Tesla Buys Maxwell to Eventually Nearly Triple Battery Energy Density

Maxwell Technologies has breakthrough dry battery electrode technology and ultracapacitors. Tesla has announced the purchase of Maxwell Technologies for $218 million in an all-stock deal. The Maxwell dry battery electrode technology could increase battery energy density by 50% and eventually could nearly triple energy density from current levels. The technology can also lower the cost …

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Fast, cheap method to make supercapacitor electrodes for cars and lasers

The researchers, led by University of Washington assistant professor of materials science and engineering Peter Pauzauskie, published a paper on July 17 in the journal Nature Microsystems and Nanoengineering describing their supercapacitor electrode and the fast, inexpensive way they made it. Their novel method starts with carbon-rich materials that have been dried into a low-density …

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MEMS based Atomic Force Microscope shrinks to Dime-sized Device and with mass production could make atomic force microscopes affordable for high school and home labs

Researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas have created an atomic force microscope on a chip, dramatically shrinking the size — and, hopefully, the price tag — of a high-tech device commonly used to characterize material properties. “A standard atomic force microscope is a large, bulky instrument, with multiple control loops, electronics and amplifiers,” …

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China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology plans 100 ton mach 8 suborbital spaceship that can carry 20 passengers and have test flights finished end of 2018

A Chinese state-backed firm is developing a gigantic spaceplane The plane may one day fly up to 20 passengers to the edge of space The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology in Beijing has designed a simple, one-piece spaceplane whose design can be scaled up to carry more people, academy rocket scientist Lui Haiquang told …

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McKinsey had four global growth scenarios out to 2025

McKinsey believes three sets of forces will shape the global economy over the coming decade. The first two are stimulus policies and shifting energy markets. These are near-term forces, whose effects are felt on a daily basis. The next two forces, urbanization and aging, are powerful, inexorable trends aggravating ongoing structural challenges. Finally, two forces …

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China putting $45.5 billion to start integrating Hebei province, Beijing and Tianjin

China on Friday earmarked 290 billion yuan ($45.45 billion) for manufacturing and industrial park projects to support its efforts to integrate Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province into a megacity. The government hopes to ease pressures on its crowded capital by transferring industries further out into the integrated metropolis, which it says has a combined population …

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Telsa Motors could get to millions of cars per year by 2025

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced his intentions to produce millions of cars by 2025. Production on that scale would make Tesla about the size BMW. More assembly plants will be needed once Tesla reaches 500,000 sales a year. The automaker currently produces vehicles at its Fremont, Calif. plant, and plans to add another plant in …

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China economy has slowed but still has strength

Michael Ivanovitch is president of MSI Global, a New York-based economic research company. He wrote a piece for CNBC which looks at the positive side of China’s economy. Chinese are just warming up for their big ‘Belt and Road’. In the first half of this year, China invested $7 billion – a 22.2 percent increase …

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A Tablet app was used to direct an Air Strike with a MV22 Osprey in a live fire training exercise

On March 27, DARPA successfully tested the full Persistent Close Air Support (PCAS) prototype system for the first time as part of TALON REACH, a U.S. Marine Corps infantry/aviation training exercise conducted in the southwest region of the United States in partnership with the Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One and the Marine Infantry …

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