Lifeboat Foundation

Ukrainian scientist Vladislav Kiselev claims that he has developed a type of battery that can power gadgets like smartphones and even cars for up to 12 years, without having to be recharged.

Kiselev, a senior researcher at the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry and Petrochemistry in Kiev, and professor at Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences, unveiled his intriguing battery prototype during the 2016 edition of Sikorsky Challenge, a prestigious international competition for research projects. The matchbox-like device looks fairly unimpressive, but the Ukrainian scientist claims that it has been continuously powering electrical devices for a year and four months without a single recharge, and will continue to do so for the next 11 years. That’s because his “battery” produces energy instead of simply storing it.

The report highlighted key programs and policies in the state including the state Legislature authorizing $1.25 million in bonds to design the refueling infrastructure for the Department of Transportation airport shuttle bus project.

A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that uses hydrogen and oxygen from the air to produce electricity, with water and heat as its by-products. Hydrogen can come from fossil fuels such as natural gas or propane or renewable fuels including gas from an anaerobic digester or landfill. Hydrogen can also be produced by water electrolysis, which can be powered by electricity from renewables such as solar or wind or from nuclear energy and the grid.

Other top states for hydrogen and fuel cells include California, Connecticut and New York.

Continue reading “Hawaii among top states in U.S. for hydrogen fuel cell projects” »

Planting a flag in Europe for the development of the kind of “deep technology” companies that have long been the bread and butter of Silicon Valley, the European venture firm Atomico has invested 10 million euros in the vertical take-off and landing plane developer, Lilium Aviation.

The roughly $10.7 million Series A investment announced at TechCrunch Disrupt London is meant to help Lilium develop into a manufacturer of a commuter alternative to helicopters and traditional planes.

Since the 1950s and 1960s, flying cars have ranked right up there with jetpacks as an example of the fulfillment of our expectations for future travel (I still think the Uber and Lyft app is pretty magical).

Continue reading “European VCs are going to make flying cars a reality” »

MNA– Head of Iran Nanotechnology Initiative Council and Iran’s envoy to Armenia met with Armenian Minister of Transport, Communication and IT in Yerevan.

Seyed Kazem Sadjadi, the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Yerevan and Professor Saeed Sarkar, Secretary-General of the Iran Nanotechnology Initiative Council (INIC) met with Vahan Martirosyan, the Minister of Transport, Communication and Information Technology of the Republic of Armenia on Wednesday in Yerevan.

The Armenian minister in the meeting welcomed the Iranian delegation for initiating cooperation and underlined that cooperation with Iran in areas of transportation and communication was of prime importance to Armenia. He voiced hope for expansion of bilateral cooperation in information technology.

Continue reading “Armenia eyeing nano coop. with Iran” »

https://youtube.com/watch?v=3no3tF2kqEE

Designs and manufactures electric components, drivetrains and vehicles including the Nikola One and Nikola Two electric semi-trucks.

George “Geohot” Hotz is driving forward with his push to bring self-driving cars to the masses, but he’s going about it a slightly unconventional way. His company Comma.ai is brushing past some previous regulatory issues and is trying another route — open-sourcing not only its self-driving technology, but also instructions for building your very own hardware device (“a robotics platform”) called Comma Neo. All of this information is available today through Comma.ai’s GitHub repositories.

Since the beginning, the company has had a goal of being the Android version of self-driving cars — it wants to empower “ghostriding for the masses.” Earlier this year, it was approached by state and federal regulators inquiring about a product Hotz claimed wasn’t even on sale yet. Fed up with the scrutiny, Comma.ai cancelled its first product, the Comma One, and pivoted its thinking to democratizing its knowledge. So it’s keeping with its promise, but has scrapped its $999 price point in favor of it being free. “If we really want to be the Android of self-driving cars, we can’t be charging $999, can we?” Hotz explained.

What I have been waiting for; now I can get all of my novels written for me.

Literai is a community that uses neural networks to automate storytelling by computers.

Now retrofitted for civilian use, the Community Chlorine Maker makes enough chlorine to treat water for a whole village. We just need to get it to them.

What might life be like once autonomous vehicles populate the roads? With the help of colleague Timothy Bonds, RAND’s Nidhi Kalra described what may occur when autonomous vehicles “democratize transportation.” Read our recap from #PoliticsAside: r.rand.org/326y