Should We Colonise the Moon? Agnes Meyer-Brandis: Moon Goose Colony, Pollinaria, 2011 On Saturday i went to The Arts Catalyst's Open Think Tank Late Breakfast, the round table discussion was part of a series of events that frame the exhibition Republic of the Moon. Both were very good. The exhibition and the panel, that is. The round table, orchestrated by artists in residence Sue Corke and Hagen Betzwieser from We Colonised the Moon, explored the idea of moon colonisation from the perspective of science, politics, theology, philosophy, and art. Panel 'Should We Colonise the Moon? The first speaker was Ian Crawford, Professor of Planetary Science and Astrobiology at Birkbeck College, University of London. Crawford started by answering the question Should We Colonise the Moon? The caveats are: - The colonization should be an international endeavour (we don't want another Cold War space race); - It should be regulated. Liliane Lijn, moonmeme The moon's surface area is roughly 10% bigger than Africa.
Incredible Technology: Inflatable Aircraft Could Cruise Venus Skies Editor's Note: In this weekly series, SPACE.com explores how technology drives space exploration and discovery. A big robotic airship could ply the skies of Venus for up to a year, giving scientists an unprecedented look at Earth's hellishly hot "sister planet," the craft's developers say. For the past year, engineers at aerospace firms Northrop Grumman and L'Garde have been working on an unmanned concept vehicle called the Venus Atmospheric Maneuverable Platform. Using a mixture of powered flight and passive floating, VAMP could stay aloft for long periods, collecting a variety of data about Venus and its atmosphere. Further, no big breakthroughs are required to get VAMP — which remains in the design phase — up and running, team members say. "There are no major technology unknowns," Northrop Grumman's Kristen Griffin told SPACE.com in December at the American Geophysical Union's annual fall meeting in San Francisco. Planet Venus: Quiz Yourself on Venus Facts 0 of 10 questions complete
Thorium-based nuclear power Thorium-based nuclear power is nuclear reactor-based electrical power generation fueled primarily by the fission of the isotope uranium-233 produced from the fertile element thorium. According to proponents, a thorium fuel cycle offers several potential advantages over a uranium fuel cycle—including much greater abundance on Earth, superior physical and nuclear fuel properties, and reduced nuclear waste production. However, development of Thorium power has significant start-up costs. Proponents also cite the lack of weaponization potential as an advantage of thorium, while critics say that development of breeder reactors in general (including thorium reactors that are breeders by nature) increase proliferation concerns. A nuclear reactor consumes certain specific fissile isotopes to make energy. Uranium-235, purified (i.e. After studying the feasibility of using thorium, nuclear scientists Ralph W. Background and brief history[edit] Possible benefits[edit] Possible disadvantages[edit]
Net neutrality is half-dead: Court strikes down FCC’s anti-blocking rules The Federal Communication Commission's net neutrality rules were partially struck down today by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which said the Commission did not properly justify its anti-discrimination and anti-blocking rules. Those rules in the Open Internet Order, adopted in 2010, forbid ISPs from blocking services or charging content providers for access to the network. Verizon challenged the entire order and got a big victory in today's ruling. The court left part of the Open Internet Order intact, however, saying that the FCC still has "general authority" to regulate how broadband providers treat traffic. The FCC got itself into trouble with some wishy-washy rulemaking. The 81-page ruling (PDF) today states the following: [T]he Commission has established that section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 vests it with affirmative authority to enact measures encouraging the deployment of broadband infrastructure.
Neuro Cars to Be Driven by Thought, Mood and Emotion Kevin SamsonActivist Post The heavy global investment in neuroscience has been shown to have put an emphasis on military-level mind control and narrative psyops. As is typical, military research is beginning to trickle down in to the consumer market with an array of inexpensive devices that promise the ability to track brainwaves for a variety of applications. Naturally, the narrative being put forth to convince people to have their minds invaded focuses on safety and convenience. Nissan recently unveiled its Nismo smart watch that can monitor a driver's biometric information. The watch and car will be in constant communication, your car can update you via your watch whenever it needs an oil change or its tires rotated. What’s more it’s not just monitoring the car – it’s monitoring your vital signs, your heart rate, brainwave activity and skin temperature, allowing you to see how much adrenaline you worked up doing your best track, as well as improving safety. Yes, rather awesome.
