[The Diplomat] There have been more and more signs that China will become the first foreign customer of Russia’s most advanced anti-missile system, the S-400. China’s People’s Liberation Army already operates the Russian-made S-300 anti-missile system, and Beijing and Moscow have reportedly been negotiating over the S-400 since 2010. These talks have reportedly been slowed …
Google’s health and antiaging startup, Calico, is teaming up with biotechnology drugmaker AbbVie in a $500 million joint venture that will try to develop new ways to treat cancer and other diseases such as Alzheimer’s. AbbVie and Calico announced a novel R and D collaboration intended to help the two companies discover, develop and bring …
Andrew Dodson presents “Issues Integrating Renewables: Chasing the Wind on a Cloudy Day” at TEAC6 in Chicago (2014). There economic and technical problems with using a lot of solar and wind. Solar is subsidized with net metering where the utility is forced to store the excess solar power. Hawaii has reached the point with solar …
The morning after Thorium Energy Alliance #6 (TEAC6) ended, John Kutsch engaged in a hotel-room interview. John is concerned about global warming and ocean acidification, yet does not see solar or wind as an effective means of lowering our carbon emissions. “Incompetence often looks like conspiracy so I try to fall on the side of …
For three decades, Lester C. Thurow has been one of the most widely read economists in the United States. Lester Carl Thurow is an American political economist, former dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management, and author of books on economic topics. Thurow is on the board of directors of Analog Devices, Grupo Casa …
The Quantum Artificial Intelligence team at Google is launching a hardware initiative to design and build new quantum information processors based on superconducting electronics. John Martinis and his team at UC Santa Barbara will join Google in this initiative. John and his group have made great strides in building superconducting quantum electronic components of very …
[Guardian.com] The 1972 book Limits to Growth, which predicted our civilisation would probably collapse some time this century, has been criticised as doomsday fantasy since it was published. The entire 211 page book is online. There were dozens of model runs in the book. The Limits to Growth apologists seem to be taking credit for …
Within about two decades, roughly 60 percent of the world’s population will live in cities, particularly megacities of more than 10 million, according to a recent National Intelligence Council projection. A megacity disaster scenario was set in the “deep future,” 2030 to 2040. Constructive simulation, using computers, was used to create a fictitious environment, weapons, …
Guardian UK, Valentina Melnikova, head of the Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers, the main organisation representing the troops’ families, said an estimated 7,000-8,000 Russian troops were believed to be in Ukraine. According to her estimates, between 10,000-15,000 troops have been deployed to Ukraine in recent weeks. The Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers and Citizen and the Army, …
For growing cities having tunnels is no longer considered a luxury – they are a necessity as land is a precious commodity. Going underground frees up surface land for other development, and in fact, having metro stations nearby increases the value of land, which could be recouped (if necessary) from higher property assessments and quit …
[In Minnesota, contractor Andrey Rudenko is currently working on a project of gargantuan proportions that seems to be stretching and exploring the limits of 3D printing technology. Using a printer that was substantially modified and expanded, he has printed a concrete castle in his own backyard. And at 3 by 5 meters, this concrete structure …