Insanity or Innovation? The World’s Quietest Place
Imagine hearing nothing but your heartbeat, over and over, for seconds, minutes, hours. Eventually, you may get a little crazy, but this is how quiet a room must be in order to test the most…
Author Archives: David Russell Schilling
About David Russell Schilling
David enjoys writing about high technology and its potential to make life better for all who inhabit planet earth.
Small “Modular” Nuclear Reactors Being Tested Around the World
Researchers in Japan are developing a modular nuclear reactor to power large apartment complexes. Small or modular reactors produce up to 500 MW of energy. The Japanese reactor is based on Rapid-L that was intended…
Ireland’s Water Crisis May Be a Sign of Things to Come
The illustration above shows how much water there is on Earth. United States Geological Survery (USGS) scientist Howard Perlman calculated (1) All water (see largest sphere over western U.S., 860 miles (1,384 im) in diameter) (2) Fresh liquid…
Will Elon Musk’s Hyperloop Dream Go Down the Tubes?
Imagine the surprise when 89 year old retired MIT professor Ernst Frankel started receiving calls from reporters about Elon Musk’s hyperloop. In the early 1990’s researchers, led by Frankel, designed a vacuum tube train that…
Wind Turbine De-Icing Technology Keeps Blades Turning in Harsh Conditions
“Necessity is the mother of invention” is as apt for new wind turbine de-icing systems as for those created decades ago for planes. Modern day windmills and their blades are taller and larger than ever…
$1.1 Billion Hypersonic Aircraft’s Engines Get Boost From New Air Cooling Technology
The specter of “hypersonic travel”, or traveling at five times the speed of sound or greater, seems to be just over the horizon. That is, within the next few decades. “New York to London in…
China’s Solar Billionaire Puts His Money on Renewables
China has leapt from relative poverty to a vibrant developing economy and an expanding middle class in just a few short decades. With China expected to overtake the US as the world’s largest economy sometime…
3D Modeling with Hand Gestures
One of the biggest transformations for humanity was the development of writing and printing, which for centuries taught humans to think and work in two dimensions. Two-dimensional words and illustrations, easy to understand, provided a…
Top 10 Major Wind Power Markets in the World
The sun heats Earth’s surface unevenly, creating high and low pressure areas causing wind to move about. For millennia, this has provided ideal conditions for people to sail on the high seas, fly in the…
Cheap Suborbital Space Flights Not Just for the Starry-Eyed Tourist
The era of suborbital space tourism is nearly upon us. But the biggest beneficiaries will be scientists and engineers who will use this capability to further research and development and indirectly benefit society as a…
