Automobile air emissions are a well-recognized problem and have been subject to considerable regulation. An increasing concern for greenhouse gas emissions draws additional considerations to the externalities of personal vehicle travel. This paper provides estimates of the costs for automobile air emissions for 86 U.S. metropolitan areas based on county-specific external air emission morbidity, mortality, …
A guest post by Joseph Friedlander Professor John McCarthy, who died recently, had many innovative ideas. He was an original thinker with many surprising insights– and he had an idea for an amazing transportation system as well: We quote first in his own words from his site (which we hope will be maintained) at: http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/future/skywires.html …
Thermoelectric materials are also currently used in the type of cooler bags that keep things cold without making use of their own cooling elements. These cooler bags are full of the elements Lead and Tellurium. Both of these substances are also toxic. “We want to replace them with inexpensive and readily available substances. Moreover, there …
The mayor of Burnaby, B.C., says he’s concerned about the development of a fusion reactor in his city as revealed in a CBC News report on October 3, 2011, and wants assurance the company involved has the proper licensing and oversight. Nuclear energy is prohibited in B.C., but that can change — although it would …
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute developed a new method for creating a layer of gold nanoparticles that measures only billionths of a meter thick. These self-assembling gold coatings with features measuring less than 10 nanometers could hold important implications for nanoelectronics manufacturing. This new discovery could offer new solutions for scaling down the features of …
n a report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, regenerative medicine is called the “next evolution of medical treatments.” The report says the field not only “holds the realistic promise of regenerating damaged tissues and organs in the living body” but “empowers scientists to grow tissues and organs in the laboratory and …
Solar dots: Each of these 16 dots is a solar cell made up of nanoscopic particles called quantum dots. Credit: Ted Sargent Technology Review – A research team at the University of Toronto has created the first two-layer solar cell made up of light-absorbing nanoparticles called quantum dots. Quantum dots, which can be tuned to …
PANEL — “The Scientific Challenges of Truly Transformative Nanotech” Andrew Bleloch, (Halcyon), Matt Francis (UC-Berkeley), Sir J Fraser Stoddart (Northwestern), William Goddard (CalTech), Chris Schafmeister (Temple) Tough to characterize and see what you are working on. Takes a long time Interface control is tough Molecules have to be put together with the other materials to …
NY Times – If ongoing negotiations with a foreign sponsor are successfully completed then Terrapower, Traveling Wave Reactor will be developed overseas says Roger Reynolds, TerraPower’s technical adviser. China, Russia, India and France have talked to TerraPower. TerraPower design employs a high-temperature, liquid metal core cooling technology suited to a breeder reactor with “fast” neutron …
The Union of Concerned Scientists position on Nuclear Power and Global warming has the following problems To address global warming, we need a profound transformation of the ways in which we generate and consume energy. The urgency of this situation demands that we be willing to consider all possible options for coping with climate change. …
Brian WangBrian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology. Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a …