Different materials for solar sails with wide variation in capability are all in development. The lighter the sail then the faster it will accelerate. This link has a table which shows the different speeds possible with different accelerations. The carbon nanotube sail has the highest potential. 1 square kilometer 30 kg or 0.03 grams per …
Reviewing the Delta scan predictions of the Stanford humanities lab.I had already reviewed one of the predictions Here are several of the computer related predicions They predict Working prototypes of quantum computers may be demonstrated by 2040 The working prototype demo was Feb 13 of this year By next year quantums will be well scaled …
A robotic exoskeleton controlled by the wearer’s own nervous system could help users regain limb function, which is encouraging news for people with partial nervous system impairment, say University of Michigan researchers. The ankle exoskeleton developed at U-M was worn by healthy subjects to measure how the device affected ankle function. The U-M team has …
A measure will be submitted to ban ordinary light bulbs in California starting in 2012 The measure will be submitted and voted upon this year. Rosenfeld, winner of the Enrico Fermi Presidential Award in 2006, said the switch from incandescent bulbs became feasible about five years ago when CFL (compact Florescent lights) performance improved. I …
Dwave systems has a current roadmap with well over 1,000 by the end of 2008. There are some quantum algorithms that can’t be run using the current architecture. The technical reason for this is that the devices that couple qubits i and j are of the sigma_z^{i} sigma_z^{j} type. There are some 16-qubit states that …
Walking molecule improved to now carry two molecules of cargo A research team, led by UC Riverside’s Ludwig Bartels, was the first to design a molecule that can move in a straight line on a flat surface. Now this team has found a way to attach cargo: two CO2 molecules, making the nano-walker a molecule …
The first in a new generation of nanotechnology-based cancer treatments will likely begin clinical trials in 2007, and if the promise of animal trials carries through to human trials, these treatments will transform cancer therapy. One of these new approaches places gold-coated nanoparticles, called nanoshells, inside tumors and then heats them with infrared light until …
FromScience Daily, more on Ned Seemans DNA nanorobotic arms. NYU chemistry professor Nadrian C. Seeman and his graduate student Baoquan Ding have developed a DNA cassette — shown here as red L-shaped structures — containing a nanomechanical device that can be inserted within a DNA array and function there. (Image courtesy of New York University) …
Virginia Tech researchers used novel methodology and the university’s System X supercomputer to carry out what is probably the first simulation that explores full range of motions of a DNA strand of 147 base pairs, the length that is required to form the fundamental unit of DNA packing in the living cells — the nucleosome. …