In a vacuum, light travels so fast that it would circle the Earth more than seven times within the blink of an eye. When light propagates through matter, however, it slows by a factor typically less than 5. This factor, called the refractive index, is positive in naturally occurring materials, and it causes light to …
Real world Technologies – IBM’s Blue Gene/Q conclusively demonstrates that a CPU designed for throughput can match and even exceed the power efficiency of GPUs. There is still a gap in terms of area efficiency, but smaller than the data suggests given that Blue Gene/Q includes a large cache and robust interconnects that are not …
Damaged and aged heart tissue of older heart failure External link patients was rejuvenated by stem cells modified by scientists, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Basic Cardiovascular Sciences 2012 Scientific Sessions. * Elderly heart failure patients’ heart cells were rejuvenated with modified stem cells. * The rejuvenated cells could one day …
1. Oil and Gas Journal – The pace of oil drilling could slow in the Bakken formation in North Dakota and also in the Eagle Ford shale in South Texas if US prices were to drop below $80/bbl for a sustained period, said Baker Hughes Inc.’s president and chief executive officer. “I think the shoe’s …
New Scientist – Drones are getting smaller and smarter, able to navigate and identify targets without GPS or human operators. Micro-aerial vehicles (MAVs) with uncanny navigation and real-time mapping capabilities could soon be zipping through indoor and outdoor spaces, running reconnaissance missions that others cannot. They would allow soldiers to look over hills, inside buildings …
While I have been slamming what I think is faulty nuclear energy and safety analysis by Mark Jacobson at Stanford University, I do believe that it is reasonable and necessary to make energy safer. Efforts and money should be spent to mitigate air pollution from power plants, construction activity, vehicles and industry. There should be …
Johns Hopkins tissue engineers have used tiny, artificial fiber scaffolds thousands of times smaller than a human hair to help coax stem cells into developing into cartilage, the shock-absorbing lining of elbows and knees that often wears thin from injury or age. Investigators have produced an important component of cartilage in both laboratory and animal …
One aspect of transhumanism is to exceed current human limits in various aspects of performance, intelligence, longevity and health. The New Yorker has a lengthy article about Brian Shaw and the history of Strongmen Competitions and the curretn limits of human strength. It wasn’t until 1953 that the first five-hundred-pound bench press was done. Today, …
A possible rover mission to Mars within the next eight years may rely on a larger parachutes, atomic clocks and inflatable decelerators, NASA’s Mars exploration chief says. NASA expects to have up to $800 million to spend on mission in 2018 or 2020. The 1 ton Curiosity rover that is arriving Aug 5, 2012, had …
Thin Film Electronics ASA (“Thinfilm”) has 15 years of experience in the field of non-volatile memories using functional polymers. Thinfilm’s unique all-printed re-writable products are ideal for use in standalone consumer applications, including personalized toys and online-enabled games. They can also be integrated with logic elements, sensors, batteries, and displays for mass market applications such …
1. EETimes – By about 2018, engineers are expected to create an exascale supercomputer—capable of a 1,000-fold performance improvement compared with today’s state-of-the-art petaflop systems. If engineers can use new technology to create an exascale system that consumes only 20 MW of power, the same technology can also be used to dramatically lower the power …