided the article about dark matter rockets and whether the universe was customized for blackhole spaceship travel Weirdwarp looks at moving the Earth using a disc-shaped sail 19.2 times the Earth’s diameter. It would have to be tilted at an angle of 35° to the …
There are two main criticisms of focus fusion. 1. Hydrogen-boron fuel allows too much x-ray cooling * The hot plasma of this fuel will emit x-rays too quickly, * the energy lost through the x-rays will always be more than the energy gained by fusion reactions.* the fusion reactions would not heat the plasma suffieicntly, …
The Carnival of Space 129 is up at Tiny Mantras Nextbigufuture provided the first part of coverage of the new lunar ice discovery from the Lcross satellite impact and part 2 of that coverage is here Centauri Dreams sends the two-part report on the Project Icarus starship symposium, which was recently held in London: Part …
Jamais Cascio has a talk about the Singularity where he feels that what concerned people do about the development of Artificial General Intelligence technology is the most important aspect. The politics of the different groups and the reaction of governments and markets. Michael Anissimov at Accelerating Future notes that Jamais is wrong about several criticisms …
Results of NASA ‘s satellite impact on the moon have revealed water ice at lunar pole The 1.6km-high plume (one mile high) of debris was kicked up by the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) last month when it crashed into a crater near the Moon’s south pole. Based on the measurements, the team …
Researchers observed previously unconsidered strong kinematic forces on neutral atoms in short-pulse laser fields. The ponderomotive force on electrons is the driving mechanism, producing ultra-strong acceleration of neutral atoms greater that Earth’s gravitational acceleration by 14 orders of magnitude. A force of such strength may lead to new applications in both fundamental and applied physics. …
Rice University scientists today unveiled a method for the industrial-scale processing of pure carbon-nanotube fibers that could lead to revolutionary advances in materials science, power distribution and nanoelectronics. The result of a nine-year program, the method builds upon tried-and-true processes that chemical firms have used for decades to produce plastics. The research is available online …
China is expecting to have 1400-1500 GW of electrical generation capacity in 2020 China has announced plans to double its nuclear power generation goal from 4% to 8% of total installed power capacity by 2020. China’s Ministry of Finance and its State Administration of Taxation already implemented a 15 year tax preference policy for the …
Charles Barton makes the case for an accelerated but safe effort to develop the next generation of nuclear fission technology. The conventional view is that it would take a long time to develop Generation IV nuclear technology. This is mistaken because the Indians expect to complete a commercial Generation IV Fast Breeder Prototype Reactor in …
The winner of the 2009 Feynman Prize for Theory is Robert A. Freitas Jr. (IMM), in recognition of his pioneering theoretical work in mechanosynthesis in which he proposed specific molecular tools and analyzed them using ab initio quantum chemistry to validate their ability to build complex molecular structures. This Prize also recognizes his previous work …