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China’s developing a hypersonic weapon that has triple the range of existing Chinese air-to-air missiles. The premise: a ramjet engine that can turn already deadly missiles into weapons that have greater range, maneuverability, and speed. In a May 31 report, the Science and Technology Daily announced that the 4th Research Institute of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) has twice successfully tested a ramjet engine aimed to power air-to-air missiles. Song said the ramjet engine could more than triple the range of Chinese BVRAAMs. The PL-12’s range, for example, could increase from 62 miles to over nearly 200

Globally, more people live in urban areas than in rural areas, with 54 per cent of the world’s population residing in urban areas in 2014. By 2050, 66 per cent of the world’s population is projected to be urban. The world will need to shift to a focus on the degree of urbanization. There will be the same rural definition. There is small towns and suburbs. There is no unified definition small towns where some countries say it is 2500 people or more and other 20,000 people or more. There there will be city dwellers, but there should be splits

A recent study, affiliated with UNIST has engineered a new type of carbon nanomaterials, capable of changing shapes and colors depending on the type of solvents used. Such materials have attracted much attention owing to their unique optical properties and structures. In the study, the joint research team, led by Professor Byung Soo kim and Professor Oh Hoon Kwon has presented a unique design and synthesis of hybrid carbon nanosheets (CNSs), which show a strong solvatochromic behavior with wide color tunability ranging from blue to orange and even to white in various solvents. Hybrid carbon nanosheets (CNSs) in different solvents

Dr Su Metcalfe is a woman who could be on the verge of curing multiple sclerosis. MS, an auto-immune condition which affects 2.3 million people around the world, attacks cells in the brain and the spinal cord, causing an array of physical and mental side effects including blindness and muscle weakness. At the moment there’s no cure, but Su and her company, LIFNano, hope to change that. “Some people get progressive MS, so go straight to the severe form of the disease, but the majority have a relapsing or remitting version,” she says. “It can start from the age of

HERO. LEGEND. KING. Watch Marvel Studio’s Black Panther teaser trailer now. Black panther movie will be out February, 2018.

The Pentagon has their annual report to Congress on the China’s military. The 2017 report is 106 pages long. The Federation of American Scientists have summarized the report. The most sensational nuclear news in the report is the conclusion that China is developing a new strategic nuclear bomber to replace the aging (but upgraded) H-6. If China creates a nuclear strategic bomber sometime in the mid-2020s then it would change China’s nuclear posture into a formal Triad of air-, land- and sea-based nuclear capabilities, similar to U.S. and Russian strategic arsenals. China has an aircraft carrier pier at Hainan Island.

Eight years ago, Ted Adelson’s research group at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) unveiled a new sensor technology, called GelSight, that uses physical contact with an object to provide a remarkably detailed 3-D map of its surface. Now, by mounting GelSight sensors on the grippers of robotic arms, two MIT teams have given robots greater sensitivity and dexterity. The researchers presented their work in two papers at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation last week. In one paper, Adelson’s group uses the data from the GelSight sensor to enable a robot to judge the hardness of

MIT engineers has come up with a much less expensive UAV design that can hover for longer durations to provide wide-ranging communications support. The researchers designed, built, and tested a UAV resembling a thin glider with a 24-foot wingspan. The vehicle can carry 10 to 20 pounds of communications equipment while flying at an altitude of 15,000 feet. Weighing in at just under 150 pounds, the vehicle is powered by a 5-horsepower gasoline engine and can keep itself aloft for more than five days — longer than any gasoline-powered autonomous aircraft has remained in flight, the researchers say. The team

In 2016, Purdue University and Microsoft have signed a five-year agreement to develop a useable quantum computer. Purdue is one of four international universities in the collaboration. Michael Manfra, Purdue University’s Bill and Dee O’Brien Chair Professor of Physics and Astronomy, professor of materials engineering and professor of electrical and computer engineering, will lead the effort at Purdue to build a robust and scalable quantum computer by producing what scientists call a “topological qubit.” The team assembled by Microsoft will work on a type of quantum computer that is expected to be especially robust against interference from its surroundings, a

