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Feb 7, 2021

GKN Aerospace proposes eVTOL Skybus transports for 30 to 50 passengers

Posted by in categories: drones, government, robotics/AI

While a multitude of companies are jostling to compete in the emerging electric VTOL air taxi market, it’s very rare to find aircraft designs carrying more than five people. But British multinational giant GKN Aerospace is looking into something much bigger: “park ‘n’ ride” Skybus transports capable of carrying 30 to 50 passengers across congested parts of town, moving affordable public transport into the third dimension.

This initiative is part of the UK’s Future Flight Challenge, which is using some £125 million (US$171 million) of government cash and a further £175 million (US$239 million) from the industrial sector to fund a wide range of projects related to electric aviation, including drone swarm and delivery technologies, air traffic control that can handle a huge influx of autonomous drones and aircraft, eVTOL air taxis, sensor technologies, industrial inspection UAVs and other projects like the pop-up eVTOL airport in Coventry we wrote about yesterday.

Where most passenger-carrying eVTOL projects are envisaged as on-demand Uber-style services connecting individual passengers or small groups with ride-share services at either end, the Skybus project takes a public transport approach, with large birds ferrying significant numbers of people over city routes on fixed schedules.

Feb 7, 2021

Elon Musk Says Neuralink Has a Monkey Playing Video Games With Its Mind

Posted by in categories: computing, Elon Musk, neuroscience

You can’t see where the implant is and he’s a happy monkey.

Feb 7, 2021

Fetch’s latest warehouse robot is designed to replace forklifts

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

San Jose-based robotics company Fetch unveiled its latest robot this morning. The PalletTransport1500 is an autonomous bot designed specifically to replace forklift uses in warehouses. The systems, which are designed to pick up and delivery pallets, are capable of sporting payloads of up to 2504 pounds.

The device joins a number of different robotic forklift solutions from various companies, including Toyota. Though Amazon’s own Kiva Systems-produced robots are likely still the best-known pallet moving robotics in the game.

The system was developed with Honeywell’s Intelligrated’s Momentum warehouse software. Fetch, of course, already offers a number of different warehouse robotic solutions, building out a kind of autonomous ecosystem. The company’s systems are notable for their relative flexibility over other full-scale solutions.

Feb 7, 2021

Cultivo de supercristales a gran velocidad: el ejemplo de la hoganita

Posted by in category: futurism

Growing super crystals at high speed: the example of the hoganite https://www.investigacionyciencia.es/revistas/investigacion-…remas-821/ forma rápida de obtener voluminosos cristales de acetato de cobre mediante aparatos tan cotidianos como una yogurtera y una huevera.

Feb 7, 2021

SpaceX Has Plans to Start a Starlink Phone Service

Posted by in category: mobile phones

It’s not meant for your smartphone.

Feb 7, 2021

Stanford Professor: Elon Musk and the FAA Are Both Out of Line

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, government

He accuses Elon Musk of “antics” and the FAA of impeding progress.

Feb 7, 2021

This Quantum Desktop Computer Can Be Yours for Just $5,000

Posted by in categories: computing, quantum physics

It weighs a hefty 121 pounds.

Feb 7, 2021

Nuclear waste could be recycled for diamond battery power

Posted by in categories: nuclear energy, physics

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A team of physicists and chemists from the University of Bristol hope to recycle radioactive material directly from a former nuclear power plant in Gloucestershire to generate ultra-long-lasting power sources.

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Feb 7, 2021

Hyosung Heavy Industries to Construct the World’s Largest Liquid Hydrogen Plant

Posted by in categories: chemistry, economics, transportation

Hyosung Chairman Hyun-Joon Cho has begun to activate the hydrogen economy by preparing to construct the world’s largest liquid hydrogen factory following a large-scale investment in carbon fiber last year.

Hyosung joined hands with the Linde Group, a global chemical company specializing in industrial gas, to establish a value chain encompassing the production and transportation of liquid hydrogen and installation and operation of charging stations by investing KRW 300 billion in all by 2022. For this purpose, an MOU was signed by Hyosung Chairman Hyun-Joon Cho and Linde Korea Chairman Baek-Seok Seong on April 28 at the head office of Hyosung in Mapo, Seoul.

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Feb 7, 2021

Molecule from nature provides fully recyclable polymers

Posted by in category: materials

Plastics are among the most successful materials of modern times. However, they also create a huge waste problem. Scientists from the University of Groningen (The Netherlands) and the East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST) in Shanghai produced different polymers from lipoic acid, a natural molecule. These polymers are easily depolymerized under mild conditions. Some 87 percent of the monomers can be recovered in their pure form and re-used to make new polymers of virgin quality. The process is described in an article that was published in the journal Matter on 4 February.