The California High-Speed Rail Authority just received environmental approval to connect downtown Los Angeles to the Bay Area with a bullet train capable of reaching speeds of up to 200 miles per hour, KTLA5 reported.
KTLA5 called the approval "a historic milestone in a state notorious for holding up construction projects for environmental review."
The California High-Speed Rail system is an ambitious project that has technically been in the works for decades, but it has progressed in fits and starts. Recently, however, construction began on several parts of the system. The initial segment, connecting Merced to Bakersfield in the Central Valley, could be open as soon as 2030, with much more to follow, KTLA5 reports.
High-speed trains can sometimes get you from point A to point B faster than planes when you factor in the time it takes to move through an airport, with security and boarding. They also produce less noise pollution, lessening their negative impact on surrounding communities. And they are, of course, much cheaper for consumers. READ MORE...
Imagine if a tiny design tweak could prevent some of the worst nuclear accidents imaginable while simultaneously making clean nuclear energy more efficient and affordable.
It sounds too good to be true, right? But that's exactly what a team of researchers may have just accomplished, according to Interesting Engineering.
What they found is that carefully crafting the surface of materials used in nuclear reactors can actually change when and how liquids boil — a discovery with massive implications for reactor safety and performance. When water touches an extremely hot surface, it floats on a layer of its own vapor in what's known as the "Leidenfrost effect."
It was long thought this could only happen above 446 degrees. But by etching a special pattern of microscopic pillars onto the surface, a research team at Virginia Tech demonstrated this effect can start at just 266 degrees. READ MORE...
Scientists and engineers at Quaise Energy, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology spinoffhave made a significant breakthrough in harnessing an abundant, largely untapped energy source beneath our feet using powerful microwave-emitting drills called gyrotrons.
Many energy companies and governments are eyeing geothermal energy — produced by extracting hot water and steam in underground reservoirs heated by Earth's core to generate power — as a way to bolster intermittent energy from solar and wind power.
Diversifying energy sources is also critical to reducing the planet-warming pollution driving extreme weather, worldwide crop failures, and higher energy prices because of increased strain on the grid. A well-rounded renewable energy mix will help lower energy bills while safeguarding people from the increasing threat of natural disasters. READ MORE...
A stellarator may sound like something cooked up in the laboratory of a supervillain, but a breakthrough with this device may help bring us clean fusion energy at an affordable price.
As detailed by Interesting Engineering, a team at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) developed the first stellarator with permanent magnets rather than electromagnets.
In other words, scientists created a device that generates a fusion reaction — the process that powers the sun and other stars — with refrigerator magnets.
"Using permanent magnets is a completely new way to design stellarators," graduate student Tony Qian explained to the online platform. "This technique allows us to test new plasma confinement ideas quickly and build new devices easily." READ MORE...
