Lifeboat Foundation

Scientists have long theorized that the energy stored in the atomic bonds of nitrogen could one day be a source of clean energy. But coaxing the nitrogen atoms into linking up has been a daunting task. Researchers at Drexel University’s C&J Nyheim Plasma Institute have finally proven that it’s experimentally possible—with some encouragement from a liquid plasma spark.

Reported in the Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, the production of pure polymeric nitrogen—polynitrogen—is possible by zapping a compound called sodium azide with a jet of plasma in the middle of a super-cooling cloud of liquid nitrogen. The result is six nitrogen atoms bonded together—a compound called ionic, or neutral, nitrogen-six—that is predicted to be an extremely energy-dense material.

“Polynitrogen is being explored for use as a ‘green’ fuel source, for energy storage, or as an explosive,” said Danil Dobrynin, Ph.D., an associated research professor at the Nyheim Institute and lead author of the paper. “Versions of it have been experimentally synthesized—though never in a way that was stable enough to recover to ambient conditions or in pure nitrogen-six form. Our discovery using liquid plasma opens a new avenue for this research that could lead to a stable polynitrogen.”

The American X-plane series has a long and storied history stretching all the way back to the Bell X-1 that made supersonic flight a reality. NASA, the Air Force, and other parts of the government have used X-planes to explore the flight mechanics of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL), movable wings, and much more. Now, NASA is working on the first manned X-plane in decades, the all-electric X-57 Maxwell.

NASA started working on the X-57 in 2015, but it’s not building its electric plane from the ground up. The team started with a Tecnam P2006T twin-engine propeller plane, which it is modifying in stages. NASA hasn’t flown the aircraft yet, but it has deemed the X-57 ready for its public debut. The press was allowed to view the X-57 last week at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards Air Force Base.

The X-57 is currently in its “Mod II” configuration, which is the first featuring entirely electric flight hardware. The plane has electric cruise motors where two combustion motors were in the original aircraft. Mod III and IV will complete the X-57’s transformation from a noisy combustion plane to a quieter, more efficient electric one.

Thank you Dr. Francesca Ferrando for organizing this fantastic Posthuman event at NYU. What an honor to have been invited as one of the speakers among such great minds. Thank you 🙏.

An unforgettable night!

More information:

Yihong Zhang et al, A flexible optically re-writable color liquid crystal display, Applied Physics Letters (2018). DOI: 10.1063÷1.

The military is developing a shapeshifting wheel that is capable of transforming in just 2 seconds.

The city of the future might produce the humans of it, too.

Maybe interesting for this group too.

Visit http://TED.com to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized Talk recommendations and more.

Continue reading “The danger of AI is weirder than you think | Janelle Shane” »

An international team of scientists has created the most detailed large-scale model of the universe to date, a simulation they call TNG50.

Researchers working on ways to accelerate the body’s healing and regeneration. But what are the limits of that science and what does its future look like?