Craig Venter gives a keynote talk at a DARPA event. He describes the work to get a highly precise set of genome sequences. Genomes have been sequenced using methods with more errors. Now they are going back to sequence with longer and more precise reads. He discusses various projects for artificial chromosomes and cells. He …
Conventional disease treatments such as antibiotics have almost exclusively sought to emulate natural resistance by keeping patients’ pathogen levels as low as possible. This approach has been incredibly successful but has an increasingly serious downside: Any pathogens that survive a particular treatment can defy it from then on, giving rise to new antibiotic-resistant strains. The …
A Russia-India joint venture is entering the final stages of work on a hypersonic missile. Russians have announced creation of special fuel for hypersonic vehicles and missiles, as well as the creation of an oxygen-free engine for the PAK FA fighter jet. Maxim Kuzyuk, CEO of the Aviation Equipment Holding (part of the state corporation …
An arxiv paper looks at possible engines for a manned Mars mission that are currently being tested or with flight proven capabilities. One propulsion system that was examined that is unproven is the “Pure Electro-Magnetic Thrust” (PEMT), presented in 2002 by Carlo Rubbia. In his proposal, the engine produces thrust as a Solar Sail, but …
The Carnival of Nuclear Energy 251 is up at Neutron Bytes Atomic Power Review – SMART SMR Moves Ahead – in Saudi Arabia and at Home It has been announced that South Korea and Saudi Arabia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which includes the construction of SMART Small Modular Reactor nuclear plants. SMART …
US Crude oil hit new post 1972 highs of 9.366 million barrels per day. Total liquids oil production hit a new all time high of 14.556 million barrels per day US daily crude oil production history from 1920 to today. The peak was in 1970 and was just short of 10 million barrels per day. …
The Electromagnetic Railgun — a weapon that will play a significant role in the future of the U.S. Navy — will be on display to the public for the first time on the East Coast Feb. 4-5 at the Naval Future Force Science and Technology (S&T) EXPO in Washington, D.C., officials at the Office of …
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil is at $81 per barrel. Brent crude oil is at $86 per barrel. Previously there up in the $105-115 per barrel range. Prices a few years ago were as high as $130 per barrel. Iran and Russia are particularly hammered by lower oil prices. Both have sanctions placed on their …
Rolls-Royce (RR/) Holdings Plc is designing unmanned cargo ships. Rolls-Royce’s Blue Ocean development team has set up a virtual-reality prototype at its office in Alesund, Norway, that simulates 360-degree views from a vessel’s bridge. Eventually, the London-based manufacturer of engines and turbines says, captains on dry land will use similar control centers to command hundreds …
Physicists have discovered how to create matter from light — a feat thought impossible when the idea was first theorized 80 years ago. In just one day over several cups of coffee in a tiny office, three physicists worked out a relatively simple way to physically prove a theory first devised by scientists Breit and …
Daan Roosegaarde’s positive–ionization “vacuum cleaner” uses high-voltage, low-amp electricity to create an electrostatic field. Particles flowing across the field—enclosed in a box—become positively charged and attach themselves to a grounded electrode, which need to be scraped clean periodically. (Roosegaarde plans to turn the stuff into “diamond” rings, with a cubic-centimeter stone representing a cubic kilometer …