big ideas

Helion: a new way to achieve nuclear fusion.

Their 6th generation reactor, Trenta, uses a safer fuel than other reactors and produces and reliable fusion once every 10 minutes. Their 7th generation prototype intends to scale up the frequency of fusion to every second and, critically, generate usable […]

to your health

Jolting the brain’s circuits with electricity.

“Brain stimulation is booming… This expanding field of research is slowly revealing truths of the brain: how it works, how it malfunctions, and how electrical impulses, precisely targeted and controlled, might be used to treat psychiatric and neurological disorders.” | learn more

oh, chicago

Faster trains are the only hope for Blue Line

The train line through my neighborhood (connecting downtown to O’Hare) is notoriously crowded these days. Everyone complains, but there’s no easy fix. There isn’t enough electricity to power more trains, and the curved tracks prevent them from adding more cars […]

big ideas

Electricity-free cooling by beaming heat into space.

A team from Stanford has made progress on a system they call radiative sky cooling. Originally created in 2013, their latest real-world test … “found that throughout the summer the panels cut the power needed to cool the building by more […]