NextBigFuture.com

100 times more heat than predicted by the standard radiation theory can flow between two nanoscale objects, even at bigger-than-nanoscale distances. Applications of this could be better solar cells,...

China imported US$260 billion worth of semiconductors in 2017, more than its $162 billion imports of crude oil. Chinese-made chips made up less than 20% of domestic demand in the same year, according...

China has started building a Type 039B (Yuan-class) diesel submarine for Thailand. They expect to deliver it by 2023. It will displace 2,600 tonnes, and have a top speed of 18 knots and can stay...

Jeffrey J. Plaut, NASA Jet Propulsion Scientist, Reviews the Evidence for Shallow Subsurface Ice on Mars. The Marsis and Sharad missions to Mars provide evidence of shallow ground ice that is tens of...

Hypersonic weapons are weapons and vehicles that can move faster than 5 times the speed of sound. Russia and China have both deployed new rockets that are tipped with hypersonic warheads. The US has...

Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) is looking High Power Microwave (HPM) weapons to vessels like Iran’s speedboats. They are looks for High Power Microwave sources and...

The University of Minnesota has made a highly-touted new technology for “cryo-preserving” living biomaterials such as fish embryos available for licensing. Ultimately, the public institution is...

The Keck Planet Finder telescope might start operating in 2019. It will be used to discover exoplanets, particularly around nearby, bright stars and will excel at measuring the masses of planets...

The South China Morning Post reports that China has fixed the WS-15 engine problems which have delayed mass production of the J-20 stealth fighter. The WS-15 were largely related to blades...

Dr. David Poston, Los Alamos National Laboratory talks about the simple and safe NASA Kilopower Project. KRUSTY showed that developing a small reactor is not inherently expensive. – A new reactor...

Researchers have found a way to reduce production costs of solar cells by more than 10%. Switching the Silicon Used in Solar Cells for Renewable Energy Drops Costs Silicon is the standard...

Two 30-meter tall Rotor Sails have been installed onboard the product tanker vessel Maersk Pelican targeting a reduction in fuel cost and associated emissions on typical global shipping routes of...

China’s first quarter 2018 retail sales were 10% more than the US level. China was at $1.436 trillion and the US was at $1.306 trillion. China’s overall retail is growing at 9% per year...

Dr. Abigail Fraeman – NASA/JPL – Member of the Opportunity, Curiosity, and Mars 2020 Rover teams. Mars 2020 discussion started 25 minutes into the talk. Dr. Carol Stoker – NASA/Ames...

DESICO has a solution to some of the regulatory problems in the cryptocurrency market, especially in the area of fraudulent ICOs. 2018 is referred to by some as “the year of regulation”, with...

The Energy Information Administration provides its monthly energy report which details historical and current US energy usage and emissions. US overall emissions are below the yearly amount in 1993....

Esprezzo is a blockchain middleware company based out of the Cayman Island, Boston and San Francisco. The project was borne out of pain points in other projects. Remy Carpentino previously built a...

Amazon shares reached $2050 and the company passed $1 trillion in market value. Apple is at $1.1 trillion in market value. Microsoft is at $853 billion. Google (Alphabet) is at $840 billion. Facebook...

There is a NASA review of the resources available on the Mars and the Moon and development of machines for construction on the moon and Mars. Lunar Regolith Resources and their Uses • Lunar oxygen:...

Dr. John Callas, NASA/JPL provides an update on NASA Exoplanet work. This was at the 21st Annual International Mars Society Convention, held at the Pasadena Convention Center in Southern California...

Dr. Jeff Volosin, NASA Goddard describes the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The first month of orbiting space telescope data has just been dumped. 1500 transit events have been...

Planets that are twice as far away as Earth appear 16 times dimmer since the intensity of sunlight weakens by a factor of four going out and by another four times coming back. If Planet 9 is at an...

Craig Davidson gave a talk in 2017 about Improving the SpaceX Mars Colonization Plans. Make a moon and Mars capable bulldozer. Replace steel with titanium-aluminum alloy. Use electric battery...

Nuclear bomb powered spaceships are technically feasible and could be built. The mass of the spaceships would have been like the submarines, destroyers and aircraft carriers of today. 200-1000 ton...