SureFly is a personal helicopter/VTOL aircraft designed for safe and easy flight. With eight independent motors each driving a single carbon fiber propeller, a backup battery power system, and a ballistic parachute to safely land in the event of emergency, the SureFly provides unparalleled safety for a personal aircraft. SureFly is changing the helicopter industry. Now is the time to discover the affordable, easy-to-pilot, safe answer to personal flight. * Electric Driven Props: 2 props per arm, contra rotating. Eight motors, each driving a single propeller * Piloted Vehicle designed to carry pilot and passenger or pilot and cargo *

Lockheed Martin reports they plan to fly a flight research vehicle (FRV) of the mach 6 hypersonic SR-72 in the early 2020s. They have plans to build an FRV the size of an F-22 that can be flown either manually or remotely. Lockheed Martin reports they plan to fly a flight research vehicle (FRV) of the model in the early 2020s. They have plans to build an FRV the size of an F-22 that can be flown either manually or remotely. If the demo successful then it seems likely a full-sized SR-72 (as big as the SR-71) could be operational

A technology developed by Purdue researchers could provide an “instantly rechargeable” method that is safe, affordable and environmentally friendly for recharging electric and hybrid vehicle batteries through a quick and easy process similar to refueling a car at a gas station. The innovation could expedite the adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles by eliminating the time needed to stop and re-charge a conventional electric car’s battery and dramatically reducing the need for new infrastructure to support re-charging stations. John Cushman, Purdue University distinguished professor of earth, atmospheric and planetary science and a professor of mathematics, presented the research findings “Redox

Zhe Fei pointed to the bright and dark vertical lines running across his computer screen. This nano-image, he explained, shows the waves associated with a half-light, half-matter quasiparticle moving inside a semiconductor. “These are waves just like water waves,” said Fei, an Iowa State University assistant professor of physics and astronomy and an associate of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory. “It’s like dropping a rock on the surface of water and seeing waves. But these waves are exciton-polaritons.” Exciton-polaritons are a combination of light and matter. Like all quasiparticles, they’re created within a solid and have physical properties

Stansberry Churchouse makes a bullish case for China’s future economy. They basically make the case for China to sustain GDP growth of 5% per year from now to 2030 and then 4% per year from 2030-2055. China would then have per capita income equal to what the USA has today. The USA would have about double its per capita income today in 2050. At half the US per capita income then China would be at the level of Italy today. By 2022, McKinsey and other research suggests, more than 75 percent of China’s urban consumers will earn 60,000 to 229,000

The World population is about 7.5 billion today and should reach 10 billion in 2050-2055. Africa’s population is 1.25 billion today and will reach 2.5 billion by 2050. The number of people in the Americas will rise by only 223 million to 1.2 billion. Asia will gain about 900 million to 5.3 billion, while Europe registers a decline from 740 million to 728 million. Oceania (which includes Australia and New Zealand) would rise from 40 million to 66 million. India should have the highest population by 2022. The countries ranked by the highest total births and net annual population increase

The use of graphene as an additive can give mechanical and electrical benefits to composite materials, making them multifunctional. In a novel fermentation method, Graphene Flagship researchers have developed graphene-containing rubber foams with unusual mechanical and electrical behaviors: when stretched, the composite foams expand and become more conductive. These unexpected properties could be promising for use in smart filters and medical devices. Published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, the research was performed by researchers at the University of Perugia, Italy and the University of Trento, Italy, in collaboration with Graphene Flagship partner Queen Mary University of London, UK. The

