• Graphene layers go luminescent

    Updated: 2009-11-30 14:45:37
    "Wonder material" could now be used to make optoelectronics and light-emitting devices

  • Theory that Civilization is a Heat Engine

    Updated: 2009-11-29 23:48:23
    skip to main skip to sidebar Next Big Future Tracking high impact progress to the technology future , future technology and especially advanced nanotechnology , nuclear and energy technology , quantum computers , life extension , space technology and AI . Proposing and tracking the best societal , business and technical choices to the next big things that will shape our future . Official Lifeboat Foundation news . source November 29, 2009 Theory that Civilization is a Heat Engine A University of Utah scientist Tim Garrett , an associate professor of atmospheric sciences argues that rising carbon dioxide emissions the major cause of global warming cannot be stabilized unless the world's economy collapses or society builds the equivalent of one new nuclear power plant each . day Fundamentally , I believe the system is deterministic , says Garrett . Changes in population and standard of living are only a function of the current energy efficiency . That leaves only switching to a non-carbon-dioxide-emitting power source as an available option . The problem is that , in order to stabilize emissions , not even reduce them , we have to switch to non-carbonized energy sources at a rate

  • Nuclear roundup - Russian Uranium Production and Indian Nuclear Plants

    Updated: 2009-11-29 23:21:52
    skip to main skip to sidebar Next Big Future Tracking high impact progress to the technology future , future technology and especially advanced nanotechnology , nuclear and energy technology , quantum computers , life extension , space technology and AI . Proposing and tracking the best societal , business and technical choices to the next big things that will shape our future . Official Lifeboat Foundation news . source November 29, 2009 Nuclear roundup Russian Uranium Production and Indian Nuclear Plants 1. The Russian uranium mining company Atomredmetzoloto ARMZ plans to buy uranium assets in Namibia In 2008, Atomredmetzoloto ARMZ Russia's leading uranium producer , planned to increase production in Russia and Kazakhstan by 12 to 4,300 metric tons for 2009 ARMZ manages all of Russia's uranium mining assets and also participates in uranium production in the Central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan . The company is developing cooperation with Armenia , Canada , Mongolia , Namibia and Ukraine . It is owned by Atomenergoprom , which is part of . Rosatom ARMZ aims to increase uranium production six-fold up to 20,000 tons per year by 2024 and become the world's leader in uranium . mining

  • Hydropower Dam Turbine Upgrades Increase Generation by 7 to 24%

    Updated: 2009-11-29 22:39:31
    skip to main skip to sidebar Next Big Future Tracking high impact progress to the technology future , future technology and especially advanced nanotechnology , nuclear and energy technology , quantum computers , life extension , space technology and AI . Proposing and tracking the best societal , business and technical choices to the next big things that will shape our future . Official Lifeboat Foundation news . source November 29, 2009 Hydropower Dam Turbine Upgrades Increase Generation by 7 to 24 Hydropower Upgrades to Yield Added Generation at Average Costs Less Than 4 cents per kWh Without New Dams U.S . Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced up to 30.6 million in Recovery Act funding for the selection of seven hydropower projects that modernize hydropower infrastructure by increasing efficiency and reducing environmental impacts at existing facilities . The expanded hydro generation projects have estimated incremental costs of less than 4 cents per kWh on average . The replacement of old turbines with new more efficient turbines can increase the power generated by 7-23 Hydropower Upgrades for Projects Larger than 50 Megawatts MW Alabama Power Company up to 6 million for

  • Guangdong Nuclear Power Plans for More Uranium

    Updated: 2009-11-29 07:43:25
    skip to main skip to sidebar Next Big Future Tracking high impact progress to the technology future , future technology and especially advanced nanotechnology , nuclear and energy technology , quantum computers , life extension , space technology and AI . Proposing and tracking the best societal , business and technical choices to the next big things that will shape our future . Official Lifeboat Foundation news . source November 28, 2009 Guangdong Nuclear Power Plans for More Uranium The Wall Street Journal reports that China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holdings Co . one of the country's two nuclear-energy firms , said it will need more than 100,000 metric tons of uranium between 2009 and 2020 to feed its growing fleet of nuclear-power plants , a huge jump from current demand levels that underscores the scope of China's nuclear-energy . ambitions Guangdong Nuclear Power's uranium needs will jump to 10,000 tons a year in 2020 from 2,000 tons this year . Guangdong Nuclear Power is expected to have 34 gigawatts of nuclear-power capacity in operation by 2020, accounting for more than 50 of China's total capacity , up from 3.94 gigawatts currently . operational Guangdong Nuclear Power

  • Superconducting Heat Shield

    Updated: 2009-11-26 17:08:42
    skip to main skip to sidebar Next Big Future Tracking high impact progress to the technology future , future technology and especially advanced nanotechnology , nuclear and energy technology , quantum computers , life extension , space technology and AI . Proposing and tracking the best societal , business and technical choices to the next big things that will shape our future . Official Lifeboat Foundation news . source November 26, 2009 Superconducting Heat Shield Flight Global reports that european researchers developing a magnetic heat shield that could augment or replace the traditional ablative materials hope to make a test flight in the next . decade Under development by EADS Astrium , with support from German aerospace centre DLR and the European Space Agency , the magnetic field-protected vehicle will be launched from a submarine on a suborbital trajectory to land in the Russian Kamchatka . region As a capsule re-enters the atmosphere the air heats up around it due to friction and usually a high-temperature-resistant material is needed to absorb that . A magnetic field is able to deflect the hot atmospheric air away from the vehicle's surface , reducing or eliminating the

