Infrastructure 2011 by the Urban Land Institute and Ernst and Young (90 pages) The United States is falling dramatically behind much of the world in rebuilding and expanding an overloaded and deteriorating transportation network it needs to remain competitive in the global marketplace, according to a new study by the Urban Land Institute. The report …
The second day of Google’s annual Google I/O developer conference was all about Chrome. Samsung and Acer will each be offering Chromebook notebooks starting June 15. The Samsung Chromebook will cost $429 in the U.S. for the Wi-Fi only version and $499 for the 3G version. Acer’s Wi-Fi only Chromebook will cost $349.The devices will …
Photograph of a thin, flexible metallic glass fiber (left) and an electron microscopy image of a metallic glass rope weaved from such fibers (right). Nature Asia Pacific Materials – Glassy metallic wires can be controllably manufactured by drawing from a supercooled rod The metals we are most familiar with adopt a periodic, crystalline atomic arrangement. …
1. Pakistan’s third nuclear power reactor began commercial operation today. The Chashma Nuclear Power Plant unit 2, also known as CHASNUPP-2, is a 300 MWe pressurized water reactor located near Chashma Barrage on the left bank of the River Indus. Construction on the unit began late in 2005 and it was grid connected on 14 …
Left: Photoinduced electron transfer occurring in quantum dot-bridge-fullerene hererodimers and observed with single molecule microscopy. Right: Control of electron transfer (ET) rate by variation of interparticle distance (R, upper panel) and quantum dot size (D, lower panel). Brookhaven National Laboratory researchers have assembled nanoscale pairings of particles that show promise as miniaturized power sources. Composed …
Giant polyester covers will soon be placed around the damaged reactor buildings at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex to help contain the release of radioactive substances into the atmosphere, the plant operator said Friday. Tokyo Electric Power will install the first cover at the No. 1 reactor, the focus of recent stabilization efforts. Workers will …
1,000 limited edition Luna personal robots will go on sale in 2011 and will be generally available in 2012. Luna has a Dual Core Atom 2 GHz processor, a Linux-based operating system, and up to 32 GB of storage. Interaction is possible via an 8-inch capacitive touchscreen, a three-microphone array with speakers, wireless and cellular …
Iran’s first nuclear power reactor has achieved a sustained chain reaction, Russian builder AtomStroyExport (ASE) has announced. Final commissioning tests will now be carried out prior to ramp-up to 100% power and the start of commercial operation. According to Iranian news agency Fars, the plant is expected to be connected to the national grid within …
In 2012-13, Aeros plans to fly the Pelican, a 230-ft.-long, 600,000-cu.-ft. demonstrator for its rigid-aeroshell, variable-buoyancy (RAVB) technology. Inside the shell, comprising a load-bearing frame of carbon-fiber trusses covered by thin-gauge rigid panels, will be a membrane to contain the helium lifting gas. Inside that membrane will be pressurized pump-fed tanks. More helium under pressure …
A SOV1 Deletion Extends Life Span without Affecting Steady-State Levels of ROS or Oxidative Damage Mitochondria are the body’s energy producers, the power stations inside our cells. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have now identified a group of mitochondrial proteins, the absence of which allows other protein groups to stabilise the genome. This …
For the first time ever in the world, researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy have produced a blood vessel from stem cells and then used it in an operation on a 10-year-old girl at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital. Surgeon and Professor Michael Olausson was able to create a new connection with the aid of this blood …