Adam West, the iconic star of the campy 1960s “Batman” TV series, died Friday at the age of 88 in Los Angeles after a short battle with leukemia. Although he was already immortalized as the Caped Crusader, a younger generation had embraced West for his role voicing the corrupt, crackpot Mayor Adam West in the animated comedy TV series “Family Guy.” The “Batman” series spawned a 1966 movie version and an array of merchandise, including lunchboxes, dolls and toy Batmobiles. Both nights of “Batman” were rated in the top-10 list of shows for the 1965-66 season. But as with any

EU Graphene Flagship researchers from ICFO (The Institute of Photonic Sciences in Barcelona) have shown that it is possible to integrate graphene into a CMOS integrated circuit. In their paper published in the journal Nature Photonics they combine this graphene-CMOS device with quantum dots to create an array of photodetectors, producing a high resolution image sensor. When used as a digital camera this device is able to sense UV, visible and infrared light at the same time. This is just one example of how this device might be used, others include in microelectronics, sensor arrays and low-power photonics. “The development

J.P. Brouwer, along with his father and two brothers at Sunalta Farms in central Alberta, runs the first commercial dairy farm contributing data to the Genome Canada project. One part of the project aims to increase feed efficiency—growing cows as big as possible with as little food as possible—and reduce emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas that traps 30 times more heat per molecule than carbon dioxide. Farming livestock – cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and chickens – contributes around 6 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide) to the atmosphere each year. Farm animals are responsible

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory has two NASA grants. Princeton satellite systems and Princeton Plasma Physics Lab will work on the two projects. Phase I STTRs of $125,000 each will run for one year, at which point we have the opportunity to propose Phase II work up to $750,000. 1. High Efficiency RF Heating for Small Nuclear Fusion Rocket Engines 2. Superconducting Coils for Small Nuclear Fusion Rocket Engines The aim for the fusion drives is to get about 1 kilowatt of power per 2.2 lbs. (1 kilogram) of mass. A 10-megawatt fusion rocket would therefore weigh about 11 tons (10

The U.S. Air Force has grounded 55 of its F-35 Joint Strike Fighters at Arizona’s Luke Air Force base following five incidents in which pilots experienced symptoms of oxygen deprivation. The pilots “reported physiological incidents while flying” but a backup oxygen system turned on, allowing them to land safely.

What new trends will emerge in the next several years with the potential for explosive growth in about five years’ time? The Churchill Club’s most anticipated events of the year: the 19th Annual Top 10 Tech Trends debate provided some answers. Speakers: Mike Abbott, Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers Steve Jurvetson, Partner, DFJ Rebecca Lynn, Co-founder and General Partner, Canvas Ventures Sarah Tavel, Partner, Benchmark Hans Tung, Managing Partner, GGV Capital Masters of Ceremonies: Quentin Hardy, Head of Editorial, Google Cloud Mike Perlis, CEO, Forbes Media Looking ahead to 2022, Jurvetson now envisions a world that extends intelligence to

DARPA’s Near Zero Power RF and Sensor Operations (N-ZERO) program has been working to overcome the power limitations of persistent sensing by developing wireless, event-driven sensing capabilities that would allow physical, electromagnetic and other sensors to remain dormant—effectively asleep yet aware—until an event of interest awakens them. To achieve these goals, the program intends to develop underlying technologies to continuously and passively monitor the environment and activate an electronic circuit only upon detection of a specific signature, such as the presence of a particular vehicle type or radio communications protocol. N-ZERO seeks to exploit the energy in signal signatures to

A subsidiary of SoftBank has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire robotics pioneer Boston Dynamics from Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL, GOOG). The transaction aligns with SoftBank’s investments in paradigm-shifting technologies and its vision of catalyzing the next wave of smart robotics. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Masayoshi Son, Chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp., said, “Today, there are many issues we still cannot solve by ourselves with human capabilities. Smart robotics are going to be a key driver of the next stage of the Information Revolution, and Marc and his team at Boston Dynamics are

