Lifeboat Foundation

A new method of creating laser pulses, more than 1,000 times as powerful as those currently in existence, has been proposed by scientists in the UK and South Korea.

The scientists have used computer simulations in joint research to demonstrate a new way of compressing light to increase its intensity sufficiently to extract particles from vacuum and study the nature of matter. To achieve this the three groups have come together to produce a very special type of mirror—one that not only reflects pulses of light but compresses them in time by a factor of more than two hundred times, with further compression possible.

The groups from the University of Strathclyde, UNIST and GIST propose a simple idea—to use the gradient in the density of plasma, which is fully ionized matter, to cause photons to “bunch,” analogous to the way a stretched-out group of cars bunch up as they encounter a steep hill. This could revolutionize the next generation of lasers to enable their powers to increase by more than one million times from what is achievable now.

Switching to hydrogen would mean big changes to the aviation industry, and possibly cleaner aircraft. But it would require major adjustments.

NEW YORK, Nov 13 (Reuters) — Electric air taxis could be transporting passengers from JFK Airport to downtown Manhattan by 2025 — on quiet, emissions-free journeys that take around seven minutes.

Manufacturer Joby Aviation (JOBY.N) carried out an exhibition flight at the Downtown Manhattan Heliport in New York on Sunday, the city’s first-ever electric air taxi flight and the first time Joby has flown in an urban setting.

The craft can recharge in about five minutes, while passengers are unloading and boarding, said CEO JoeBen Bevirt. The idea is that travelers will book their trip, similar to a rideshare app.

As cars become computers on wheels, the former BlackBerry and Dyson executive is approaching Volvo’s EV transformation with a consumer electronics mindset.

Today, I’m talking to Jim Rowan, the CEO of Volvo Cars.

Volvo’s Jim Rowan, now more than 18 months on the job, has strong opinions on EVs, car software, and autonomy.

Continue reading “Volvo CEO Jim Rowan thinks dropping Apple CarPlay is a mistake” »

As information and communication technologies (ICT) process data, they convert electricity into heat. Already today, the global ICT ecosystem’s CO₂ footprint rivals that of aviation. It turns out, however, that a big part of the energy consumed by computer processors doesn’t go into performing calculations. Instead, the bulk of the energy used to process data is spent shuttling bytes between the memory to the processor.

In a paper published in the journal Nature Electronics, researchers from EPFL’s School of Engineering in the Laboratory of Nanoscale Electronics and Structures (LANES) present a new processor that tackles this inefficiency by integrating data processing and storage onto a single device, a so-called in-memory processor.

They broke new ground by creating the first in-memory processor based on a two-dimensional semiconductor material to comprise more than 1,000 transistors, a key milestone on the path to industrial production.

A radical redesign of commercial aircraft, called the flying-V plane, could increase fuel efficiency by 20%, greatly reducing emissions.

Meet Taiwan’s first homegrown electric pickup truck comes from a familiar source: Foxconn, otherwise known as Hon Hai Technology Group.

“This is the first project of its kind to incorporate a social component into a traffic control system.”

Vehicle pollution is a significant contributor to air pollution worldwide making it both a global and local problem.

A researcher is using machine learning to create traffic light management systems that are socially and environmentally conscious making them ideal at lessening emissions from vehicles.

Continue reading “AI-powered traffic signs can reduce emissions from vehicles” »

Hyundai Motor Group, the world’s third-biggest automaker by sales, plans to build a facility in the U.S. where its air mobility division Supernal will make flying electric taxis intended to be used by commuters.

A prototype of the electric vertical takeoff and landing craft will be shown at CES in Las Vegas in January, Supernal Chief Executive Officer Shin Jaiwon said.

The eVTOL taxi will be capable of flying at 120 miles an hour (190 kph) and have capacity for one pilot and four passengers. December 2024 is the target for a test flight, with ambitions to start commercial service four years later, Shin said in an interview this week with Bloomberg News in Singapore.