Interesting Information

Cycling through heavy traffic can be a risky affair, with vehicles jumping from lane to lane without warning, and pedestrians appearing from nowhere as they risk life and limb to get from one side to the other. It’d be so much safer if you could avoid these hazards by simply flying above them, while keeping an eye out for low bridges and power lines, naturally. The idea of a flying bicycle may sound a little far-fetched, but in the Czech capital Prague on Wednesday a group of local companies – including Technodat, Evektor and Duratec – gathered to test out a prototype of such a machine.

What is a nuclear reactor? A nuclear reactor is a system that contains and controls sustained nuclear chain reactions. Reactors are used for generating electricity, moving aircraft carriers and submarines, producing medical isotopes for imaging and cancer treatment, and for conducting research. Fuel, made up of heavy atoms that split when they absorb neutrons, is placed into the reactor vessel (basically a large tank) along with a small neutron source. The neutrons start a chain reaction where each atom that splits releases more neutrons that cause other atoms to split. Each time an atom splits, it releases large amounts of energy in the form of heat. The heat is carried out of the reactor by coolant, which is most commonly just plain water. The coolant heats up and goes off to a turbine to spin a generator or drive shaft. So basically, nuclear reactors are exotic heat sources. Components of Nuclear Reactors The control room Main components The core of the r...

Like high-schoolers yearning for Harvard, many startups aspire to be accepted to a top accelerator program such as Y Combinator or TechStars. But what if you aim not to build the next Facebook but to solve pressing global problems? That's the core criterion for admission to SU Labs. "We're not going to take a company that might make a nice return but has no value in terms of what we call humanity's grand challenges," explains Gabriel Baldinucci, SU Labs' executive director. SU Labs is an outgrowth of Silicon Valley's Singularity University, created in 2009 by X-Prize founder Peter Diamandis and artificial-intelligence guru and Google engineering director Ray Kurzweil. The school specializes in teaching how to build businesses in a world where technology is changing at an exponential rate.