MHD Generators could make zero emission coal generators affordable and efficient and MHD generators could also make nuclear power for space very light with an energy density of one to three kilograms per kilowatt. Magnets are about 22% of the cost. Superconductors and new permanent magnets (using nanomaterials) could make more powerful magnets that are …
Universe Today – Commercial space company XCOR Aerospace has signed a “Memorandum of Understanding” with the Planetary Science Institute, laying the groundwork for flying a human-operated telescope on board XCOR’s Lynx spacecraft. The Atsa Suborbital Observatory is a specially designed telescope for use in suborbital space vehicles, and when used with commercial suborbital vehicles, PSI …
Multi-MW Closed Cycle MHD Nuclear Space Power Via Nonequilibrium He/Xe Working Plasma (9 pages) Prospects for a low specific mass multi-megawatt nuclear space power plant were examined assuming closed cycle coupling of a high-temperature fission reactor with magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) energy conversion and utilization of a nonequilibrium helium/xenon frozen inert plasma (FIP). Critical evaluation of performance …
Modified carbon nanotubes can store solar energy indefinitely, then be recharged by exposure to the sun. Storing the sun’s heat in chemical form — rather than converting it to electricity or storing the heat itself in a heavily insulated container — has significant advantages, since in principle the chemical material can be stored for long …
Forbes – Suntech is selling the two new silicon solar panels in the North and Latin America first. Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. is the world’s largest producer of solar panels, with 1,800MW of annual production capacity by the end of 2010. Overall, Suntech expects to have 2.4 gigawatts of total production capacity by the …
Molar teeth and jaw bone were grown from stem cells in one mouse and then transplanted to another mouse. This was a proof of concept for growing mature organs for harvest and transplant from an individuals stem cells. Plos One – Functional Tooth Regeneration Using a Bioengineered Tooth Unit as a Mature Organ Replacement Regenerative …
Paul Allen, the Ancestry.com founder, not the co-founder of Microsoft, posted on Google+ last night the results of a “surname-based analysis” which “shows that the number of Google+ users worldwide reached 7.3 million yesterday (July 10) — up from 1.7 million users on July 4th. That is a 350% increase in six days. More impressive …
Japan is trying to pull together a follow up to their 10 petaflop K supercomputer. For the latest supercomputer rankings, K topped the list by clocking 8,162 trillion calculations per second, or 8.162 petaflops, with 672 cabinets of processors. That means K is more than three times faster than the previous champ, China’s Tianhe-1A, which …
Biologically-Inspired Massively-Parallel Architectures – computing beyond a million processors (10 pages) Steve Furber, who was a principal designer of the BBC Microcomputer and the ARM 32-bit RISC microprocessor, is a leader of the Spinnaker project. The SpiNNaker project aims to develop parallel computer systems with more than a million embedded processors. The goal of the …
University of Toronto researchers have derived inspiration from the photosynthetic apparatus in plants to engineer a new generation of nanomaterials that control and direct the energy absorbed from light. This work enables a strategy to build higher-order structures, or complexes out of multiple different types of quantum dots. Nature Nanotechnology – DNA-based programming of quantum …
Robert E Godes has explained what Brillouin Energy is and will be doing with a government Lab in the comments to one of my prior articles Brillouin Energy Corporation (BEC) technology uses the hydrogen in ordinary water in a nuclear process that produces no hazardous waste. The process stimulates a Controlled Electron Capture Reaction (CECR) …