Some GPU cryptomining outfits, having survived a bleak winter of discontent, have started to grasp AI acceleration opportunities.
An aqueous lithium-ion battery would be safer than the ones being used in EVs today. So why aren’t car companies switching to it?
In the meantime, aqueous Li-ion technology is finding niche uses where limited resilience and longevity are less of an issue such as for the military.
Aqueous Li-ion Recyclability
TerraPower, founded by billionaire and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in 2008, is opening a new nuclear power plant in Kemmerer, Wyoming. The plant will be the first of its kind, with the company hoping to revolutionize the nuclear energy industry in the U.S. to help fight climate change and support American energy independence.
“Nuclear energy, if we do it right, will help us solve our climate goals,” Gates told ABC News. “That is, get rid of the greenhouse gas emissions without making the electricity system far more expensive or less reliable.”
Gates met with ABC News’ chief business, economics, and technology correspondent Rebecca Jarvis in Kemmerer to talk about the project.
This is really for the general public — and for people new to fusion. I gave a 20 minute talk** to a local group in Pittsburgh. We decided to record the audio, and put it out on the web for other people to enjoy. The top Ten things you should know about fusion are:
10. We have Been Doing It For Years.
9. We Know How To Make It Work.
8. You Can Do Fusion At Home.
7. The US Really Funded Fusion For about 15 year.
6. There Is More Than One Method.
5. Fusion Startups Are Real.
4. We Need A Pipeline.
3. China Is Taking An Interest.
2. Superconductors Are Game Changers.
1. Climate Change Is Not Waiting.
Continue reading “Top 10 Things You Should Know About Fusion — March 2019” »
Space Renaissance International has recently launched a world-wide campaign for adding an 18th SDG to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. Our initiative suddenly resulted to be in tune with similar initiatives, undertaken by other space advocacy organizations, e.g. the National Space Society of USA, and many others. All of these promoter organizations are now working to a joined campaign. Two initial milestones will be the presentation, by the NSS, of the #Space18SDG to the COPUOS (the United Nations Committee for the Peaceful Use of Outer Space) the first week of June, and a panel organized by SRI at the UN General Assembly in New York, for the 18 of September.
Space for All, on Earth and Beyond, a civilian-led space development, with human communities living and working in outer space to expand and multiply benefits to all the peoples of Earth.
The above is the main concept supporting our proposal, trying to make it evident, in few words, that, though we praise and consider very important the huge contribution so far given by space technologies to the achievement of the Earthly 17 SDGs, we think that they will not be enough to overcome the global crisis of human development on our mother planet, should humanity remain closed and confined inside its limits.
Elon Musk has been pretty open about the idea of using social media platforms like Twitter to communicate directly with customers. Tesla highlighted this in its 2022 Impact Report, with the company noting that its social media accounts have helped it reach 1 billion views on Twitter last year.
With Twitter now being owned by Elon Musk, it is no surprise that his companies like Tesla are now more active on the platform. And in a recent post, the official Tesla account asked Twitter users what it could improve. The EV community, from fans to longtime owners, responded, to a great degree. As of writing, Tesla’s post has attracted over 22k comments.
A look at the comments on Tesla’s post would show that there are numerous calls for better service. Service has been Tesla’s Achilles heel for some time now, and with the company adopting a “best service is no service” stance, some owners have reported experiencing difficulties contacting Tesla for issues with their vehicles. Comments on Tesla’s post suggest that customer service is still a key point of improvement for the company.
Engineers at the University of Pittsburgh are bringing concrete into the 21st century by reimagining its design. Concrete, which has its roots dating back to the Roman Empire, remains the most widely utilized material in the construction industry.
A new study presents a concept for the development of smart civil infrastructure systems with the introduction of metamaterial concrete. The research presents a concept for lightweight and mechanically-tunable concrete systems with integrated energy harvesting and sensing capabilities.
“Modern society has been using concrete in construction for hundreds of years, following its original creation by the ancient Romans,” said Amir Alavi, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Pitt, who is the corresponding author on the study. “Massive use of concrete in our infrastructure projects implies the need for developing a new generation of concrete materials that are more economical and environmentally sustainable, yet offer advanced functionalities. We believe that we can achieve all of these goals by introducing a metamaterial paradigm into the development of construction materials.”
You may not have heard of piezoelectric materials, but odds are, you have benefitted from them.
Piezoelectric materials are solid materials —like crystals, bone or proteins—that produce an electric current when they are placed under mechanical stress.
Materials that harvest energy from their surroundings (through light, heat and motion) are finding their way into solar cells, wearable and implantable electronics and even onto spacecraft. They let us keep devices charged for longer, maybe even forever, without the need to connect them to a power supply.
A team from Newcastle University and Northumbria University in the UK has found that the thin, root-like threads produced by many fungi can potentially be used as a biodegradable, wearable material that’s also able to repair itself.
In their tests, the researchers focused on the Ganoderma lucidum fungus, producing a skin from branching filaments known as hyphae, which together weave into a structure called a mycelium.
With a little more work the fragile skins could serve as a substitute for leather, satisfying vegan, environmental, and fashion tastes, though the process of its creation also needs to be sped and scaled up before it can be transformed into next season’s jacket.
On May 4, the first photovoltaic solar farm to connect directly to the UK’s National Grid transmission network went online.
Larks Green is a 200-acre solar farm located on the Severn Vale next to the hamlet of Itchington, to the north of Bristol, and with the addition of a big battery energy storage facility, it’s being heralded as a game-changer in creating a future where solar power is a consistent supplier of much of Britain’s electricity.
The 50 MW solar farm is owned and operated by Cero Generation and Enso Energy and was connected to the National Grid’s Iron Acton substation.
