An unconditional basic income (also called basic income, basic income guarantee, universal basic income, universal demogrant, or citizen’s income) is a proposed system of social security in which all citizens or residents of a country regularly receive an unconditional sum of money, either from a government or some other public institution, in addition to any …
Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have developed a novel nanometer scale ruthenium oxide anchored nanocarbon graphene foam architecture that improves the performance of supercapacitors, a development that could mean faster acceleration in electric vehicles and longer battery life in portable electronics. The researchers found that supercapacitors, an energy storage device like batteries and …
The amount of private wealth held by households globally surged more than 14% to $152 trillion (£90tn) in 2013, boosted mainly by rising stock markets. Asia-Pacific, excluding Japan, led the surge with a 31% jump to $37tn, a report by Boston Consulting Group says. North America (at $50.3 trillion) and Western Europe ($37.9 trillion) remained …
University of Michigan researchers have demonstrated a new, practical and potentially more efficient way to make a coherent laser-like beam using polaritons. This is the first room-temperature electrically pumped polariton laser (other electrically pumped polariton lasers typically operate at cryogenic temperatures). This is most real-world ready polariton lasers ever developed. It represents a milestone like …
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reports around 80 million tonnes of fish were caught “wild” in 2011-12 and global aquaculture production set another all-time high at more than 90 million tonnes, including nearly 24 million tonnes of edible plants like seaweeds. In total, the world harvested an extra 10 million tonnes of aquatic food …
Five ships will join in the evacuation of Chinese nationals from Vietnam after more than 3,000 fled the nation following deadly anti-China riots there last week over a Chinese oil rig deployed in nearby contested waters. Police and security officers in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi and in southern Ho Chi Minh City halted anti-China protests …
IBMs microscopic 3D printer is being licensed to Zurich startup SwissLitho AG, which calls it the NanoFrazor — a play on words between the English word razor and the German word for “milling machine,” frase. The NanoFrazor, which behaves like a nanometer resolution milling machine, outperforms e-beams in many ways but costs a fraction of …
Westinghouse is in talks to sell eight more AP1000 nuclear Reactors to China for about $24 billion. China currently has 20 nuclear power reactors online, with another 28 under construction, as it seeks to reduce its reliance on costly and polluting fossil fuels to generate electricity. Sun Qin, chairman of major nuclear plant operator China …
China’s nuclear power installed capacity, including that in operation and under construction, is predicted to top 88 gigawatts by 2020, said Zhang Huazhu, head of the China Nuclear Energy Association (CNEA), a national industry organization. Nuclear power will play a bigger role in improving the country’s energy structure, coping with climate change and controlling air …
Scientists at the Harvard’s Wyss Institute have built a set of self-assembling DNA cages one-tenth as wide as a bacterium. The structures are some of the largest and most complex structures ever constructed solely from DNA. The cage could be modified with chemical hooks that could be used to hang other components such as proteins …
China’s high-speed rail system has quickly grown to over 6,000 miles (9,700 km) in five years, and will expand to 19,000 kilometers (11,800 miles) by 2015. It is already transporting some 2 million passengers a day on trains that are rarely delayed, and which go nearly 200 miles an hour, twice as many passengers as …