Goldman Sachs has a 32 page report Hukou reform: a mid to long term goal, picking up pace (Feb 2011) Migrant workers make about twice as much as people in the rural areas but only about half as much as city dwellers with full Hukou rights. Summarizing – Urbanization will happen in China. There are …
Cosmic log – There’s a new Kickstarter project, aimed at setting the stage for a lunar space elevator. Space-elevator backers are trying to restart a competition for ultra-strong tethers. And a Japanese company has pledged to get the thing built … by 2050. The idea of building a “railway to the sky” has tantalized dreamers …
China Daily – China is claiming that the inland regions keep the growth juggernaut rolling as coastal regions feel the heat. While much of the international focus is on China’s growth slowing down and the risk of a so-called hard landing, large swathes of the country, particularly in central and western areas, are enjoying unprecedented …
CNET – Jury verdicts favors Apple overwhelmingly in a landmark patent decision. The jury awarded $1.05 billion tied to infringements in Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1. The scorecard so far: * Jury finds Samsung infringement of Apple utility, design patents for some (though not all) products * Jury finds willful infringement on 5 of 6 patents. …
NY Times – One of the longest bridges in northern China collapsed on Friday, just nine months after it opened, setting off a storm of criticism from Chinese Internet users and underscoring questions about the quality of construction in the country’s rapid expansion of its infrastructure. A nearly 330-foot-long section of a ramp of the …
Nwe Scientist – Nanobubbles can revive polluted lakes, clean computer chips and might even make wonder drugs. Not bad considering they shouldn’t exist. Pan Gang and his team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing are attempting to revive the lake Tai using nanobubbles. In 2006, a silver tea urn like container was connected …
A team of astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope is reporting the discovery of another moon orbiting the icy dwarf planet Pluto. The moon is estimated to be irregular in shape and 6 to 15 miles across. It is in a 58,000-mile-diameter circular orbit around Pluto that is assumed to be co-planar with the other …