Changing the Future of Nuclear Power

In an exciting step toward a cleaner energy future, the world's first coal-to-nuclear power plant has broken ground in Kemmerer, Wyoming.

This innovative project, led by Bill Gates' company TerraPower, is set to be the most advanced nuclear facility on the planet, according to Electrek and a recent appearance by Gates on Face the Nation.


The Natrium demonstration plant will be a fully functioning commercial power plant, designed to be much safer and produce far less waste than conventional nuclear reactors.

What's more, it's being built on the site of a retiring coal plant, with plans to hire many of the skilled workers from the old facility.

This groundbreaking project has the potential to be a real win-win for the community and the environment. Not only will it provide 200-250 long-term jobs, but at the peak of construction, it will create 1,600 jobs, giving a major boost to the local economy.

Even better, the Natrium plant is designed to work seamlessly with renewable energy sources. It features a unique molten salt-based storage system that allows it to ramp up power output when needed, such as during peak demand times or when the sun isn't shining and wind isn't blowing.      READ MORE...

Einstein Ring Seen by James Webb Telescope

A massive galaxy (blue dot) warps the light emitted by an active black hole (orange dots) in a phenomenon called gravitational lensing. | Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA

A beautiful, "bejeweled" halo of warped light generated by a monster black hole takes center stage in one of the latest James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) images. The luminous loop, which is strikingly similar to an "Einstein ring," is adorned by four bright spots — but not all of them are real.

The star-studded halo in the new image is made up of light from a quasar — a supermassive black hole at the heart of a young galaxy that shoots out powerful energy jets as it gobbles up enormous amounts of matter. This quasar, previously known to scientists, is named RX J1131-1231 and is located around 6 billion light-years from Earth in the constellation Crater, according to the European Space Agency (ESA).

China's Rifle Carrying Robot Dogs

It looks like something out of the dystopian show “Black Mirror,” but it’s just the latest adaptation of robotics for the modern battlefield.

During recent military drills with Cambodia, China’s military showed off a robot dog with an automatic rifle mounted on its back, essentially turning man’s best (electronic) friend into a killing machine.

“It can serve as a new member in our urban combat operations, replacing our (human) members to conduct reconnaissance and identify (the) enemy and strike the target,” a soldier identified as Chen Wei says in a video from state broadcaster CCTV.

The two-minute video made during the China-Cambodia “Golden Dragon 2024” exercise also shows the robot dog walking, hopping, lying down and moving backwards under the control of a remote operator.

In one drill, the rifle-firing robot leads an infantry unit into a simulated building. The latter part of the video also shows an automatic rifle mounted under a six-rotor aerial drone, illustrating what the video says is China’s “variety of intelligent unmanned equipment.”     READ MORE...

NASA's Proposed Plasma Rocket

The future of space travel depends on our ability to reach celestial pit stops faster and more efficiently. As such, NASA is working with a technology development company on a new propulsion system that could drop off humans on Mars in a relatively speedy two months’ time rather than the current nine month journey required to reach the Red Planet.

NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program recently selected six promising projects for additional funding and development, allowing them to graduate to the second stage of development. 

The new “science fiction-like concepts,” as described by John Nelson, NIAC program executive at NASA, include a lunar railway system and fluid-based telescopes, as well as a pulsed plasma rocket.

The potentially groundbreaking propulsion system is being developed by Arizona-based Howe Industries. To reach high velocities within a shorter period of time, the pulsed plasma rocket would use nuclear fission—the release of energy from atoms splitting apart—to generate packets of plasma for thrust.   READ MORE...

New Yacht Doubles as a Submarine

A traditional yacht won’t do anymore. Now you need one that can dive deep underwater.

Migaloo is now taking orders for a luxury submersible superyacht called the M5 that most multi-billionaires can only dream of owning. The company is asking 10 figures for the seacraft limiting its clientele to the richest of the rich.

The M5 is for the multi-billionaire who doesn’t want to just cruise the seven seas, but wants to see what’s underneath them as well. The seacraft measures 544 feet end to end and is 75 feet wide, giving it enough room for a maximum of 20 guests and 40 crew members. It has a range of more than 9,300 miles and can travel at speeds of up to 20 knots when surfaced and 12 knots underwater. It can also descend to a depth of 820 feet and then stay there for up to four weeks.   READ MORE...

A New Way to Clean up Air Pollution

Carbon capture — commonly thought of as the use of technology to remove carbon dioxide from the air — is a hotly debated topic.

Though the U.S. Department of Energy committed $131 million to various carbon capture projects, opponents claim that focus on carbon capture distracts from other, more effective strategies for combating our warming planet.

