“The traditional model of U.S. military power is being disrupted, the way Blockbuster’s business model was amid the rise of Amazon and Netflix,” Brose writes. “A military made up of small numbers of large, expensive, heavily manned, and hard-to-replace systems will not survive on future battlefields, where swarms of intelligent machines will deliver violence at a greater volume and higher velocity than ever before.”
America risks a catastrophic defeat if it doesn’t radically change the way it thinks about war.
WASHINGTON — Nearly a year after Northrop Grumman’s acquisition of Orbital ATK closed, company executives say they’re getting the benefits they expected from the deal in terms of cost savings and new business.
In a quarterly earnings report issued April 24, Northrop reported total sales of $8.19 billion and net earnings of $863 million for the first quarter of 2019. The company had total sales of $6.74 billion and net earnings of $840 million for the same quarter of 2018.
The increase in sales was due almost entirely to the addition of the Innovation Systems business unit, the former Orbital ATK. That unit generated $1.44 billion in sales for the quarter. In the first quarter of 2018, the last full quarter Orbital ATK was still an independent company, it reported sales of $1.31 billion.
A team of researchers at NTT Corporation has developed a way to use light-based computer hardware that allows it to to compete with silicon. In their paper published in the journal Nature Photonics, the group describes their research, the devices they created and how well they worked.
Computer scientists have known for some time that the era of increasing computer speed by modifying silicon-based computer parts is coming to an end. To that end, many have turned to quantum computing as the way to speed up computers—but to date, such efforts have not led to useful machines and there is no guarantee they ever will. Because of that, others in the computer business are looking for other options, such as using light to move data around inside of computers instead of electrons. Currently, light is generally only used to carry data long distances. In this new effort, the researchers report that they have developed computing devices based partially on light that performed as well as electron-based hardware.
The idea of using only light as a data medium in computer hardware is still a long way off—instead, engineers are focusing on using light in areas where it seems feasible and electrons everywhere else. Because of that computer devices must be able to convert between the two mediums, a problem that until now has prevented such devices from being built. Prior efforts have required too much power to be feasible and the conversion process has been too slow. To get around both problems, the researchers developed a new kind of photonic crystal that was able to diffuse light in a way that allowed it to follow a designated path on demand and to also be absorbed when needed to be used for generating current. The crystal was also able to work in reverse.
Ryan Weed updates the work at Positron Dynamics at Space Access 2019. Positron Dynamics has completed the NASA NIAC study. They are applying for some Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants.
Positron Dynamics will use Krypton isotopes to generate positrons. They would breed more Krypton isotopes. They sidestep the issue of antimatter storage. It would take 10 school buses of volume at the Brillouin limit to trap 1 microgram.
They are slowing the positrons that are generated. Krypton 79 isotope to generate hot positrons. Use their system to moderate the positrons so they can be used.
On July 11–12, we will be hosting our second annual Ending Age-Released Diseases conference. This conference focuses on the progress of aging research along with the business and investment side of rejuvenation biotechnology.
Aging research is on the cusp of some major breakthroughs in the battle against age-related diseases, and we invite you to join us for an action-packed event filled with exciting talks and discussion panels featuring some of the leaders of aging research and the biotech business.
Fifteen years ago, Rushika Fernandopulle had a radical idea.
A primary care doctor by training, he had been treating patients in the standard, insurance-backed way. But he started to realize that wasn’t working, and insurance wasn’t covering what he wanted to do for patients.
Indeed, Schindler stressed that Google would generate personalized Maps recommendations in “privacy-sensitive, opt-in ways.”
The company is betting that adding more data about places and businesses to Maps will lead people to spend more time on the service. As users expect more from Maps, Google has extra space to introduce more ads.
“We want to be able to highlight things that are around you and surface them nearby to you in a way that’s not disrupting your experience,’’ said Rajas Moonka, director of product management for Google Maps. Because so much of what users are looking for in Google Maps is commercial in nature, ads can be a helpful addition to the experience, he said.
