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Jul 14, 2018
Drug to Treat Smallpox Approved
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: biotech/medical, security
Though the disease was eradicated decades ago, national security experts fear that stocks of the virus in labs could be released as a bioweapon.
Jul 14, 2018
The Nuclear Reactor Renaissance: Space Exploration and National Security
Posted by Klaus Baldauf in categories: climatology, nuclear energy, security, solar power, space travel, sustainability
The nuclear power sector is seeing a resurgence in innovation, supported by new policies and emerging technologies. The general public and various governments are starting to grasp the value of nuclear power as an alternative, sustainable energy source. Unlike renewables, such as wind and solar power, nuclear energy is not dependent on weather conditions for power generation, having a capacity factor of over 90 percent. Nuclear power is also more eco-friendly than natural gas and coal and its “carbon-free” attributes are seen as critical in the fight against climate change.
For decades, advancements in the nuclear power sector have been incremental and focused largely on making systems “walk away safe.” Today, the industry is pushing the boundaries and exploring applications for nuclear power in ways that have never before been considered.
BWXT is at the forefront of this nuclear renaissance. This 6,000-employee company operates on the model of letting capital drive strategy. BWXT is constantly evaluating new ways to ensure workers, funding, and policies are utilized in the most effective way possible. The company also analyzes the needs of numerous other industries to determine how nuclear power could provide innovative solutions.
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Jul 14, 2018
The AI revolution has spawned a new chips arms race
Posted by Klaus Baldauf in category: robotics/AI
There’s no x86 in the AI chip market yet—” People see a gold rush; there’s no doubt.”
A lot has changed since 1918. But whether it’s a literal (like the City of London School athletics’ U12 event) or figurative (AI chip development) race, participants still very much want to win.
For years, the semiconductor world seemed to have settled into a quiet balance: Intel vanquished virtually all of the RISC processors in the server world, save IBM’s POWER line. Elsewhere AMD had self-destructed, making it pretty much an x86 world. And Nvidia, a late starter in the GPU space, previously mowed down all of it many competitors in the 1990s. Suddenly only ATI, now a part of AMD, remained. It boasted just half of Nvidia’s prior market share.
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Jul 14, 2018
Mining Moon Ice: Prospecting Plans Starting to Take Shape
Posted by Klaus Baldauf in category: space
GOLDEN, Colorado — A diverse range of scientists, engineers and mining technologists have begun blueprinting what hardware and missions are required to explore and establish a prospecting campaign for water ice at the poles of Earth’s moon.
Jul 14, 2018
Drug boosts immune system in elderly people
Posted by Bill Kemp in categories: biotech/medical, life extension
Drugs were created to block a protein called the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and it boosted the immune system by about 40% in elderly people.
They safely reducing infections in elderly volunteers around 40% by enhancing the immune system.
In 2004, tests that blocked a similar enzyme in fruit flies gave them a longer lifespan.
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Jul 14, 2018
Room temperature superconductivity evidence with graphene in contact with alkanes
Posted by Bill Kemp in category: materials
There are claims of synthesis of a room temperature superconductor. However, these claims have not been officially accepted by scientific communities. Currently, the highest transition temperature (Tc) recognized in scientific articles is 135 K at 1 atm of Hg-Ba-Ca-Cu-O system which is a copper oxide superconductor. We packed graphite flakes into a ring-shaped polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) tube and further injected heptane or octane. Then we generated circulating current in this ring tube by electromagnetic induction and showed that this circulating current continues to flow continuously at room temperature for 50 days. This experiment suggests that bringing alkane into contact with graphite may result in a material with zero resistance at room temperature.
Jul 14, 2018
Wall Street’s Big Banks Are Waging an All-Out Technological Arms Race
Posted by Derick Lee in category: finance
But constraints brought about by the financial crisis ended the leverage that had fueled the boom. Fixed-income traders felt the brunt of the changes, and in the years since, equities traders —especially those with a technology background—have enjoyed a renaissance. Their rise has touched off a battle for supremacy that’s come down to only three companies: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan Chase. These rivals are now locked in a technological arms race to control a $58 billion-a-year industry. As they each jockey for an edge over the other, no one who trades on Wall Street is safe.
Dimon, Blankfein, Gorman: Three great rivals are battling to control the $58 billion-a-year equities industry.