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Dec 30, 2015
These Technologies Will Shift the Global Balance of Power in the Next 20 Years
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: business, economics, habitats, solar power, sustainability, transportation
Governments, businesses, and economists have all been caught off guard by the geopolitical shifts that happened with the crash of oil prices and the slowdown of China’s economy. Most believe that the price of oil will recover and that China will continue its rise. They are mistaken. Instead of worrying about the rise of China, we need to fear its fall; and while oil prices may oscillate over the next four or five years, the fossil-fuel industry is headed the way of the dinosaur. The global balance of power will shift as a result.
LED light bulbs, improved heating and cooling systems, and software systems in automobiles have gradually been increasing fuel efficiency over the past decades. But the big shock to the energy industry came with fracking, a new set of techniques and technologies for extracting more hydrocarbons from the ground. Though there are concerns about environmental damage, these increased the outputs of oil and gas, caused the usurpation of old-line coal-fired power plants, and dramatically reduced America’s dependence on foreign oil.
Continue reading “These Technologies Will Shift the Global Balance of Power in the Next 20 Years” »
Dec 30, 2015
LA’s Gas Leak Is a Global Disaster
Posted by Sean Brazell in categories: climatology, energy
One of the worst environmental disasters of the decade is currently underway in a quiet community 25 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Putrid, methane-rich natural gas has been spewing into the air at an estimated rate of nearly 1,300 metric tons per day for over two months. Experts are calling it the climate version of the BP oil spill, and the leak isn’t going to be contained anytime soon.
Natural gas is often touted as a cleaner energy source than oil or coal, because of the lower greenhouse gas emissions associated with burning it. But as this disaster highlights, there are insidious risk to natural gas production. Coupled with weak regulation, they can make this energy source as dirty as the fossil fuels it’s meant to replace.
Dec 30, 2015
Two Steps Closer to a Quantum Internet
Posted by Andreas Matt in categories: internet, quantum physics
Einstein’s “spooky action at a distance” can reach as far as low earth orbit, and twisted light could boost quantum communication bandwidth.
Dec 30, 2015
Frighteningly Enormous Solar Flare Update: White House Prepares For Coronal Mass Ejection, Potential Catastrophic Space Weather Events
Posted by Sean Brazell in category: space
While many people are looking back on pivotal events of 2015 — famous deaths, terrorism, and the horse and pony Republican presidential debates — a disturbing solar flare report is trending again.
Recently, the White House made preparations for unpredictable and severe space weather events. And much of the clamor focuses on the possibility of a catastrophic coronal mass ejection striking Earth, citing an AOL latest news story.
According to a Newsy video report (below), an intense solar flare narrowly missed a direct hit with Earth by a matter of days in 2012. NASA said an intense CME launched towards the planet at speeds of over 6 million miles per hour.
Dec 30, 2015
Powerful Solar Storm to Hit Earth Before New Year’s Eve
Posted by Sean Brazell in category: space
Here’s one way to end the year on a bright note.
A powerful solar storm set to slam Earth today will make for stunning views of the Northern Lights just before New Year’s Eve. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center said the “strong” storm could allow the Northern Lights to dip as far south as Oregon and Illinois.
Dec 30, 2015
The prose at the end of the universe — By Aaron Souppouris | Engadget
Posted by Odette Bohr Dienel in categories: bioengineering, genetics, human trajectories, media & arts, space travel
https://soundcloud.com/kelly-tang-9/sets/nasa-sounds-of-earth
“Programming ‘indestructible’ bacteria to write poetry.”
Dec 30, 2015
Robot Car GIF — Find & Share on GIPHY
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: robotics/AI, transportation
This is Disney’s wall-riding robot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9P9_QM8cN8
Discover & Share this Robot Car GIF with everyone you know. GIPHY is how you search, share, discover, and create GIFs.
Dec 30, 2015
We Must Cut the Military and Transition to a Science-Industrial Complex
Posted by Zoltan Istvan in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs, economics, life extension, military, transhumanism
My new article for Vice Motherboard. It’s about one of the biggest ideas I believe in–the necessity to spend more money directly on science goals instead of bomb making and defense:
It just so happens that there is another way—a method that would satisfy liberals and conservatives alike. Instead of always spending more on our military, we could transition our nation and its economy into a scientific-industrial complex.
There’s compelling reason to do this beyond what meets the eye. Transhumanist technology is starting to radically change human life. Many experts expect to be able to stop aging and conquer death for human beings in the next 25 years. Others, like myself, see humans merging with machines and replacing our every organ with bionic ones.
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Dec 30, 2015
Congress wants NASA to build a deep space habitat for astronauts, and finish it
Posted by Klaus Baldauf in categories: habitats, space
Part of NASA’s recently passed budget plan laid out by Congress urges the space agency to develop a prototype deep space habitat by as early as 2018.
