The President of the United States is supposed to know the differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims. But somehow, as Richard Muller points out, nobody expects America’s commander in chief to know the differences between uranium and plutonium, or between gasoline and hydrogen.

That’s why he teaches “Physics for Future Presidents” at UC Berkeley, a course for non-science majors that Muller relishes as his opportunity to inform the business majors and liberal arts students who represent our future leaders. The longtime Cal physics professor turned his idea for the class into a textbook, and more recently into a popular book with the same title.

Now he’s on a roll. Muller was the featured speaker at Xconomy’s premiere event in San Diego Monday night, just a week or so after meeting with global leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland (He even got to fly home aboard the Google jet).

With “Physics for New Presidents” as his theme, Muller assumes a role that could be described as an equal opportunity “Debunker in Chief.” In rapid succession, he separates some core, inescapable scientific truths from the myths surrounding them. He started by dispelling fears sown by Dick Cheney about terrorists planting nuclear bombs on U.S. soil and ended by puncturing Al Gore’s inflated interpretations of the scientific evidence for global warming. Among the chestnuts he shucked:

—Nuclear bombs are extremely difficult to make, even for industrialized countries. Muller says he’s far more worried about another “low tech” terrorist act involving 60 tons of gasoline and a crowded football stadium on a Sunday afternoon.

—U.S. reserves of coal and oil shale far exceed the amount of crude oil remaining in Saudi Arabia and most other countries combined. “This is great news for energy independence and bad for global warming,” Muller says. Nevertheless, he says the United States should develop all of its energy resources, using “clean coal” technologies and other innovations to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

—The scientific consensus, presented by an authoritative study on global warming by the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change, concluded that the warming trend from 1850 to 1957 cannot be attributed to human activities. From 1957 to 2007, the study found a 90 percent likelihood that human activities caused a global average temperature increase of only about 1 degree Fahrenheit.

—Weather data do not show an increase in the number of hurricanes over the past century, nor do the data show an increase in the number of major category hurricanes. Today, hurricanes are detected by weather satellites and sensors in mid-ocean. Such observations were impossible before the first weather satellite was launched 49 years ago.

—Carbon dioxide emissions in developing countries, especially China and India, represent the biggest source of the predicted increase in greenhouse gases. It is a far more intractable problem in terms of curbing emissions, because coal is a cheap and bountiful energy source and clean energy technologies are too costly in comparison. “The only solution that I can think of is that we have to pay developing countries to use clean energy,” Muller says. Otherwise, they won’t use it.

As for energy development in the United States, Muller says his counsel is, “Don’t be greener than thou. Don’t bicker that ‘My technology is greener than yours. ‘ We need all of them. We need clean coal. We need nuclear. We need solar and wind. We need them all.”

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We’re looking forward to seeing you today at Xconomy’s San Diego premiere, an entertaining and eye-opening presentation on Physics for Future Presidents by UC Berkeley’s Richard A. Muller. Online registration for the event, which is here, closes at noon and walk-in registrations begin at 3:30 pm The presentation begins at 4 pm—hope to see you there!

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If President Obama ever has a question about the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, he can just pick up his Presidential Blackberry and call or e-mail Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist.

Of course, the President of the United States could just as easily call Richard A. Muller—the U.C. Berkeley professor who literally wrote the book on Physics for Future Presidents. He also was a leading member of the Berkeley team that theorized how an asteroid killed the dinosaurs. Now Xconomy has tapped Muller and his talent for eye-opening explanations as the featured speaker at our San Diego premiere event. We are hosting the MacArthur “genius” award-winning physicist as the inaugural speaker for our Xconomy Forums here, to be held Monday at 4 p.m. at UCSD’s Institute of the Americas Complex. If you’re interested in attending, you can register here.

The book Physics for Future Presidents grew out of Muller’s popular class for non-science majors at Cal—which was voted “The Best Class at Berkeley” last year in a readers’ poll by the student newspaper, The Daily Californian. Muller’s book and lectures have gained renown for explaining the important science underlying terrorism, energy, electric cars, nukes, space, and global warming—and for empowering our electorate with a better understanding of science and technology.

Please join us Monday afternoon to hear this engaging presentation by one of the foremost speakers on science and technology. I hope to see you there.

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The United States will have a new president in four days. But if it were you, how should science and technology guide you in making key decisions in areas like energy, the environment, and fighting terrorism? Should we invest heavily in solar power or electric cars? What is the real potential of nuclear technology—either as a terrorist weapon or as a clean energy savior? How much do we really have to worry about global warming, or do we really even know yet?

