Jenifer (Zarknorph) said:

The promise is enticing - a safe form of nuclear power to end the world's reliance on fossil fuels. But can it be done?

That's much more optimistic than previous reports I'd seen:

"Five or six years ago, ITER was not in a good shape. It was late, it was over-budget. But a new directorate was put in on the project and they have really got the thing moving in the right direction."

Fusion vs fission

How close are we to having nuclear plants that fit the clean, green bill? We explain how different nuclear technologies work and where the research is up to.

The first plasma experiments are now expected to begin in 2025.

For ITER to be considered a success, according to Professor Garrett, it must demonstrate that it can achieve an energy gain of a factor of 10.

"ITER consumes 50 megawatts of power to produce this plasma at 150 million degrees, and the goal is to produce 500 megawatts of power from that plasma," he says.

"The second goal is to be able to maintain that condition for many minutes at a time, so maybe 10 minutes, up to an hour, and that's what you would need for a steady-state power reactor."

Jenifer (Zarknorph) said:

Two experiments show key components of quantum computers known as qubits can operate at much higher temperatures than seen before.

I have made so many wrong predictions about technology that its embarrassing. Over and over I've said that computers (much though I love them) won't be able to do this that or the other.

My predictions on national matters have sometimes been very wrong too - but at least I can recognise and expose the driving forces.

great idea hope it succeeds , with enormous oceans you need to have ever more efficient search and rescue capabilities

BM

This is pretty nifty, too.

www.abc.net.au

Rescuers pinpoint location of injured walker on Flinders Island using what3words service - ABC News

When a walker became injured on a remote island, three words told her rescuers exactly where she was.

Read more from www.abc.net.au

I used to own a watch made by Breitling which had an aerial which was connected to a satellite and was guaranteed to send out a distress message no matter where in the World you were , having bought it at some great cost (it was the size of a large trunk) I realised it was as much good to me as a square wheel , it was one of the many must haves in my life that i actually never needed (there are many more examples)

BM

Jenifer (Zarknorph) said:

When a walker became injured on a remote island, three words told her rescuers exactly where she was.

https://www.ukclimbing. com/articles/skills /using_sarloc_for_ rescue_on_your _smartphone-10917

Calder Valley Search & Rescue Team at work. © Calder Valley SRT - Getting smart with your smartphone might just save your life in an emergency, writes Judy Whiteside, Editor of Mountain Rescue Magazine.

Its a good system. Mountain rescue people aren't terribly happy, having invested in a different system developed by one of their own, SARLOC.

Using SARLOC for Rescue on your Smartphone 

13th June, 2018 - Like a real world Marauder's Map, the screens at the mountain rescue base show everyone involved in a search – where they are, every minute of the time they're out there on the hill, searching.

Every time the screen refreshes, every team member and every search dog and handler, identified by their individual call signs, moves a little further along their designated search area.

Hunkered down at base – warm and dry and availed of a kettle while their mountain rescue colleagues trudge across muddy fells in the pitch dark and the driving rain – the people fielding the radios and the telephones and any number of interruptions, liaising with the police, coordinating with ambulances and coastguard helicopters, keep a watchful eye on the myriad moving dots moving across the OS map.

That MRMap software – so akin to Harry Potter's magical map – was developed by Lakes team members Rob Brookes and Dave Binks. Over twenty years, it has changed the way mountain rescue teams work. And, eight years ago, it also inspired Russ Hore, then a member of Ogwen Valley MRO.

'MRMap worked for team members,' says Hore, 'but could we do the same for the people who call in needing our help?'

He started looking how he could get a GPS location from a phone. Within two or three hours he'd written a 'very simple bit of code'. That evening, he tested it with Brookes and it blossomed from there – SARLOC was born.

There are many apps for smartphones which show the phone's location, but these rely on the lost person having the app installed before they get lost. The beauty of SARLOC is that it uses the web browser installed on the smartphone to interrogate the GPS and locate the person, normally to within a few metres. No need to install a separate app.

PhoneFind – developed by John Hulse (also an Ogwen team member), in collaboration with Binks and fellow Lakes team member Jon Lynch – and launched this year for use by UK mountain rescue teams, offers the same location process, integrating the information into the incident logging software back at base.

Jenifer (Zarknorph) said:

Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit fails in its first attempt to launch a rocket carried by a Boeing 747 over the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California.

Strange failure that. One would have thought that rocket ignition was very well understood by now.