The growth of virtual reality has increased demand for more realistic video displays, but existing head-up display helmets are expensive and difficult to use. Gerard de Wit and Joseph Braat at Delft have developed a retinal scanning display (RSD) which uses less power and offers higher resolution than current models. RSD works by adapting the […]
Plessey will join Mitel’s semiconductor division to form one of the world’s top ten manufacturers of communication semiconductors. Plessey is the 11th company that GEC has sold since September 1996, as it tries to focus on its core businesses of defence and aerospace, telecommunications and industrial electronics. Plessey is renowned for its application-specific integrated circuits […]
The broken promise has led to disagreements between the government and the utilities companies that operate nuclear power plants. Underlying the conflict is the fact that the DOE has charged electricity users literally billions of dollars to cover the costs of building a site for the burial of radioactive waste. More than 40 000 tons […]
The Surveyor 98 mission consists of a satellite called Mars Climate Orbiter, and a ground probe, Mars Polar Lander. Both craft will arrive at Mars during 1999. The orbiter will spend two years measuring atmospheric properties – such as volatiles and water vapour – and taking high-resolution photographs of the surface. The lander will search […]
The international thermonuclear experimental reactor (ITER) was intended to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion energy by producing an ignited, energy-yielding plasma for the first time. Construction was scheduled to start after the engineering design activities were completed in July this year. These activities will now be extended for another three years while […]
NASA Safety Advisory Panel presents report The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) has presented its 1997 report. The panel provides a independent assessment of the safety features in NASA’s space program. The group was set up after the Apollo 1 capsule fire in 1967. This year the panel recommends that NASA keeps a closer watch […]
Many businesses are now using desktop computers linked together to replace their old mainframe systems. These machines divide up complex problems into smaller ‘chunks’ which are then fed to the desktop computers. Larger parallel supercomputers – such as the Tera computer – cost millions and are used mostly for defence work. IBM believes with Patent […]
Lane has been director of the NSF since October 1993. Prior to that he was a professor of physics at Rice University in Houston, Texas. He received his BS, MS, and PhD degrees in physics from the University of Oklahoma. Lane has been associated with Rice for most of his career, with leaves of absence […]
The European Commission had proposed a budget of ECU 16.3 billion for the framework, which will run from 1998 to 2002, while the European Parliament had voted for ECU 16.7 billion. The figure agreed by the research ministers is lower than the ECU 14.5 billion budget for the Fourth Framework. The Framework requires approval from […]
At the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting in Philadelphia today, Leroy Dubeck from Temple University presented a lecture on teaching science with the help of science fiction. Science fiction movies are well known for breaking physical laws, and although Scotty, the chief engineer on Star Trek, frequently protested that he […]
