Tel Aviv University (TAU) develops a groundbreaking nano-laser (called a SPASER) for medicine and electronics “Spaser” is an acronym for “surface plasmon amplification by stimulated emission of radiation” Spasers are considered a critical component for future technologies based on nanophotonics — technologies that could lead to radical innovations in medicine and science, such as a …
Comparing the Costs of Intermittent and Dispatchable Electricity Generating Technologies by Paul L. Joskow at MIT Adjusting for market based economics makes solar and nuclear power look better and makes wind power look worse. Economic evaluations of alternative electric generating technologies typically rely on comparisons between their expected life-cycle production costs per unit of electricity …
The International Exascale Software Project (IESP) Roadmap (85 pages) Over the last twenty years, the open source community has provided more and more software on which the world’s High Performance Computing (HPC) systems depend for performance and productivity. The community has invested millions of dollars and years of effort to build key components. But although …
Here is the Charlie Kemp interview by Sander Olson. Sander Olson has provided dozens of first hand interviews to Nextbigfuture. Sander is an online journalist who has been working parttime with Nextbigfuture. Dr. Kemp is a Professor at the biomedical engineering department at Georgia Tech and Emory University. His lab is focused on developing robots …
Ashby map of damage tolerance (toughness versus strength) of materials. Glass stronger and tougher than steel? A new type of damage-tolerant metallic glass, demonstrating a strength and toughness beyond that of any known material, has been developed and tested by a collaboration of researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory …
Foreign Policy journal was trying to make the case that China is still far weaker than the USA. They used one of my articles to make that case. Some make a big deal about China’s ghost cities that could have 64 million empty homes. Having a lot of overbuilding would be a huge issue for …
Nextbigfuture was linked from Foreign Policy Journal and Andrew Sullivan at the Atlantic They were linking to my article on the ‘History and Future of US and China GDP They were taking an alternative views on China and where things are now and where they might be but used the article as a reference. Centauri …
Here is the Richard Dell Jr interview. Mr. Dell believes that he and his team have developed a method for generating fusion power which is appropriate for providing the propulsion for exploring and colonizing space. He is confident that this approach could lead to spacecraft capable of flying to the moon and landing on it, …
MIT Technology review has details of IBMs progress to develop racetrack memory Racetrack memory’s reliability is likely to depend on the materials used for the nanowires, and the design—which will be worked out as a prototype is developed. “It shouldn’t take too long,” Parkin says. “Maybe in two years we should have this prototype.” Racetrack …
Continental Resources, an oil production company with 22 drilling rigs in North Dakota, has led the industry in developing the Sanish/Three Forks formation and concluded it is a separate oil formation, rather than one that siphons off the Bakken. Company owner Harold Hamm said he believes the Bakken and Sanish/Three Forks formations taken together could …
By Joseph Friedlander Let us suppose that we have an electrical launch facility on the Moon to export mass to the L4-L5 points in co-orbit with the Moon around the Earth. My caption– the Sun is in the middle of the picture, the Earth is at the 3 o’clock position relative to the Sun, the …