Alternative Energies Update

A new technique allows carbon dioxide to be turned into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel:

http://www.physorg.com/news178203219.html

Artificial Intelligence Update

A Blue Gene supercomputer simulation exceeds the scale of a cat's cortex:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/news/frame.html?main=/news/news_single.html?id%3D11411

This is disputed by a rival trying to also reverse-engineer the human brain:

http://www.nytimes.com/external/idg/2009/11/24/24idg-ibm-cat-brain-simulation-dismissed-as-hoax-by-rival-39598.html

Artificial Intelligence Update

It may be possible to generate consciousness with as few as a few thousand nerve cells:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091117124009.htm

Computing Update

The DoE is working to develop a supercomputer 1,000 times more powerful than today's speed leader (Jaguar, at 2.3 petaflops) by 2018:

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9140928/Supercomputers_with_100_million_cores_coming_by_2018

Alternative Energies Update

Batteries that harness the decay of radioactive isotopes to produce a low-powered electric current (betavoltaics) promise a 25-year lifespan:

http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/23959/

Nanotechnology Update

Researchers have combined the self-assembly ability of DNA with the electronic abilities of carbon nanotubes, suggesting a way to develop self-assembling nanoscale circuits:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091110112440.htm

Cybernetics Update

New implantable sensor can be powered by a wireless source up to a meter away:

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/23878/?a=f

Cybernetics Update

Musings on the rapidly arriving enhancements to the human species:

http://www.oxfordtoday.ox.ac.uk/2009-10/v22n1/01.shtml

Cybernetics Update

An update on the SmartHand bionic hand, which is capable of transmitting feeling:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091104132708.htm

Nanotechnology Update

Carbon nanotubes, which have so many powerful and unique qualities, can now be processed in bulk for industrial purposes:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091102172024.htm

Alternative Energies Update

Japan plans to build a space-based solar power station to beam energy down to Earth by 2030:

http://www.physorg.com/news176879161.html

Transportation Update

Another milestone in the development of a space elevator is reached as a company wins the $900,000 prize for completing a laser-powered climber:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18122-space-elevator-wins-900000-nasa-prize.html