The second SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch will be in December, 2018 or January 2019. The next Falcon Heavy will be using the upgraded Block 5 boosters. There are 8 to 10 launches remaining on SpaceX’s...

Here are three papers about going hundreds to millions of times beyond radiative heat transfer beyond the blackbody limit. Nanoletters – Giant Enhancement in Radiative Heat Transfer in Sub-30...

The Koenigsegg Agera RS currently is one of the fastest cars in the world after it reached speeds of 278 mph. The Koenigsegg One:1, named for its equal power-to-weight ratio, also packs 1,341...

The Delaware Aqueduct is the longest tunnel that is currently in use. It was completed in 1945 and is 85 miles (135 kilometers) long. Metro rail and rail tunnels in Asia and Europe have reached 37.5...

Carbon nanotube bundles are becoming a feasible and economically convenient solution for the realization in our time of super bridges, such as those required across the Straits of Bab al Mandab,...

Shizuoka University and contractor Obayashi aim to launch two small (10 sq cm) satellites connected by a 10-meter steel cable from the International Space Station. This small cube sat space tether...

Cumulative CO2 emissions from 2015 onwards may not exceed 424 billion tons of carbon and that the point of no return (PNR) is 2035 for the policy scenario where the share of renewable and nuclear...

Iran is launching a cryptocurrency backed by its national fiat currency the Rial. Transactions will be recorded on a private blockchain based on open-source Hyperledger Fabric technology. The Central...

Reaction Engines of the UK could be part of a winning group of bidders for open-ended hypersonic weapons development. They have proven an innovative pre-cooling system which does not require the...

The US military is looking at open-ended hypersonic weapons development. There are already contracts for several air-launched hypersonic weapons, ground launched hypersonic weapons,...

Below is chart of world CO2 emissions needed to maintain various temperatures. The RCP2.6 is the world CO2 diet for definitely staying below 2 degrees celsius of warming and having a shot at 1 degree...

India imported 4.8 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in June, an increase of 10 percent from a year earlier, according to data from shipping and industry sources, with the top three suppliers...

Venezuela was producing oil at about 2.6 million barrels per day in 2015. OPEC estimates Venezuela produced 1.278 million barrels per day in July. This is down from 2.15 million barrels per day in...

India internet is dominated by American technology giants. Facebook’s WhatsApp is the most popular app on phones. Virtually every smartphone runs on Google’s Android system. YouTube is the favorite...

The Lowy Institute looks at economic, cultural, military and other factors of power in Asia. They also projected the GDP in purchasing power parity and military spending and workforce levels. Those...

Researchers using ground-based telescopes have detected the chemical signatures of water deep beneath the surface of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. Jupiter is a gas giant that contains more than twice the...

CRISPR gene editing has stopped the progression of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) in dogs, according to a study by UT Southwestern that provides a strong indication that a lifesaving treatment may...

Ian Bremmer, President of the Eurasian Group presents his theory that there has been a global backlash against the establishment, immigration and globalization as a global trend. He also indicates...

China became number two in military spending in 2006 and India will become the number three military spender in 2019. In total from 2006 to 2018, China has spend about three times as much as Russia...

The US defence budget is about three times as large as China’s. China’s military spending was three times more than India in 2017. China percentage of GDP spent on defence was less than...

Russia has stopped development of the Proton M rocket. Russia had indicated a month ago that they were giving up on commercial space launch. Russia cannot compete with SpaceX or China in launch...

The F-22 is considered the best fighter in the world. It was cancelled after about 200 were built because of the cost to build them. However, the F-35 has turned out to be even more expensive for the...

Robert Zubrin made his presentation to the Mars Society in 2018. A vibrant space program will inspire millions of children to study science and technology so that they can be a space pioneer....

SpaceX plans to live out of the BFS ships initially on Mars and then build out the facilities (habitation, power systems, mining and landing pads). The SpaceX BFS (Big Falcon Spaceship) would land on...

UCLA created a double layer solar cell by spraying a thin layer of perovskite onto a commercially available solar cell. The solar cell that forms the bottom layer of the device is made of a compound...