Electric Power Research Institute and Idaho National Lab Energy Strategy Recommendation

A 16 page Strategy for Nuclear Energy Research and Development has been put together by Idaho National Labs and the Electric Power Research Institute. Six goals are defined to achieve this vision:1) Maintain today’s nuclear fleet of light water reactors2) Significantly expand the fleet with advanced light water reactors3) Develop non-electric applications for high-temperature reactors4) …

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MIT cost effective solar power storage and solar power roundup

EETimes reports that MIT has a new catalyst that makes electrolysis nearly 100% efficient in a cost effective way. This would make storage of intermittent power from solar and wind more cost effective. CNET also has coverage MIT had recently developed special glass panels that concentrate light 40 times standard sunlight before delivery directly to …

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Sparse carbon nanotubes would be invisible but could support significant weight

Macroscopic invisible cables. This is not just theoretical because DARPA/MIT has already produced one foot long carbon nanotubes and should have one meter long carbon nanotubes by the end of this year or early in 2009. Spiders suggest to us that producing high strength over density ratio invisible cables could be of great importance. In …

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Stronger paper and rapid manufacturing

A new kind of paper is stronger than cast iron and could be used to reinforce conventional paper, produce extra-strong sticky tape or help create tough synthetic replacements for biological tissues, says Lars Berglund from the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. Despite its great strength, Berglund’s “nanopaper” is produced from a biological …

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NanoEngineer-1 software for CAD/CAM with structural DNA

Sample of designs using structural DNA H/T to Foresight Nanorex will be announcing the first public release of Nano-Engineer 1 at their evening workshop on April 24. NanoEngineer-1 (NE1), the world’s first 3D CAD/CAM program for structural DNA nanotechnology (SDN) research and education. NE1 can generate atomistic models of DNA structures from NE1 reduced models. …

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Resveratol proven to combat some symptoms of aging in humans

From Wired,Scientists have proof in human subjects that resveratrol, a derivative of an ingredient in red wine, combats some symptoms of aging. Sirtris Pharmaceuticals announced the results here on Monday at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference. Resveratol, naturally found in red wine, stimulates a gene known as SIRT1, which has been linked with extended lifespans in …

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Improved printing for organs and tissue

A new approach to “printing” living cells could make it easier to arrange them into precise structures without harming them. This could enable future therapies where replacement limbs or organs can be printed to order. A jet of air can draw out a thread of living cells and sticky polymer that could provide a way …

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Centenarians have protective genes

Scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have discovered favorable “longevity” genes that protect very old people from the effects of bad genes. People who live to a hundred have just as many if not more bad genes which cause disease as people who live shorter lives but they have genes …

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Possibilities and rumors of US War with Iran 2007/2008

Time magazine is reporting that various people in the CIA and in the US bureaucracy think that an attack against Iran nuclear facilities and the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps could happen within 6 months Update: More discussions of the possibility for war with Iran I had made a wildcard prediction of the possibility of …

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