By 2020, Shackleton Energy Company (SEC) intends to become the world’s foremost space-based energy company providing rocket propellants, life support, consumables, and services in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and on the Moon to all spacefarers. The company will use a mix of industrial astronauts and advanced robotic systems to provide a strategically-assured, continuous supply of …
It was not too long ago that basic science lectures began with the three forms of matter: gases, liquids and solids–and somewhere along the line plasmas were occasionally added to the list. But to be precise, a plasma is an ionized gas; thus, a subset of the big three. But this subset has coexisted with …
There was a World Bank 2007 study of the economic cost of air pollution on China (151 pages) According to conservative estimates, the economic burden of premature mortality and morbidity associated with air pollution was 157.3 billion yuan in 2003, or 1.16 percent of GDP. This assumes that premature deaths are valued using the present …
System combining gene therapy with tissue engineering could avoid the need for frequent injections of recombinant drugs Patients who rely on recombinant, protein-based drugs must often endure frequent injections, often several times a week, or intravenous therapy. Researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston demonstrate the possibility that blood vessels, made from genetically engineered cells, could secrete …
Members of the 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, discussed a 2.5 hour firefight engagement and how three-man teams manning crew-served weapons struggled to stay together over difficult terrain in fluid battles. Someone mentioned actor Jesse Ventura in the movie “Predator.” His character brandished an M-134 Mini-gun fed by an ammo box …
A team of researchers from UC Irvine, HRL Laboratories and the California Institute of Technology have developed the world’s lightest material – with a density of 0.9 mg/cc – about one hundred times lighter than Styrofoam Science – Ultralight Metallic Microlattices Ultralight (less than 10 milligrams per cubic centimeter) cellular materials are desirable for thermal …
CNNC New Energy Corporation will construct two small ACP100, modular nuclear power reactors at a cost of some RMB5 billion ($787 million). Although it has not been disclosed what specific reactor technology will be used for the Zhangzhou units, CNNC has been developing the ACP100 modular design. This is a 100 to 150 MWe pressurized …
BBC News – Doctors in London say they have cured a baby boy of a life-threatening disease which was destroying his liver. They implanted cells which acted like a temporary liver, allowing the damaged organ to recover. A virus had damaged his liver causing it to fail. Instead of going on a waiting list for …
New Scientist – To power chips using liquids, Bruno Michel of IBM has chosen a redox flow battery, which exploits the energy released when the oxidation state of a chemical changes. In this set-up, two electrolytes supplied by tanks outside the chip are pumped into the device in parallel channels. These fluids contain different types …
Spacex has posted a new launch manifest. The Falcon Heavy Demo Flight is scheduled for late 2012 out of Vandenberg. Spacex has 2 to 3 International space station resupply missions for each year from 2012-2015. Spacex has a launch for Bigelow Aerospace in 2015 (presumably to launch one of Bigelow’s inflatable commercial space stations) Spacex …
1. Stanford researchers studying how biodiesel can be generated using E. coli as a catalyst have determined the bacteria have what it takes to produce high volumes of the fuel. Now they need to figure out how to tweak its cellular controls in order to kick it into high gear. “The good news is that …