DARPA is funding a non-von-Neumann processor called a HIVE — Hierarchical Identify Verify Exploit with $80 million. HIVE is not von Neumann because of the sparseness of its data and its ability to simultaneously perform different processes on different areas of memory simultaneously,” Trung said. “This non-von-Neumann approach allows one big map that can be accessed by many processors at the same time, each using its own local scratch-pad memory while simultaneously performing scatter-and-gather operations across global memory. DARPA’s new arithmetic-processing-unit (APU) optimized for graph analytics plus the new memory architecture chips are specified to use 1,000-times less power than

PolarityTE™, Inc. (NASDAQ: COOL) today announced pre-clinical results demonstrating that the Company’s lead product, SkinTE™, regenerated full-thickness, organized skin and hair follicles in third degree burn wounds. The findings represent the first known successful regeneration of skin and hair in full-thickness swine wound models, the standard animal model for human skin. The Company expects to initiate a human clinical trial evaluating the autologous homologous SkinTE™ construct in the third quarter of 2017. In pre-clinical models of full-thickness burns and wounds, SkinTE™ demonstrated scar-less healing, hair follicle growth, immediate complete wound coverage, and the progressive regeneration of all skin layers including

The Spacex Falcon Heavy will be the most powerful rocket in the world that will be currently flying. There have been more powerful rockets but they are no longer flying. The Falcon heavy will be capable of launching 64 metric tons into Low Earth Orbit. This was relatively recent improvement from improved design and improved engines. Only the Saturn V moon rocket, last flown in 1973, delivered more payload to orbit than Falcon Heavy. The Russian Energia rocket had the capacity to launch 100 tons into low earth but only had two launches which did not launch large payloads. The

Many people who use computers and other digital devices are aware that all the words and images displayed on their monitors boil down to a sequence of ones and zeros. But few likely appreciate what is behind those ones and zeros: microscopic arrays of “magnetic moments” (imagine tiny bar magnets with positive and negative poles). When aligned in parallel in ferromagnetic materials such as iron, these moments create patterns and streams of magnetic bits—the ones and zeros that are the lifeblood of all things digital. These magnetic bits are stable against perturbations, such as from heat, by a form of

Boeing and Huntington Ingalls Industries are teaming on the design and production of Unmanned Undersea Vehicles (UUVs) in support of the U.S. Navy’s Extra Large UUV program. “This partnership provides the Navy a cost-effective, low-risk path to meet the emergent needs that prompted the Navy’s Advanced Undersea Prototyping program,” said Darryl Davis, president, Boeing Phantom Works. “We are combining Boeing’s preeminent UUV maritime engineering team with our nation’s leading shipbuilder and Navy technical services company to get operational vehicles to the Navy years ahead of the standard acquisition process.” Boeing is currently testing its newest and

China plans to spend $360 billion on renewable energy by 2020. China has built the world’s largest floating solar farm with 166,000 panels on a lake created when a nearby mine collapsed. While not an entirely unique idea — similar facilities are working in Japan, the U.K. and Israel — the project’s scale represents a step forward for China in shaping the future of energy. In Anhui, Sungrow’s 40-megawatt solar farm in a district of Huainan city called Panji features panels fixed to floats on the surface of a lake that formed after the ground surrounding an old coal mine

Japanese and German researchers have found evidence that suggests the middle of Earth’s mantle holds as much water as the planet’s oceans. If scientists can prove without doubt that the middle mantle is filled with water, it calls into question theories that suggest water arrived on Earth from comets. An open question for solid-earth scientists is the amount of water in Earth’s interior. The uppermost mantle and lower mantle contain little water because their dominant minerals, olivine and bridgmanite, have limited water storage capacity. In contrast, the mantle transition zone (MTZ) at a depth of 410 to 660 km is

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development has predicted that the global economy is set to grow 3.5 percent in 2017, followed by an increase to 3.6 percent in 2018 as confidence is increasing and investment and trade are picking up from low levels. Although the OECD upped its forecasts for global growth for 2017, it downgraded its estimates for the United States, despite a weaker dollar boosting exports and tax cuts supporting household business investment. The growth forecast for U.S. was downgraded to 2.1 percent this year and 2.4 percent next year, down from estimates in March of 2.4