Now, an MIT research team may have found a way to make everybody happy: by removing carbon dioxide from the world’s oceans.

In a paper published in the journal Energy & Environmental Science, six MIT engineers have detailed a comprehensive plan for cleansing seawater of carbon dioxide.

The process utilizes two asymmetrical electrochemical cells consisting of silver and bismuth electrodes. The first cell releases protons into the water that converts to carbon dioxide that is then collected by a vacuum. The second cell then returns the seawater to a more basic state before releasing it back into the ocean, free from carbon dioxide.  READ MORE...

Magic Balls & the US Power Grid

High-voltage power lines in the United States will soon be monitored by “magic balls” from Norway.

Heimdall Power is rolling out unique technology in the form of sphere-shaped sensors that have increased power-line capacity by 30% in Europe, according to a story on the tech from Electrek.

Better yet, early users of the sensors are reporting that they are saving money because transmission lines are better utilized in their networks.

“This summer … We were able to disconnect one of two parallel lines and ‘overload’ the other because we had full control of the temperature,” Trond Are Bjørnvold, department manager of Network Development at Arva in Norway, said in a Heimdall press release.  READ MORE...

EIGHT-Billion-Year-Old Radio Signal Reaches Earth

Astronomers have detected a mysterious blast of radio waves that have taken 8 billion years to reach Earth. The fast radio burst is one of the most distant and energetic ever observed.

Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, are intense, millisecond-long bursts of radio waves with unknown origins. The first FRB was discovered in 2007, and since then, hundreds of these quick, cosmic flashes have been detected coming from distant points across the universe.


The burst, named FRB 20220610A, lasted less than a millisecond, but in that fraction of a moment, it released the equivalent of our sun’s energetic emissions over the course of 30 years, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science.

Many FRBs release super bright radio waves lasting only a few milliseconds at most before disappearing, which makes fast radio bursts difficult to observe.

Radio telescopes have helped astronomers trace these quick cosmic flashes, including the ASKAP array of radio telescopes, located on Wajarri Yamaji Country in Western Australia. Astronomers used ASKAP to detect the FRB in June 2022 and determine where it originated.

“Using ASKAP’s array of (radio) dishes, we were able to determine precisely where the burst came from,” said study coauthor Dr. Stuart Ryder, astronomer at Macquarie University in Australia, in a statement. 

“Then we used (the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope) in Chile to search for the source galaxy, finding it to be older and (farther) away than any other FRB source found to date and likely within a small group of merging galaxies.”  READ MORE...

Manipulating Quantum LIght

Scientists stand ready to manipulate quantum light, just as Albert Einstein envisioned in 1916.

Researchers from the University of Sydney and the University of Basel successfully managed to manipulate and identify small numbers of interacting photons—packets of light energy. 

According to the team, this work represents an unprecedented landmark development for quantum technologies.

Stimulated light emission—a theory first proposed by Einstein in 1916 that helps explain how photons can trigger atoms to emit other photons—laid the basis for the invention of the laser (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation). 

It’s long been understood for large numbers of photons, but this new research has allowed scientists to both observe and effect stimulated emission for single photons for the first time. Researchers measured the direct time delay between one photon and a pair of bound photons scattering off a single quantum dot, a type of artificially created atom.

“This opens the door to the manipulation of what we can call ‘quantum light,’” Sahand Mahmoodian, of the University of Sydney School of Physics and joint lead author of a research paper published in Nature Physics, says in a news release. 

“This fundamental science opens the pathway for advances in quantum-enhanced measurement techniques and photonic quantum computing.  READ MORE...

Young Professionals Leaving California and New York

Young professionals who make more than $100,000 have started to flee California and New York, and the prices that go with them.

Instead, they’re going home, according to a study done by SmartAsset. In fact, analysis by the Census Bureau and Harvard University earlier this year found that 80% of young adults now live less than 100 miles from where they grew up.

Looking at adults under 35 who earn $100,000-plus per year, SmartAsset examined the inflow and outflow of wealthy young professionals from state to state between 2019 and 2020: 

Where did they leave? 

And where did they go?

It’s time to cue up the map app and take a closer look.

Don't miss
A TikToker paid off $17,000 in credit card debt by cash stuffing

Chances are good you're overpaying for home insurance. Here's how to spend less on peace of mind

Texas
In 2019-2020, Texas ranked the most popular destination. Roughly 15,000 came into the state and only about 11,200 left for a net inflow of about 3,800, according to SmartAsset.  READ MORE...