Neutron scatter Camera detects nuclear bombs at a distance

Neutron cameras “can detect, unambiguously, at a greater distance, and through more shielding,” said Jim Lund, manager of the Rad/Nuc Detection Systems group at Sandia National Laboratories in Alameda, Calif. The neutron scatter camera has an advantage over traditional neutron detection because it can differentiate low energy neutrons from high energy neutrons. While some gamma …

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More technical details on Dwave System’s Quantum Computing

D-Wave Senior Scientist and condensed matter physicist Mohammad Amin gave a highly technical presentation at MIT. (54 slides in this power point presentation) Dwave recently demonstrated a 28 qubit computer. They are predicting that they will have 512 qubit and 1024 qubit quantum computer systems in 2008. If Dwave is successful then in 2009 it …

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Future Robosapien variant with infrared location

the makers of Robosapien is partnering with a company that will help them to add location awareness to new robot products starting in 2009 How the robotic location is done using infrared “Evolution’s technologies are revolutionizing the way we interact with robots and consumers will be truly amazed when they see what these products can …

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Robert Bussard has died of cancer

From Centauri Dreams, comes the sad word that Robert Bussard has died of cancer. I had been covering the recent work of Robert Bussard on inertial electrostatic fusion. This project had been funded again by the US Navy Power and control also noted Robert Bussards passing and summarize his work which will continue The Polywell …

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New Superlens design could be easier to make

A new kind of “superlens”, capable of focusing light to a spot far smaller than its own wavelength, could be far easier to build than other proposed designs, researchers say. It could allow viewing and etching of points and lines at 0.4 to 1 nanometer. This would help accelerate the improvement of conventional computer power …

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China learning how to invest

China’s state investment company announced on Sunday it would take a $3 billion stake *just under 10%) in Blackstone Group LP Blackstone is one of the leading global private investment firms. China will learn how to structure and value private equity deals, as well as gaining a network of well connected people. “The Blackstone deal …

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Discovery of first gene that specifically links calorie restriction to longevity

Loss of only one of the genes, a gene encoding the protein PHA-4, negated the lifespan-enhancing effect of calorie-restriction in worms. And, when researchers undertook the opposite experiment—by overexpressing pha-4 in worms—the longevity effect was enhanced. “PHA-4 acts completely independent of insulin/IGF-1 signaling and turns out to be essential for CR-mediated longevity,” says Panowski. “We …

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New material Nanobuds are buckyballs fused to Nanotubes

(left) Two transmission electron microscope images of a single-walled carbon nanotube with fullerenes attached to its surface (right) A fullerene/SWNT hybrid structure – a NanoBud. Credit: Esko Kauppinen, et al. Researchers have created a hybrid carbon nanomaterial that merges single-walled carbon nanotubes and spherical carbon-atom cages called fullerenes. The new structures, dubbed NanoBuds because they …

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Water used for nuclear power is not destroyed

One of the main uses of water in the power industry is to cool the power-producing equipment. Water used for this purpose does cool the equipment, but at the same time, the hot equipment heats up the cooling water. Overly hot water cannot be released back into the environment — fish downstream from a power …

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Self-assembling macromolecules created

Institute Director S. Richard Turner and doctoral candidate Min Mao reported the synthesis of a new family of charged, rod-like block copolymers. The tiny rods can be either positive or negative, or can have alternating positive and negative charges along the backbone. The rods self-assemble and the aggregated structures are remarkable stable in saline solution, …

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