The US Army has selected the Israeli Trophy APS anti-missile system for the M1 Tank and other military vehicles. The Trophy system, designed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, is the only APS in testing that has seen combat and actually defeated advanced anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) threats. The Army is also evaluating the Israeli-made Iron Fist APS and the U.S.-made Iron Curtain. “We intend to field those to first responding units, and we will eventually field them throughout the force for the entire total Army — Guard, Reserve and active,” Milley said. Trophy intercepts and destroys incoming missiles and rockets

The Air Force has selected SpaceX to launch the secretive X-37B unmanned spaceplane on its fifth mission to orbit, according to Spaceflight Now. The Falcon 9 Upgrade or Full Thrust that will be used is taller and more powerful than previous versions of SpaceX’s primary launch vehicle. The Full Thrust has been launched before, carrying large payloads such as one of the Inmarsat-5 satellites. The Air Force has two X-37Bs, and these reusable, uncrewed orbital vehicles generally spend hundreds of days in orbit at a time. During the craft’s fourth and most recent mission, it orbited the planet for 718

Unit 3 of the Takahama nuclear power plant in Japan’s Fukui prefecture was restarted on June 6, 2017, plant owner Kansai Electric Power Company has announced. Takahama 4 – which had also been kept offline since March 2016 by a court injunction – was restarted last month, joining three other reactors in operation. Kansai said the 830 MWe (net) pressurised water reactor (PWR) was restarted at 2.00pm today and is expected to achieve criticality tomorrow. The company plans to resume electricity generation at Takahama 3 and reconnect it to the grid on 9 June “as the final stage of the

China has several multi-billion dollar city development projects. Nanhui New City plans to attract 800,000 residents and reportedly cost $4.5 billion. Nanhui city illustration Established in April 2017, Xiongan New Area is a redevelopment project planned for Hebei, China. Initially, the city will cover nearly 40 square miles, but eventually it will reach about 80 square miles — over three times the size of Manhattan. Xiongan will take 15 years to build and will have 4.5 million people. Xiongan has $290 billion in funding. The percentage of population living in urban areas was 56.1% in April, 2016, with a target

Lockheed Martin says hypersonic technologies are now sufficiently mature to enable progress towards a flight demonstrator. In March 2016, Lockheed CEO Hewson stated that the company was on the verge of a technological breakthrough that would allow its conceptual SR-72 hypersonic plane to reach Mach 6. A hypersonic demonstrator aircraft the size of an F-22 stealth fighter could be built for less than $1 billion. The 4600mph SR-72 unmanned drone could have a flying prototype in 2018.

China is building three air bases in the Spratlys (Fiery Cross, Subhi and Mischief reef) and another on Woody Island in the Paracels will allow Chinese military aircraft to operate over nearly the entire South China Sea. The same is true of China’s radar coverage, made possible by advanced surveillance/early-warning radar facilities at Fiery Cross, Subi, and Cuarteron Reefs, as well as Woody Island, and smaller facilities elsewhere. China has stopped expanding the reefs and is now working to add military infrastructure to them, the report states. New installations include airfields with runways of at least 8,800 feet, water and

The US Army is testing new guns and ammunition to replace the M4/M16 assault rifles. The 5.56 mm ammunition is not as lethal the in the over 300 meter range where many modern firefights are taking place. SOCOM is also developing polymer ammunition in 6.5 mm to reduce the weight load. Current research is showing polymer 6.5 mm reducing weight by one-third from 7.62 mm, reaching nearly the same weight as conventional brass 5.56 mm. Textron Systems, a private defense industry company, conducted a caliber study using a specially designed .264 (6.5 mm) caliber cartridge which they said resulted in

