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 …
NanoLetters – Carbon Nanotube Active-Matrix Backplanes for Conformal Electronics and Sensors (12 pages) In this paper, we report a promising approach for fabricating large-scale flexible and stretchable electronics using a semiconductor-enriched carbon nanotube solution. Uniform semiconducting nanotube networks with superb electrical properties (mobility of ∼20 cm2 V^-1 s^-1 and ION/IOFF of ∼10^4) are obtained on …
Toshiba is poised to launch a model in its Z830 Portege Ultrabook series for $799.99 at Best Buy, which will be a new low price point for this emerging laptop category. It will be $500 cheaper than the most inexpensive Apple Mac Air. The Portege Z835 at Best Buy (model: Z835-P330) packs a “Sandy Bridge” …
1. Heiner Flassbeck, the chief economist at the UN Agency for World Trade and Development and also a former minister of state in the German ministry of finance, was ironically the most vocal critic of Germany’s role in the current euro zone crisis. Flassbeck, who said he had been supportive of the euro project, contended …
Pure Energy Systems News – Andrea Rossi signed an agreement with National Instruments to have them make all of the instrumentation for the E-Cat cold fusion plants, which began to be sold commercially on October 28 with the first 1 MW plant successfully tested in Bologna. The 1 MW plant, which is the size of …
1. Economist Magazine – The euro crisis might wake Europe up. But more likely, argues Edward Carr, it will lead to compromise and decline The crisis that has engulfed the European Union (EU) is about much more than the euro. The euro will not be safe until Europe answers some fundamental questions that it has …
Eurekalert – A team of researchers at EPFL, the University of Lausanne and the Salk Institute created super strong, marathon mice and nematodes by reducing the function of a natural inhibitor, suggesting treatments for age-related or genetically caused muscle degeneration are within reach. The mice were stronger, had more endurance and had more cold resistance. …