Google's SolarCity’s boosts its residential solar power model by $300 million

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/02/26/3627172/google-solarcity-big-solar-fund/

I've invested $5K in SolarCity myself.

Solar Really Can Be Cheaper Than Coal

http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Solar-Energy/Solar-Really-Can-Be-Cheaper-Than-Coal.html

"Swanson’s law...stipulates that for every doubling of global manufacturing capacity, the dollar per watt cost of PV cells falls by 20 percent."

Volvo vows to put first self-driving cars in customers' hands by 2017

https://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/volvo-vows-the-first-self-driving-car-in-customers--hands-by-2017-202033465.html

New Paper-like Material Could Boost Electric Vehicle Batteries

http://ucrtoday.ucr.edu/27263

Scientists find strongest natural material

http://www.port.ac.uk/uopnews/2015/02/18/scientists-find-strongest-natural-material/

Could dark matter be responsible for periodic mass extinctions on Earth?

http://www.kurzweilai.net/could-dark-matter-cause-some-mass-extinctions-and-geologic-upheavals?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=05a1b4a493-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-05a1b4a493-281903081

Virtual reality could be indistinguishable from reality in 10 years

http://www.engadget.com/2015/02/19/virtual-reality-2015-tim-sweeney/

New nanotech material: the "buckybowl"

http://www.sissa.it/sites/default/files/images/documents/form_e_documenti_linkati/2015_02_16_Corannulaene/Mezze%20palle%20per%20circuiti%20molecolari-2-eng.pdf

Get ready for $10 oil

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ready-10-oil-230002605.html

Although I'm glad petro-nations are weakened by cheap oil, I think this is only bad news for alternative energy development and adoption. It won't stop it...but it could slow it down by years.

Ooops. Updated to proper link.

Elon Musk's massive battery factory could come online well ahead of schedule

http://www.hybridcars.com/gigafactory-could-open-ahead-of-schedule-in-2016/

DARPA aims to create a prosthetic hand that moves and provides sensation

http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-prosthetic-hand-that-moves-and-provides-sensation-just-like-a-natural-hand?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=2b56ba3a3d-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-2b56ba3a3d-281903081

250 Years of Planetary Detection in 60 Seconds

It starts slow, but watch:

http://d1jqu7g1y74ds1.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/XyWqp4T.gif

TESLA: In 6 months we will start producing battery packs that can power a home

http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-in-6-months-we-will-start-producing-battery-packs-that-can-power-a-home-2015-2

and

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2015/02/12/this-new-tesla-battery-will-power-your-home-and-maybe-the-electric-grid-too/

Scientists Have Figured Out a Way to Convert Solar Energy Into Liquid Fuel

http://time.com/3706444/solar-energy-liquid-fuel/?xid=newsletter-brief

Ray Kurzweil's predictions, then and now

http://www.inquisitr.com/1805304/ray-kurzweil-predicts-some-fantastic-things-coming-in-the-next-25-years/

Seven Reasons Cheap Oil Can't Stop Renewables Now

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-30/seven-reasons-cheap-oil-can-t-stop-renewables-now

What Apple Just Did in Solar Is a Really Big Deal

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-11/what-apple-just-did-in-solar-is-a-really-big-deal

3D printing could enable planes that are 50% more fuel efficient

http://nextbigfuture.com/2015/02/advanced-additive-manufacturing-could.html

More robots coming to U.S. factories

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/02/09/bcg-report-on-factory-robots/23143259/?ncid=newsltushpmg00000003

Sexbots slowly but steadily advance

http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/features-issue-sections/11649/sex-robot-future-roxxxxy/?fb=dd

Spain heavily investing in graphene

http://www.ozy.com/fast-forward/the-next-miracle-material/38875?utm_medium=pp&utm_source=HF1&utm_campaign=pp

Penta-graphene, a new structural variant of carbon, discovered

http://news.vcu.edu/article/Pentagraphene_a_new_structural_variant_of_carbon_discovered

The average star has two planets in the "Goldilocks Zone" for life?

http://www.anu.edu.au/news/all-news/scientists-predict-earth-like-planets-around-most-stars

One-Atom-Thin Silicon Transistors Invention Holds Promise for Super-Fast Computing

http://www.utexas.edu/news/2015/02/03/silicon-silicene-transistors/

Scientists discover a mechanism to cure the common cold?

http://phys.org/news/2015-02-scientists-viral-enigma-machine.html

New Technique Reverses Aging By Decades In Cultured Human Cells

http://io9.com/new-technique-reverses-aging-by-decades-in-cultured-hum-1682754539?utm_campaign=socialflow_io9_facebook&utm_source=io9_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

Raspberry Pi 2 gets 6X more processing power, 2X more memory in same credit card-size $35 package

http://venturebeat.com/2015/02/02/raspberry-pi-2-gets-6x-more-processing-power-2x-more-memory-in-same-credit-card-size-35-package/