These are just some of the issues that will be addressed in our San Diego site’s first Xconomy Forum: Physics for Future Presidents—which will be held on Feb. 9 at 4 p.m. on the University of California, San Diego campus. The speaker is renowned U.C. Berkeley physicist and MacArthur “genius” grant winner Richard A. Muller, author of a best-selling new book of the same name. The book, in turn, is based on his course for non-science students, which was voted the most popular class on the Cal campus.

Rich is an old friend of mine; I first met him when working on a cover story for Time magazine about how an asteroid or comet might have led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. He was one of the core team, along with Luis Alvarez and others at Berkeley, who advanced that theory and changed our view of our planet’s history. Rich is one of the world’s most original, and provocative, science and technology thinkers, and we are pleased to have him join us for our debut San Diego event.

And if you think you already know the answers to some of the questions posed above, be prepared to be surprised, even amazed, by Rich’s arguments—this is a man who doesn’t put much stock in conventional wisdom or the party line. All of which could—and we hope will—make for some lively debate during Rich’s talk, which begins at 4 pm (doors open at 3:30) in the Hojel Auditorium in UCSD’s Institute of the Americas Complex. And you’ll have ample chance to continue the discussion, and to meet fellow members of the San Diego innovation community, during a networking reception in the adjacent Arango Foyer that will begin immediately after the talk.

You can find more details and registration information here; tickets are going fast, so act quickly. Xconomy San Diego editor Bruce Bigelow and I look forward to seeing you there, future presidents.

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Battery manufacturer A123 Systems of Watertown, MA, said yesterday that it has applied to the Department of Energy for $1.84 billion in federal loans under the department’s “green car” program. A123 says it wants to use the money to build a factory in southeastern Michigan that will manufacture lithium ion batteries for up to 5 million hybrid vehicles per year, or 500,000 plug-in electric vehicles per year, by 2013. Executives at Chrysler and GM, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, and Representative John Dingell, as well as Massachusetts Senator John Kerry all voiced their support for A123’s application under the DoE’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Incentive Program.

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Electric Cars Making Inroads

In a sign that the era of gas guzzlers may be ending, the Wall Street Journal observes that even in Texas, people are leaving their SUVs in the garage in favor of smaller electric cars. As the paper puts it, “You Know Gas Prices Are High When Texans Start Driving Golf Carts.” The story says the tiny vehicles take some getting used to, but people seem willing to switch given how much they save on gas.

Does Street View Really Violate Your Privacy?

A Pittsburgh couple has sued Google over its Street View feature, which contained a photo of the outside of their house. Aaron and Christine Boring say the feature lowered the value of their property and caused them mental suffering. A blogger at CNET News feels the Borings might be taking the notion of privacy a little bit too far.

Researcher Suggests Ways to Cope with NIH Budget

After doubling from 1998 to 2003, the budget for research at the National Institutes of Health has leveled off, leaving some researchers scrambling for funding. Now a demographer at the Alfred P. Sloan foundation is looking for ways to make the grant process less of a roller coaster, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Michael Teitelbaum wants a new NIH advisory committee to, among other proposals, look at revising the number of postdoc positions available.

Magazine Looks At Morally Questionable Internet Trolls

Here’s a chance to get a jump on a piece that will surely spur some discussion. The New York Times has published on its website a story from its upcoming Sunday magazine about Internet trolls who are, in the paper’s words, “part of a growing Internet subculture with a fluid morality and a disdain for pretty much everyone else online.”

California Loans Promote Solar Power

A law enacted this week allows cities and counties in California to make loans to homeowners wishing to install solar panels on their houses or upgrade to energy-saving appliances. According to the Los Angeles Times, the law allows residents to pay back the low-interest loans over decades through their property taxes. Lawmakers hope the program will boost the installation of solar panels, which can cost $15,000 to $30,000 per house.

Is Cleantech Too Green for VCs?

Venture capitalists are hot on the trail of new cleantech startups they can fund, scouting both academia and the national laboratories for promising technologies. But GigaOm wonders if some of these deals may be too green in another sense—not yet ripe enough for market. Some of the deals may take more than a decade to reach an exit point, much longer than the five to seven years VCs are used to.

