The 2012-2013 World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness report has insightful information It uses 2011 data but it is useful for undertanding global competitiveness and the broad strengths and weaknesses of nations. Here are the twelve pillars of competitiveness. A country can still be competitive with some weakness in different pillars but crippling deficiencies can break …
There is a history of China’s GDP at wikipedia from 1978 to 2012. This illustrates how inflation and currency exchange versus GDP growth differential factor into China move from US$216 billion to $8.2 trillion. In the blue outline below is the column with growth in Chinese Yuan. This includes inflation but does not include changes …
Texas researchers used surface oxygen to grow centimeter-size single graphene crystals on copper. The crystals were about 10,000 times as large as the largest crystals from only four years ago. Very large single crystals have exceptional electrical properties. One of the world’s strongest materials, graphene is flexible and has high electrical and thermal conductivity that …
Analysis of world data indicates that 4000 kwh per year per capita energy is needed for the current top level of human development. About 1000-2000 kwh per year per capita is needed to get out of the worst quality of life and shortened life span. Per capita electricity usage also correlates to per capita income. …
Kazakhstan produced 5762 tonnes of Uranium in the third quarter of 2013 which is 6 % higher than the third quarter of 2012. Kazakhstan produced 5,590 tons of Uranium in the second quarter that is 9 % more than Q2 2012. First quarter uranium production in Kazakhstan was 4 979 tons. Total production is 16,331 …
Silicon-free solar cells, light and flexible enough to roll up or use as window blinds, are under development at a University of Alberta lab. The solar cells are made using nanoparticles — microscopic particles just 30 to 40 atoms across — that are very cheap to produce from zinc and phosphorus, said Jillian Buriak, a …
Billionaire Peter Thiel is famous for his early investment in Facebook. He also was a cofounder of Paypal which was then merged with Xcom which was started by Elon Musk. Positron Dynamics has seed funding from Paypal billionaire Peter Thiel’s Breakout Labs. Initial simulations show that as much as 10 micrograms of positrons could be …
The ARKYD is a technologically advanced, orbiting space telescope that will be controlled by YOU, the crowd, through your pledges and community involvement. You can even direct your telescope time to non-profit science centers and universities for use in your communities. Over 11,000 Backers = NEW stretch goal AND NEW Add-ons Available! You asked for …
The discovery of a Higgs-like boson with mass near 126 GeV, at the LHC, has reignited interest in future energy frontier colliders. We propose here a proton-proton (pp) collider in a 100 km ring, with center of mass (CM) energy of ~100 TeV which would have substantial discovery potential for new heavy particles and new …
Arxiv – All-optical integrated circuits for computing and information processing have been pursued for decades as a potential strategy to overcome the speed limitations intrinsic to electronics. However feasible on-chip integrated logic units and devices still have been limited by its size, quality, scalability, and reliability. Here we demonstrate all-passive on-chip optical AND and NAND …
One proposed side effect of geoengineering with stratospheric sulfate aerosols is sky whitening during the day and afterglows near sunset, as is seen after large volcanic eruptions. Sulfate aerosols in the stratosphere would increase diffuse light received at the surface, but with a non-uniform spectral distribution. We use a radiative transfer model to calculate spectral …