China’s Social Credit system, computerized Orwell with a government reputation and trust score

The Chinese government is building an omnipotent “social credit” system that is meant to rate each citizen’s trustworthiness. By 2020, everyone in China will be enrolled in a vast national database that compiles fiscal and government information, including minor traffic violations, and distils it into a single number ranking each citizen. That system isn’t in …

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Russia has submarines that are competitive with the US Seawolf subs

Rear Adm. Dave Johnson, Naval Sea Systems Command’s (NAVSEA) program executive officer (PEO) submarines has a model of Russian nuclear guided missile submarine (Severodvinsk) placed outside his office in a common area so that he could look at it every day on his way to his office. “We’ll be facing tough potential opponents. One only …

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Moore’s law is stalling so cloud chips are being customized for AI problems and memory intensive data crunching

An important challenge is brewing for traditional chip makers: the cloud, or Internet-based computing. Driven by the need to analyze massive amounts of data, the Goliaths of the Internet— Alphabet (aka Google), Facebook, Amazon.com, and Microsoft—are altering the very nature of computing. In the process, they are pressing at the boundaries of chip technology and …

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JAK inhibitor drugs could restore hair growth after loss from male pattern baldness

In experiments with mouse and human hair follicles, Angela M. Christiano, PhD, and colleagues found that drugs that inhibit the Janus kinase (JAK) family of enzymes promote rapid and robust hair growth when applied to the skin. Inhibiting a family of enzymes inside hair follicles that are suspended in a resting state restores hair growth, …

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F35 helmet costs $400,000 and entire fighter jets for less than the price 50 F35 helmets

The pilots flying the F35 aircraft will be wearing the most advanced and most expensive helmet ever. The helmet will give pilots quicker access to the information they need to see and has special cameras to “see” through the bottom of the plane. But it will cost an estimated $400,000 per helmet — more than …

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World’s richest and distribution by country

The global population of ultra-high-networth individuals grew by almost 5,200 in 2014, according to data prepared exclusively for The Wealth Report by the analyst firm WealthInsight. This latest increase means 65,335 people have joined the ranks of the ultra-wealthy (Over $30 million in net worth) over the past decade –a rise of 61%. In total, …

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Geopolitics of Long-Range Hypersonic High-Precision Weapons

Unlike nuclear weapons, which are “tools of extreme impact,” Long-Range Hypersonic High-Precision Weapons (or Advanced Hypersonic Weapons – AHW in US terminology) are ready for use in any scenario, including as part of counter-terror operations. AHW do not cause unnecessary civilian casualties and do not inflict significant material damage to civil transportation systems, power plants, …

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Integrated escape capsules needed for hypersonic passenger planes

Scientists are working on a shape-shifting escape capsule for use with high-speed hypersonic planes which could potentially fly between Europe and Australia in under two hours in future. Faster than supersonic planes such as Concorde, hypersonic aircraft fly in the atmosphere at speeds over Mach 5.5 and could revolutionize the world of commercial airline travel. …

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New welding technique can weld “un-weldable” metals using 80% less energy and 50% stronger welds

Engineers at The Ohio State University have developed a new welding technique that consumes 80 percent less energy than a common welding technique, yet creates bonds that are 50 percent stronger. The new technique could have a huge impact on the auto industry, which is poised to offer new cars which combine traditional heavy steel …

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