Lifeboat Foundation

If the goose that laid the golden egg had a real-life counterpart, it would be C. metallidurans. This hardy little bacterium consumes toxic metals and excretes tiny gold nuggets, but how and why it does so has never been fully understood. Now, German and Australian researchers have peered inside the microorganism and figured out that mechanism.

C. metallidurans has carved out a nice little niche for itself, usually living in soils full of heavy metals, which are toxic to most other microorganisms. But this bacteria has evolved a defense mechanism to help it not only survive but thrive under those conditions, and its ability to turn toxic compounds into gold is well known enough to once earn it a place in an alchemy art installation.

“Apart from the toxic heavy metals, living conditions in these soils are not bad,” says Dietrich H. Nies, an author on the new study. “There is enough hydrogen to conserve energy and nearly no competition. If an organism chooses to survive here, it has to find a way to protect itself from these toxic substances.”

Lasers powerful enough to tear the fabric of matter itself are being developed in a special laboratory in China, potentially giving scientists the chance to create and study experimental environments unlike anything we have on Earth.

The stats behind these lasers are impressive: One has already reached a peak of 5.3 million billion watts or petawatts (PW), which is around 500 times the power of all the world’s electrical grids combined. There are plans to double that figure before 2018 is out, and yet these intense bursts of light last less than one trillionth of a second.

Meanwhile a new 100-PW laser is on the drawing board that could produce a pulse of light capable of ripping electrons and positrons (the antimatter counterparts to electrons) right out of empty space, showing that matter and energy are interchangeable – as Einstein so famously proposed with E=mc^2.

Continue reading “We Could Soon Get Lasers Powerful Enough to Literally Rip Emptiness Apart” »

As an added bonus, these tiny building blocks could even be used to split water, creating a clean-burning and near infinite source of energy.

Planes that can fold their wings to different angles while in the air have the potential to fly faster than their peers, and NASA has recently made headway into their development. The space agency has conducted a series of test flights proving that it can control the wings it designed to move into any position and that they have aerodynamic benefits. While the technology has existed for a long time, it typically requires the use of heavy hydraulic systems. NASA’s version doesn’t need that kind of machinery: it relies on the properties of a temperature-activated material called shape memory alloy instead. Upon being heated, the alloy activates a twisting motion in the tubes serving as the wings’ actuator, moving the wings’ outer portion up to 70 degrees upwards or downwards.

The foldable wings will give typical planes like commercial airliners a way to adapt to different flight conditions. They can give pilots more control over their aircraft and could even lead to more fuel efficient flights. Planes designed to fly at supersonic speeds (faster than the speed of sound), however, will get more out of this technology.

Home builders are starting to see the advantage of incorporating solar and energy storage products directly as part of their offerings. One home builder in Australia decided to make solar arrays and Tesla Powerwalls standard in 50 “knockdown rebuild homes” and claims that ‘it’s like putting around $50,000 in your pocket’. Earlier this week, we reported on how Tesla’s giant Powerpack system in Australia made around $1 million in just a few days through the country’s wholesale electricity market. Homeowners can do the same on a smaller scale if they have a home solar array and a Powerwall, Te…

“EURELETRIC, the association representing the interests of the electricity industry in Europe, has said the region’s power companies intend to be both part of a competitive European economy and reliably powered by clean, carbon-neutral energy.”

Read more

“The historic Hearst cattle ranch has become a hybrid solar farm for Apple’s Cupertino campus.”

Read more

Scientists have discovered an endless energy supply in the naturally occurring Brownian motion of graphene.

Neuroscientist Brie Linkenhoker believes that leaders must be better prepared for future strategic challenges by continually broadening their worldviews.

As the director of Worldview Stanford, Brie and her team produce multimedia content and immersive learning experiences to make academic research and insights accessible and useable by curious leaders. These future-focused topics are designed to help curious leaders understand the forces shaping the future.

Continue reading “How the Science of Decision-Making Will Help Us Make Better Strategic Choices” »