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Jan 15, 2021

Nuclear fusion tech developer General Fusion now has Shopify and Amazon founders backing it

Posted by in category: futurism

In a brief announcement today, the Canadian nuclear fusion technology developer General Fusion announced that the investment firm created by Shopify founder Tobias Lütke has joined the company’s cap table.

The size of the investment made by Lütke’s Thistledown Capital was not disclosed, but with the addition, General Fusion has the founders of the two biggest e-commerce companies in the Western world on its cap table.

Jeff Bezos, the founder and chief executive of Amazon, first invested in the company nearly a decade ago and General Fusion has been steadily raising cash since that time. In 2019, the company hauled in $100 million. That capital commitment is part of a haul totaling at least, $192 million, according to Crunchbase although the real figure is likely higher.

Jan 15, 2021

Important Milestone in the Creation of a Quantum Computer That Uses Transistors As Qubits

Posted by in categories: computing, mobile phones, quantum physics

One of the obstacles for progress in the quest for a working quantum computer has been that the working devices that go into a quantum computer and perform the actual calculations, the qubits, have hitherto been made by universities and in small numbers. But in recent years, a pan-European collaboration, in partnership with French microelectronics leader CEA-Leti, has been exploring everyday transistors — that are present in billions in all our mobile phones — for their use as qubits.

The French company Leti makes giant wafers full of devices, and, after measuring, researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, have found these industrially produced devices to be suitable as a qubit platform capable of moving to the second dimension, a significant step for a working quantum computer. The result is now published in Nature Communications.

One of the key features of the devices is the two-dimensional array of quantum dot. Or more precisely, a two by two lattice of quantum dots. “What we have shown is that we can realize single electron control in every single one of these quantum dots. This is very important for the development of a qubit, because one of the possible ways of making qubits is to use the spin of a single electron. So reaching this goal of controlling the single electrons and doing it in a 2D array of quantum dots was very important for us,” says Fabio Ansaloni, former PhD student, now postdoc at center for Quantum Devices, NBI.

Jan 15, 2021

Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer

Posted by in category: alien life

(SPHEREx) mission is a planned two-year mission funded at $242 million (not including launch costs).

SPHEREx will survey the sky in optical as well as near-infrared light which, though not visible to the human eye, serves as a powerful tool for answering cosmic questions. Astronomers will use the mission to gather data on more than 300 million galaxies, as well as more than 100 million stars in our own Milky Way.

SPHEREx will survey hundreds of millions of galaxies near and far, some so distant their light has taken 10 billion years to reach Earth. In the Milky Way, the mission will search for water and organic molecules — essentials for life, as we know it — in stellar nurseries, regions where stars are born from gas and dust, as well as disks around stars where new planets could be forming.

Jan 15, 2021

NASA Advancing Global Navigation Satellite System Capabilities

Posted by in category: satellites

NASA is developing capabilities that will allow missions at high altitudes to take advantage of signals from Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) constellations — like GPS commonly used in the U.S.

Jan 15, 2021

Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin launched a rocket that could make way for space-tourism flights this year

Posted by in category: space travel

The 14th launch of a New Shepard rocket will send a space capsule past the edge of space to test the system ahead of its first passenger flights.

Jan 15, 2021

5 NASA Spacecraft That Are Leaving Our Solar System for Good

Posted by in category: alien life

Most of these interstellar spacecraft carry messages intended to introduce ourselves to any aliens that find them along the way.

Jan 14, 2021

3D Printing Technology Gives Animals A Second Chance

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs

3D printing technology is now enabling people to give animals prosthetics!

They are giving a better life to injured animals. 😃

Continue reading “3D Printing Technology Gives Animals A Second Chance” »

Jan 14, 2021

Gateway Foundation Gives a Detailed Update on its Voyager Station Concept

Posted by in category: space travel

https://youtube.com/watch?v=85MItNr0rBk

In 2012, the Gateway Foundation was founded with the purpose of building the world’s first rotating space station in orbit – known as The Gateway. This is no easy task and must be preceded by establishing the necessary infrastructure in orbit and the creation of a series of smaller structures to test the concept. This includes the Voyager Class station, a rotating structure designed to produce varying levels of artificial gravity.

In recent months, the Orbital Assembly Corporation (OAC) – founed in 2018 by the Gateway team – began working on a crucial component, known as the DSTAR. These and other updates about their Voyager Class station were the subjects of a recent video featuring Foundation and OAC CEO John Blincow. According to Blincow, he and his colleagues will be performing a demonstration and making a big announcement in the coming weeks!

Continue reading “Gateway Foundation Gives a Detailed Update on its Voyager Station Concept” »

Jan 14, 2021

SONDORS Metacycle unveiled as low-cost 80 MPH electric motorcycle

Posted by in categories: sustainability, transportation

SONDORS has just pulled up the curtain on its first-ever electric motorcycle, the SONDORS Metacycle. The new commuter electric motorcycle may just be the first truly low-cost electric motorcycle capable of both city and highway riding.

Of course terms like “affordable” and “low-cost” will always be relative.

But to put things in perspective, we live in a world where the $29799 Harley-Davidson LiveWire is considered largely a commuter electric motorcycle, though with enough power for some impressive drag races as well.

Jan 14, 2021

Inspired by kombucha tea, engineers create ‘living materials’

Posted by in categories: biological, sustainability

Engineers at MIT and Imperial College London have developed a new way to generate tough, functional materials using a mixture of bacteria and yeast similar to the “kombucha mother” used to ferment tea.

Using this mixture, also called a SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast), the researchers were able to produce cellulose embedded with enzymes that can perform a variety of functions, such as sensing environmental pollutants. They also showed that they could incorporate yeast directly into the material, creating “living materials” that could be used to purify water or to make “smart” packaging materials that can detect damage.

“We foresee a future where diverse materials could be grown at home or in local production facilities, using biology rather than resource-intensive centralized manufacturing,” says Timothy Lu, an MIT associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science and of .