The Daily Flash -Eco, Space, Tech (9/4)

Japan to Spend $21,000,000,000 on a Power Plant in Space!

Japan is getting prepped to drop $21 billion on a solar power station in space, one that will beam enough energy back to Earth to power 294,000 homes. With no cables. The whole deal is being put together by Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and industrial design company IGI Corp. The plan involves a gigantic solar panel floating around in space, soaking up a gigawatt of energy and beaming it to Earth without the use of cables. And they hope to have it ready to rock within four years

The Strange Shape of Star Trash

What you are seeing here is the bizarre shape of the debris shot out of a star called HD 61005 after it has been warped by solar winds. This star garbage explosion could eventually form planets with strange orbits.

Telegraphs Ran on Electric Air in Crazy 1859 Magnetic Storm

On Sept. 2, 1859, at the telegraph office at No. 31 State Street in Boston at 9:30 a.m., the operators’ lines were overflowing with current, so they unplugged the batteries connected to their machines, and kept working using just the electricity coursing through the air. In the wee hours of that night, the most brilliant auroras ever recorded had broken out across the skies of the Earth. People in Havana and Florida reported seeing them. The New York Times ran a 3,000 word feature recording the colorful event in purple prose.

Why Would Anyone Pay for a YouTube Flick?

News has leaked that YouTube was in talks with major movie studios like Lions Gate, Sony, MGM, and Time Warner to begin renting movies as soon as they were available on DVD. The full-length films would be available for rent for as little as $3.00, and would compete directly with Netflix's "instant" movie streaming, Amazon's VOD, Hulu, and iTunes movie rentals.

Two Technologies That Could Make You Superpowered Tomorrow

There are two basic things you need if you are going to be superpowered: Mega strength and a giant brain. Two new university lab inventions - superfast robot hands and injectable brain tissue - could give you both.