  • Lawrenceville Plasma Physics Criticisms and Responses

    Updated: 2009-11-25 08:49:06
    skip to main skip to sidebar Next Big Future Tracking high impact progress to the technology future , future technology and especially advanced nanotechnology , nuclear and energy technology , quantum computers , life extension , space technology and AI . Proposing and tracking the best societal , business and technical choices to the next big things that will shape our future . Official Lifeboat Foundation news . source November 25, 2009 Lawrenceville Plasma Physics Criticisms and Responses There are two main criticisms of focus . fusion 1. Hydrogen-boron fuel allows too much x-ray cooling The hot plasma of this fuel will emit x-rays too quickly , the energy lost through the x-rays will always be more than the energy gained by fusion . reactions the fusion reactions would not heat the plasma suffieicntly , thus the very high temperatures required for burning hydrogen-boron completely would not be reached . The rate of radiation depends on the square of the electrical charge on the nucleus involved , Thus boron , with 5 charges , causes 25 times more radiation than , for example , deuterium , with one . charge this x-ray emission process is termed bremsstrahlung Response in regards

  • Nanotube LEDs make progress

    Updated: 2009-11-24 13:31:31
    IBM team controls light emission from carbon nanotubes more precisely than ever before

  • Newswire: CERN - Two circulating beams bring first collisions in the LHC

    Updated: 2009-11-23 06:00:00
    Geneva, 23 November 2009. Today the LHC circulated two beams simultaneously for the first time, allowing the operators to test the synchronization of the beams and giving the experiments their first chance to look for proton-proton collisions. With just one bunch of particles circulating in each direction, the beams can be made to cross in up to two places in the ring. From early in the afternoon, the beams were made to cross at points 1 and 5, home to the ATLAS and CMS detectors, both of which were on the lookout for collisions. Later, beams crossed at points 2 and 8, ALICE and LHCb.

  • Holes block light in very thin films

    Updated: 2009-11-20 10:22:58
    Another strange twist found in the physics of holey materials

  • Newswire: CERN - The LHC is back

    Updated: 2009-11-20 06:00:00
    Geneva, 20 November 2009. Particle beams are once again circulating in the world's most powerful particle accelerator, CERN 's Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This news comes after the machine was handed over for operation on Wednesday morning. A clockwise circulating beam was established at ten o'clock this evening. This is an important milestone on the road towards first physics at the LHC, expected in 2010.

  • Photonic-crystal fibres: the route to success

    Updated: 2009-11-19 10:01:01
    The photonic-crystal fibre enables scientists to think in new ways about guiding light – and to follow that with innovative applications. Marie Freebody goes right back to the source and speaks to the inventor of the multifaceted fibre, Philip Russell.

  • Nanostars rival fluorophores for imaging

    Updated: 2009-11-18 09:31:47
    Pointy nanomolecules perform well in long or repeated imaging studies

  • Energy efficient displays

    Updated: 2009-11-13 00:09:06
    Johns Hopkins materials researchers have found a new use for a chemical compound that has traditionally been viewed as an electrical conductor, a substance that allows electricity to flow through it. By orienting the compound in a different way, the scientists have turned it into a thin film insulator, which instead blocks the flow of electricity, but can induce large electric currents elsewhere. The material, called solution-deposited beta-alumina, could have important applications in transistor technology and in devices such as electronic books........

  • Carbon nanotubes feel the force

    Updated: 2009-11-12 13:10:01
    IBM team says effect could be useful for future electro-optics devices

  • Laser creates record-breaking protons

    Updated: 2009-11-11 14:59:50
    High-energy protons could yield compact source for cancer therapy

  • Plasmons shine a light on catalysis

    Updated: 2009-11-09 13:16:00
    New optical technique can examine catalysts under "real-life" conditions

  • Renewable hydrogen production at winery

    Updated: 2009-11-03 05:39:03
    The first demonstration of a renewable method for hydrogen production from wastewater using a microbial electrolysis system is underway at the Napa Wine Company in Oakville. The refrigerator-sized hydrogen generator will take winery wastewater, and using bacteria and a small amount of electrical energy, convert the organic material into hydrogen, as per a Penn State environmental engineer........

  • Magnetic mixing creates quite a stir

    Updated: 2009-11-03 05:39:03
    Sandia scientists have developed a process that can mix tiny volumes of liquid, even in complicated spaces. Scientists currently use all types of processes to try and create mixing, with only "mixed" success. "In small devices," says Sandia materials scientist Jim Martin "people have tried all kinds of pillars and mixing cells to initiate mixing, but these approaches don't work well." Scientists need simpler and more reliable ways to mix in tiny places such as micrometer-sized channels, Martin said........

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