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Despite 50 years of research on high-power microwaves, the us military has yet to produce a usable weapon.

The redbull mission will attempt to transcend human limits. Supported by a team of experts Felix Baumgartner plans to ascend to 120,000 feet in a stratospheric balloon and make a freefall jump rushing toward earth at supersonic speeds before parachuting to the ground.

since months austria is not speaking about anything else ... hope it is over soon :-) seriously: they even had last year Armstrong coming over to discuss with this guy on television (have posted it here) and the whole Red Bull advertisement machinery is working full speed on this ... quite impressive for just a jump ...

if you liked the stratos jump you will like this one :-) (apparently it costed them 1100€ to realise)

There can only be one answer to that... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGGxHs02zSs&feature=related [Edit] P.S. No info on how much the production costed...

Of any interest to space as such?

Fantastic! You would love my proposal to host an artist in residence in the team :-)

A Canadian man who was believed to have been in a vegetative state for more than a decade, has been able to tell scientists that he is not in any pain.

created by a Dutch artist :)

Any idea how?

It seems like he just recreates in the room the right combination of temperature and humidity and than with a fog machine he generates the cloud ... I thought he could be a nice candidate for the artist in residence :)

Crowdsourcing space debris monitoring

Great work from my former colleagues in Montreal. For more information (in french, sorry) please click on: http://www.nouvelles.umontreal.ca/recherche/sciences-technologies/20121114-perdue-dans-lespace-des-astronomes-lont-enfin-trouvee.html

Nice! How much dark matter still left to find?

A short article about Saul Griffith and his R&D company Otherlab. Pretty much halfway between Mythbusters and the ACT.

Rocket science!

Doesn't really sound sexy, but this is of utmost importance for next generation grids for renewable energy.

I agree on the significance indeed - a small boost also for my favourite Desertec project ... Though their language is a bit too "grandiose": "ABB has successfully designed and developed a hybrid DC breaker after years of research, functional testing and simulation in the R&D laboratories. This breaker is a breakthrough that solves a technical challenge that has been unresolved for over a hundred years and was perhaps one the main influencers in the 'war of currents' outcome. The 'hybrid' breaker combines mechanical and power electronics switching that enables it to interrupt power flows equivalent to the output of a nuclear power station within 5 milliseconds - that's as fast as a honey bee takes per flap of its wing - and more than 30 times faster than the reaction time of an Olympic 100-meter medalist to react to the starter's gun! But its not just about speed. The challenge was to do it 'ultra-fast' with minimal operational losses and this has been achieved by combining advanced ultrafast mechanical actuators with our inhouse semiconductor IGBT valve technologies or power electronics (watch video: Hybrid HVDC Breaker - How does it work). In terms of significance, this breaker is a 'game changer'. It removes a significant stumbling block in the development of HVDC transmission grids where planning can start now. These grids will enable interconnection and load balancing between HVDC power superhighways integrating renewables and transporting bulk power across long distances with minimal losses. DC grids will enable sharing of resources like lines and converter stations that provides reliability and redundancy in a power network in an economically viable manner with minimal losses. ABB's new Hybrid HVDC breaker, in simple terms will enable the transmission system to maintain power flow even if there is a fault on one of the lines. This is a major achievement for the global R&D team in ABB who have worked for years on the challeng

source of inspiration for visualization of complex networks