A new result from ESO’s HARPS planet finder shows that rocky planets not much bigger than Earth are very common in the habitable zones around faint red stars. The international team estimates that there are tens of billions of such planets in the Milky Way galaxy alone, and probably about one hundred in the Sun’s …
Michael Pettis wants to bet the Economist Magazine that by the end of 2018 China will not be the largest economy in the world (on a nominal GDP basis). I am willing to make that bet. For some minor factors in my favor I would want Hong Kong and Macau’s GDP to be included in …
World Nuclear News -Russia is also pushing ahead with a small modular fast reactor cooled by lead-bismuth eutectic, the SVBR-100. The plan is to complete the design development and put on line a 100 MWe demonstration plant by the end of 2017, with total investment of RUR16 billion ($585 million). The site is to be …
Researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas and Virginia Tech have created an undersea vehicle inspired by the common jellyfish that runs on renewable energy and could be used in ocean dives for rescue and surveillance missions. The robotic jellyfish, dubbed RoboJelly, feeds off hydrogen and oxygen gases found in water. “We’ve created an …
UCLA Researchers have exploited a recently-discovered mammalian system for the mitochondrial import of nuclear-encoded RNA to import, express, and demonstrate functional protein translation from engineered mRNA and tRNA constructs. They used this system, with modifications for mitochondrial targeting and orthotopic translation, to rescue respiration in human mitochondriopathy cells. While further characterization and extension is clearly …
If the current limitations on mobility and manipulation capabilities of robots can be overcome, robots could much more effectively assist warfighters across a greater range of missions. DARPA’s Maximum Mobility and Manipulation (M3) program seeks to create and demonstrate significant scientific and engineering advances in robot mobility and manipulation capabilities. This video shows a demonstration …
1. USA Today – David Stockman is the former White House budget director under Ronald Reagan who, after resigning in protest over deficit spending, made a fortune in corporate buyouts. * US 10 year Treasury a yield of about 2% is totally artificial. It’s the result of massive purchases by not only the Fed but …
Elon Musk announces a milestone towards a reusable rocket Twitter – Design completed for bringing rocket back to launchpad using only thrusters. If you liked this article, please give it a quick review on ycombinator or StumbleUpon. Thanks Brian WangBrian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers …
Wall Street Journal – In 2011, China’s gross domestic product came in at 47.1 trillion yuan ($7.11 trillion). That represented nominal growth of 17.5 per cent from 2010, a blistering pace that makes many of the problems of debt and credit that trouble investors, and which hang over valuations for Chinese stocks, appear a little …
A new cellphone service provider in France is making waves with very competitive pricing. Free’s flat rate offers you the most generous unlimited service offer (fair use of 3G + calls to 40 destinations included …) all 2.5 times cheaper than the cheapest competing offer. The low usage low rate US$2.50 per month plan is …
1. Cameco today announced it has reached the main mine workings with the second shaft at the Cigar Lake uranium mining project in northern Saskatchewan. Miners removed the final section of rock connecting shaft 2 with the mine workings 480 metres below surface on January 3, 2012. The second shaft will provide for increased ventilation …