Tesla had its annual shareholders meeting on June 6, 2017 and there were many big announcements in it. * Tesla is making a big push to expand its supercharger network of fast-charging stations—capable of adding enough charge to drive 170 miles in 30 minute—for Tesla owners. The company plans to double the number of superchargers this year to 10,000 by end of 2017, and add at least 50% more the following year. Tesla says it’s adding “amenities” to certain supercharger stations, although did not give specifics. * Tesla is deploying a new version of its self driving system. Tesla will

In 2016, former Energy Secretary Steven Chu criticized the Clean Power Plan. He did not think energy storage can solve the reliability problems of wind and solar quickly enough, he said Friday, which led him to criticize the Environmental Protection Agency for neglecting nuclear power in its Clean Power Plan. “Even though the Clean Power Plan says we need nuclear and maintains the same ratio, they give no credit for it,” Chu said during a debate at the Silicon Valley Energy Summit hosted by Stanford University. “We should make a Clean Power Plan that’s based on clean energy, not renewable

According to a survey of more than 350 artificial intelligence researchers there is a 50 per cent chance that machines will outperform humans in all tasks within 45 years. AI will master many activities a lot sooner, though. Machines are predicted to be better than us at translating languages by 2024, writing high-school essays by 2026, driving a truck by 2027, working in retail by 2031, writing a bestselling book by 2049 and surgery by 2053. In fact, all human jobs will be automated within the next 120 years, say respondents. Arxiv – When Will AI Exceed Human Performance? Evidence

A researcher with the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at UT Dallas has designed a novel computing system made solely from carbon that might one day replace the silicon transistors that power today’s electronic devices. “The concept brings together an assortment of existing nanoscale technologies and combines them in a new way,” said Dr. Joseph S. Friedman, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at UT Dallas who conducted much of the research while he was a doctoral student at Northwestern University. The resulting all-carbon spin logic proposal, published by lead author Friedman and several collaborators in

The number of children dying worldwide of diarrhea fell by a third between 2005 and 2015, researchers have found. The study says better access to clean water and sanitation is key, with fewer weak and malnourished children becoming infected. New vaccines have also had a positive impact. However, diarrhea is still the fourth-biggest killer of children globally, with almost 500,000 a year dying before their fifth birthday. This figure could well be a significant under-estimate because of the lack of data in sub-Saharan Africa, where most cases occur. Preventable and treatable Diarrhea is also indirectly responsible for large numbers of

Since August 2016, Karmazin’s company, Ambrosia, has been transfusing people aged 35 and older with plasma – the liquid component of blood – taken from people aged between 16 and 25. So far, 70 people have been treated, all of whom paid Ambrosia to be included in the study. Blood biomarkers None of the people in the study had cancer at the time of treatment, however Karmazin’s team looked at the levels of certain proteins called carcinoembryonic antigens. These chemicals are found in the blood of healthy people at low concentrations, but in larger amounts these antigens can be a

The Oceaneos Marine Research Foundation of Vancouver, Canada, says that it is seeking permits from the Chilean government to release up to 10 tonnes of iron particles 130 kilometers off the coast of Coquimbo as early as 2018. But Chilean scientists are worried because the organization grew out of a for-profit company, Oceaneos Environmental Solutions of Vancouver, that has sought to patent iron-fertilization technologies. The Oceaneos foundation has accused the scientists of improperly classifying its work as geoengineering, rather than ocean restoration. * Iron in some parts of the Ocean are at 2-4 parts per trillion when it should be

Spacex unmanned Falcon rocket blasted off carrying a Dragon capsule that made a station delivery nearly three years ago. The refurbished Dragon capsule is the first returning craft since NASA’s now-retired shuttles. The first-stage booster flown Saturday afternoon was brand new, and as is now the custom, returned to Cape Canaveral following liftoff for a successful vertical touchdown. The plan is to launch the booster again, instead of junking it in the ocean as so many other rocket makers do. Just two months ago, SpaceX launched its first recycled booster on a satellite mission. Another flight featuring a reused booster