Exciting MIT droplet discovery could turbocharge power plants, airships and more Top engineers at MIT say they have come across a handy effect which could seriously boost the efficiency of a critical piece of kit used in many important technologies. The piece of kit in question is the humble water condenser, which has been in use for hundreds of years: James Watt introduced it to the earliest steam engines, turning them from inefficient curiosities to the motors which powered the Industrial Revolution. Today, condensers are critical to the functioning of most powerplants - and if they can be made better, they could greatly strengthen the case for the reintroduction of airships. In essence, a condenser works by exposing steam to a cold surface. In a powerplant, the condenser is attached to the exhaust end of the turbines which drive the generators. What the MIT boffins have found is a way of getting water droplets to jump off the cold pipes in the condenser and fall into the sump more quickly than they otherwise would, clearing room for new droplets to form. Bootnote
7 classic versions of Windows and Mac OS you can run in a browser Microsoft's Windows and Apple's Mac operating systems have inspired truly prodigious amounts of adulation and horror on the part of computer users for about three decades now. Those of us who love technology aren't likely to forget our first desktop operating systems. But the OSes of yore don't have to live only in your memories. While it might be difficult to fire up the first PCs you ever owned today, some computer enthusiasts have made it easy for us to relive what it was like to use them again with almost no effort at all. If you want to be able to use all the features of an old operating system, you'll probably have to find the software and load it in a virtual machine. Windows 1.0: It’s older than the World Wide Web It's the very first version of the most widely used desktop operating system in history, released in 1985. Mac OS System 7 on a virtual Mac Plus This website lets you run Mac OS System 7, released in 1991, on a simulated Macintosh Plus, a computer introduced in 1986.
Self-Driving Pod Cars Are Coming to the U.K. in 2015 | Autopia Photo: Lee Durant/Ultra Global PRT The U.K. town of Milton Keynes isn’t waiting for Google or General Motors to bring autonomous cars to the masses. Instead, it’s enlisting a fleet of 100 self-driving pods to run between the city’s central train station, shopping center, and office parks beginning in 2015. The autonomous pods will carry two passengers, plus shopping bags, luggage, or a baby stroller, and will travel up to 12 mph in dedicated lanes inside the city. The first 100 pods are set to take to the streets in 2015 as part of a £65 million infrastructure investment by Milton Keynes, with a full roll-out of the pods coming in 2017, when passengers will pay £2 per trip and summon their rides through a smartphone app. The pods — similar to those used at Heathrow airport since 2011 — will be fully electric, with motors mounted at each wheel and charging handled by an inductive system set up along the route.
The Future of Nuclear Power Runs on the Waste of Our Nuclear Past Rewinding to Betamax: The path to consumers’ “right to record” In the spring of 1978, the program guide published by a Los Angeles public television station contained more than just schedules; it told viewers when they could watch its programs—and what they were allowed to do with those programs. Some programs, the guide showed, could be taped without restriction. For others, viewers could record as long as they followed certain restrictions, such as deleting the recording within seven days. Still other programs shouldn't be recorded at all, since the copyright holders objected to such recording. “Everyone said the sky is falling. Broadcasters were saying no one would ever advertise if people time-shift.” In all, out of the 107 television programs that would be broadcast on Channel 58 that season, 62 of them authorized some home taping. In 1976, shortly after its Betamax machine hit the market, Sony Corporation had been sued by the studios, which said that home taping was illegal. The Sony Corp. v. Consumer reaction was lukewarm, however.
Tesla Hyperloop Train Can Travel At 4000 mph Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has revealed more information on his top-secret Hyperloop, a vehicle he says will take passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in a mere half hour. The Tesla Motors co-founder called the fast train “a cross between a Concorde and a railgun and an air hockey table” at the D11 Conference earlier this year. The pneumatic tube train system will be “twice as fast as what an average aircraft can do.” Once constructed, the Hyperloop will leave as soon as passengers board as opposed to running on a strict schedule. Some are calling Musk’s idea pure insanity, but others including physicist Brian Dodson of Gizmag, are willing to give the Hyperloop a chance after examining all of its parts. Dodson ruled out two theories that the Hyperloop will use a vacuum tunnel or a launch loop that accelerates vehicles electromagnetically along a cable system. English please?
Fusion reactor achieves tenfold increase in plasma confinement time The promise of fusion is immense. Its fuel is hydrogen plasma, made from the most abundant atom in the Universe, and the major byproduct is helium, an inert gas. In this era with the threat of climate change, clean alternative sources of energy are more necessary than ever. However, even after decades of research and enormous investments of money, scientists haven't succeeded in producing a working nuclear fusion plant. Nevertheless, many feel the potential payoff is worth continued investment. For that reason, work is proceeding apace on the next generation of fusion reactors. Nuclear fusion requires overcoming the electric repulsion between positively charged nuclei until the strong nuclear force exerts itself. Ultimately the problem is one of plasma confinement: holding the nuclei within a limited space at sufficiently high temperature. Fusion requires temperatures greater than 15 million degrees Celsius; many reactors top 100 million degrees.
Spark.io Hackers Make An Open-Source Nest Thermostat Sure it’s not made of metal, nor did it convince Google to give its creators billions of dollars, but dammit if this isn’t a cool hack. The folks at Spark.io, creators of the Spark Core, a unique Wi-Fi development board that allows you to add Wi-Fi controls to Arduino projects, have used their tech to create a Nest-alike with some of the same features as Tony Fadell’s popular wall wart. The team essentially created a web-connected thermostat by cutting out a nice hunk of wood and some plastic and adding a Spark Core and some control logic. Is this high quality stuff? Fair warning – we’re not claiming to have matched the Nest thermostat in a day; far from it. I love projects like these.