Group Lobbies for Gore’s Energy Goals

The Alliance for Climate Protection, a group founded by Al Gore, is in Washington pushing Gore’s vision of an oil-free future. As Reuters reports, the group’s CEO, Cathy Zoi, says there are no technological obstacles standing in the way of clean power. Even with existing technologies, she argues, the average family could cut its energy use by 20 percent.

Open-Source Developers Should Speak to Security, Expert Says

Developers of open-source software need to redefine the way society responds to national security threats, Christine Peterson of the Foresight Institute told the OSCON open-source convention recently. Peterson called for the open-source community to start addressing issues from problems with electronic voting to threats from cyberterrorists abroad, Ars Technica reports. Without the community’s participation, she warned, the government will take the lead in addressing security threats, and may come up with top-down solutions the community won’t like.

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Electrics Cars Coming to America

Think, a Norwegian company that makes cars that run only on electricity, has opened a North American division and hopes to start-selling its autos in the U.S. in 2009, Business Week reports. The Think Ox is about the size of a Prius, runs for 125-155 miles per charge on rechargeable lithium ion batteries, and goes from 0 to 60 mph in 8.5 seconds. One wonders if the Ox name, presumably designed to evoke clean air, will have the same effect on sales that the Chevy Nova—”no go” in Spanish—legendarily had on sales in Latin America.

Changing MPG Standard Could Save Fuel

The way we think about fuel efficiency could be undermining our ability to actually figure out how much a car can save us in gas costs, researchers at Duke University suggest. New Scientist reports that a study found that people think doubling the miles per gallon of a compact car has the same effect on overall fuel consumption as doubling it in an SUV: that is, going from 10 to 20 mpg saves five gallons per 100 miles, while going from 25 to 50 mpg saves only two. The scientists want to flip the Environmental Protection Agency’s standard on its head, from miles per gallon to gallons per (100) miles, which they say would make the picture clearer

Big Business Wants a Climate Plan

Ninety-nine large businesses from all over the world, including ALCOA and Shell, want global leaders to get together on greenhouse-gas targets and an international carbon market, Bloomberg says. The statement, prepared by the World Economic Forum, was presented ahead of next month’s meeting of the Group of Eight industrialized nations. The U.S. has said it won’t agree to any binding targets unless China and India do also.

DARPA Not Underperforming, Director Says

Following on a report that the Department of Defense took away $32 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency because the agency was having a hard time allocating the funds, DARPA’s director says the Pentagon doesn’t understand how the agency works. According to Wired, director Tony Tether says there was unspent money because of his heightened supervision of projects. Some finished early, before all the money was spent, and some were cancelled because of poor performance, he says.

Court Debates the Meaning of “Infringement”

A federal judge may grant a mistrial in a file-sharing case after conceding he may have given the jury the wrong information about whether an action was a copyright infringement, Ars Technica reports. The judge had told the jury that merely making a copyrighted song available on a peer-to-peer network counted as infringement. But a friend-of-the-court brief from nine professors of copyright law argue that “making available” isn’t the same as “distributing” someone else’s property. The case could help define the line between stealing and fair use.

Heart Imaging Drugs Can Cause Death, FDA Warns

The continued use of certain drugs, known as contrast agents, to improve ultrasound images of the heart is leading to deaths, the Food and Drug Administration says. An AP story on Forbes.com reports that the FDA put out a warning in October, but since then has received four reports of patients dying after being injected with Definity, a drug formerly marketed by Bristol Myers Squibb. Researchers have been developing agents that are easier to see on ultrasound or MRI scans as a way to spot hard-to-find defects.

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When General Motors unveiled its lavish 330-acre, Eero Saarinen-designed technical center in 1956, company president Harlow Curtice cruised to the podium in a shark-finned, bubble-domed Firebird II gas turbine experimental car. “We must put more emphasis on basic research, pure research,” Curtice declared, later adding, “I hope you will come to regard the General Motors technical center in the same way I do—as one of the nation’s great resources—more important even than the natural resources with which we have been endowed.”

More than a half-century later, no one gushes about “pure” research at GM or virtually any other industry lab—competition is too fierce, the pressure to conduct R&D directly relevant to the core business too intense. But that doesn’t mean the nation’s biggest carmaker doesn’t nurture big dreams about the future of vehicles, which run from hydrogen-powered cars to environmentally friendly vehicles that never crash. And it turns out that those dreams have some strong New England connections. So when president of GM North America Troy Clarke came to town yesterday, I asked him about the company’s vision for the future, and how two deals with local roots—its big investments in Watertown, MA’s A123Systems and in Coskata, an Illinois biofuels company backed by Waltham, MA-based Advanced Technology Ventures—fit in. That’s when he started waxing on about new types of batteries and cars that run on your trash.

