Carnival of Space 94 is up at the Planetary Society blog This site contributed one of the articles in the series on using an underground nuclear blast to launch large unmanned and cheap payloads into space. A Mars sample return mission is examined at robot explorers Discovery helps peole understand the size and scale of …
Four atomic quantum dots are coupled to form a “cell” for containing electrons. The cell is filled with just two electrons. Control charges are placed along a diagonal to direct the two electrons to reside at just two of the four quantum dots comprising the cell. This new level of control of electrons points to …
The short and less technical version from Classical Values. 1. The machine is working way better than the usual theories predict2. No one knows why (lots of suspicions floating around)3. New instruments are being added 4. The current machine is called WB-7. WB 7.1 (no details) is in progress. The technical version mainly in Dr. …
Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Rice University, United States, have successfully created a microchip that uses 30 times less electricity while running seven times faster than today’s best technology. The Rice-NTU team plans to follow its proof-of-concept work on encryption with proof-of-concept tests on microchips for cell phones, graphics cards and medical implants. The microchip …
The $99 iPhone are refurbished phones available until Dec 31, 2008 and require a two year AT&T service plan. Wal-Mart will offer the 8GB iPhone 3G for $197 and the 16GB model for $297. That’s a whopping $2 off AT&T’s iPhone prices and includes the same two-year service contract. Best Buy, in contrast, is currently …
1. Italy will make 8-10 nuclear reactors starting in 2013. Correcting a 50 billion euro mistake of ending nuclear power in Italy. The long term aim, according to Scajola, is to ‘rebalance the power generation in Italy’. By 2030 the Italian government would like to see nuclear power taking a 25% share in generation, with …
Previously this site speculated on near term technology that would enable a powerful version of the science fiction Bolo supertank. Now the converged projection is that technology will soon enable effective exoskeletons with compact electric engines, mass-produced portable nuclear reactors, UAVs with electric engines, higher electrical density and longer lasting ultracapacitor/battery combinations. Hyperion Power Generation …
By fabricating an optical cavity around light-emitting nanotube mirrors at the bottom and top, wavelengths were confined to the desired 1.55-micron communications frequency. IBM researchers see a development path to light emitting nanotubes with no waste heat and a way to create a superlattice array of tubes for silicon photonic chips for optical computers. EETimes …
A blast-wave overpressure of 5 pounds per square inch, which is associated with winds around 150 miles per hour, is enough to destroy wood-frame buildings and cause severe damage to brick apartment buildings. However, with simple and cheap construction improvements and retrofits it is possible to enable all wood-frame buildings to survive 5 PSI. Further …
Genetics is believed to be a main cause for 70% of schizophrenia. If gene therapy can fix the genetic factors then schizophrenia could be reduced by 70%. This would save tens of billions of dollars each year in the USA and hundreds of billions of dollars around the world. It would reduce homelessness by up …
Mark D Moore of NASA had a presentation at the Electric aircraft conference and described a hybrid plane that could achieve 720 mile range and 100mpg with a speed of 80 knots (92.2 mph) The plane could fly from San Francisco, CA to Salt Lake City, Utah in less than 8 hours (using 8 gallons …