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Jan 3, 2020

Sustainable supply of minerals and metals key to a low-carbon energy future

Posted by in categories: governance, nuclear energy, sustainability, transportation

The global low-carbon revolution could be at risk unless new international agreements and governance mechanisms are put in place to ensure a sustainable supply of rare minerals and metals, a new academic study has warned.

The amount of cobalt, copper, lithium, cadmium, and rare earth elements needed for solar photovoltaics, batteries, electric vehicle (EV) motors, wind turbines, fuel cells, and nuclear reactors will likely grow at a rapid pace in the upcoming years. Even if alternatives are found for one metal, there will be reliance on another as the scope of possibilities is inherently limited by physical and chemical properties of elements.

However, with global supplies often heavily monopolized by a single country, confronted by social and environmental conflict, or concentrated in poorly functioning markets, there is a real possibility that a shortage of minerals could hold back the urgent need for a rapid upscaling of low-carbon technologies. In some cases, markets are providing misleading signals to investors that can lead to poor decisions. In other cases, the countries or regions supplying minerals are politically unstable.

Jan 3, 2020

From dream to reality: Russia’s ‘Silicon Valley’ to mark 10-year anniversary with new projects

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, nuclear energy, space

Russia’s Skolkovo innovation center, which is marking 10 years since its founding, has ambitious plans for 2020 and beyond to continue promoting technology and helping small innovative startups grow into profitable companies.

Skolkovo Technopark was built from scratch almost a decade ago to create a platform for research and innovation in key spheres such as energy, IT, space, biomedicine, and nuclear technology. Now the complex has facilities spread around 800,000 square meters and hosts around 500 startups, while there are an additional 1,500 enterprises beyond its campus. Skolkovo hosts around 50 research centers employing more than 15,000 people.

Jan 2, 2020

A quantum breakthrough brings a technique from astronomy to the nano-scale

Posted by in categories: nanotechnology, quantum physics, space

Researchers at Columbia University and University of California, San Diego, have introduced a novel “multi-messenger” approach to quantum physics that signifies a technological leap in how scientists can explore quantum materials.

The findings appear in a recent article published in Nature Materials, led by A. S. McLeod, postdoctoral researcher, Columbia Nano Initiative, with co-authors Dmitri Basov and A. J. Millis at Columbia and R.A. Averitt at UC San Diego.

“We have brought a technique from the inter-galactic scale down to the realm of the ultra-small,” said Basov, Higgins Professor of Physics and Director of the Energy Frontier Research Center at Columbia. Equipped with multi-modal nanoscience tools we can now routinely go places no one thought would be possible as recently as five years ago.”

Jan 2, 2020

Beethoven’s unfinished tenth symphony to be completed by artificial intelligence

Posted by in categories: employment, media & arts, robotics/AI

Interesting. And, for those who swear AI will never take the creative jobs.


See more Beethoven Music

Jan 2, 2020

Astrophysicist Says He Knows How to Build a Time Machine

Posted by in category: futurism

He thinks he’s figured out a way to travel to the past.

Jan 2, 2020

TikTok Banned By U.S. Army Over China Security Concerns

Posted by in category: government

The U.S. Army this week has banned TikTok from government-owned devices as scrutiny over the platform’s relationship with China grows.

Jan 2, 2020

Forecasters predict near-ideal weather conditions Monday night for the first launch at Cape Canaveral this year

Posted by in category: satellites

Forecasters predict near-ideal weather conditions Monday night for the first launch at Cape Canaveral this year, when SpaceX plans to send another 60 Starlink broadband satellites into orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket.

FULL STORY: https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/01/02/good-weather-predicted…h-of-2020/

Jan 2, 2020

SpaceX’s Upcoming Crewed NASA Mission Will Feature a Tesla Car: Video

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space travel, sustainability

Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX is kicking off the new year with an ultra busy month of tests and missions, including a major test for the company’s first crewed mission to fly NASA astronauts to and back from the International Space Station (ISS).

To drum up hype ahead of the big day, Musk posted a simulated video on Monday showing how the eventual manned launch will look.

SEE ALSO: Why Nobel Prize-Winning Scientists Universally Oppose Moving to Mars.

Jan 2, 2020

The Coolest (and Scariest) Military Tech of 2019

Posted by in category: military

This year birthed some of the most mind-bending military tech we’ve ever seen.


Whether you’re a war hawk or a pacifist, it’s hard to deny the last year’s mind-bending advances in warfare technology.

Jan 2, 2020

What does it take for a psychedelic drug to get to market?

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Any FDA-approved drug must first pass through three phases of development, to show safety and efficacy. At our launch party, Dr. Cole Marta, a principal investigator at the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) Los Angeles MDMA phase 3 study site, explains the process of drug development and what happens after a drug gets to market, including factors such as cost to the patient and insurance coverage. How would *you* like to see psychedelic medicines legally come to market?