“In some regards in the auto industry, and I don’t mean to be melodramatic, we’re at the beginning of time again,” Clarke told me. “There’s more technology opportunities than I think there have been since the industry started a hundred years ago.”

He was speaking primarily about the forces at work around climate change, the cost of petroleum-based fuels, and energy security. And he posed the problem, “How much can we afford to invest in infrastructure for personal transportation, and what are the costs of that?”

An unexpectedly introspective question, perhaps, from the man in charge of GM’s North American operations. But it’s probably good news that despite the pressures of the day, GM is spending some time looking ahead 50 years or more. And the automaker has plenty of projects on all these fronts, work I couldn’t sum up in a short article. But its hydrogen-powered fuel cell activity, to take just one example, is evidenced in Project Driveway, an effort announced last fall to put a test fleet of 100 cars with hydrogen fuel cells on the roads (85 of these have already been deployed, Clarke says). And Clarke spoke pretty passionately about the company’s farther-out visions, which include lightweight and fuel-efficient cars that are also safe (you can make lightweight cars now out of exotic and costly materials, Clarke says, but not only are they expensive, they don’t pass crash tests).

The solution, says Clarke: “I just have to make sure the vehicle doesn’t crash.” He sketched out a future of networked roadways and cars that talk to each other, with vehicle override systems taking control when needed. For those who might not like the idea of a car taking control of its owner, he points out that vehicles like the Chevrolet Corvette already have override systems that help owners drive much better in tough conditions. “Could you [make] a vehicle that couldn’t run into something? Yeah, I think you could,” Clarke says.

To that end, GM has been sponsoring work at places like Carnegie Mellon University, where it teamed up with the school’s engineers and computer scientists to enter an autonomous vehicle in DARPA’s Urban Challenge last fall.

But a road system without crashes is probably many decades away—and I wanted to know about some local investments poised to lead to commercial products much sooner. The first was GM’s contract with A123Systems, …Next Page »

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Local battery powerhouse A123Systems is delving further into the automotive market, thanks to a three-way deal involving itself, Norwegian electric car company Think, and General Electric. A123 has signed a deal to put its lithium-ion rechargeable batteries into Think’s vehicles.

Think is making an electric car, the City, that has a top speed of 60 mph and can go about 120 miles between recharges. It’s already on sale in Norway, and should be available internationally later this year. The company is also developing the Ox, a five-seater it says is close in size to an SUV, but lighter and more aerodynamic. That’s due out in 2009. (I didn’t speak to anyone at Think, but I’m guessing the name “Ox” is supposed to suggest oxygen, rather than a lumbering beast of burden. Maybe they’ll rename it if they move into the American market.)

Both vehicles are designed to rely on either a sodium or a lithium battery. In addition to A123, which makes the “Nanophosphate” lithium-ion battery, Think is working with Enerdel of Indianpolis, which makes a lithium-manganese system.

A123 batteries contain nanomaterials that let them hold more energy, run longer, and recharge faster than traditional lithium-ion systems. To build batteries for electric cars, the company has to take its individual battery cells and design them to operate in connected stacks that work with the car’s electrical system. The two vehicles, which will have different operating ranges, will require two different battery-pack designs, says David Vieau, CEO of A123. That’s why A123 is teaming up with battery-pack design experts at GE’s Global Research Center. The collaboration will “accelerate the timeline,” according to Vieu.

Meanwhile, another branch of General Electric, GE Energy Financial Services, is putting money into both companies to help advance the development of the electric cars. GE invested $4 million in Think, and increased its investment in A123Systems to more than $20 million. Vieau wouldn’t say exactly how much GE put in as part of this latest deal, but overall it’s the largest cash investor in A123, which has raised $148 million in financing to date.

He said both GE and A123 had been in talks with Think about battery systems, and the multi-party deal just made sense. “All of it kind of came together at the same time,” he says.

A123 has also been working with General Motors to provide the battery for GM’s electric vehicle, the Volt, and with BAE Systems to help power hybrid buses. Vieau says the deal with Think is yet another step into the transportation market.

But that doesn’t mean it will be solely a car parts company. A123 is also continuing its relationship with Black & Decker—among its first commercial products were batteries for high-power, longer lasting power tools. Still, Vieau says, “The transportation market is going to be our largest overall.”

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