Global In-Use Stocks of the Rare Earth Elements: A First Estimate Even though rare earth metals are indispensible in modern technology, very little quantitative information other than combined rare earth oxide extraction is available on their life cycles. We have drawn upon published and unpublished information from China, Japan, the United States, and elsewhere to …
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center have discovered a novel way of treating pancreatic cancer by activating the immune system to destroy the cancer’s scaffolding. The strategy was tested in a small cohort of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, several of whose tumors shrank substantially. The team believes their findings – and …
Germany currently gets 23 percent of its energy from nuclear power – about as much as the U.S. It’s ambitious plan to shut down its reactors will require at least euro150 billion ($210 billion) investment in alternative energy sources, which experts say will likely lead to higher electricity prices. Germany now gets 17 percent of …
Controlled layer-by-layer removal of graphene. (A) Schematic illustration of the method: (Step 1) The bilayer graphene on top of a Si/SiO2 substrate. (Step 2) A patterned layer of zinc metal is sputtered atop the graphene. (Step 3) The zinc is removed by aqueous HCl (0.02 M) in 3 to 5 min with simultaneous removal of …
A senior official with the National Development and Reform Commission predicts that China’s economy will be 100 trillion RMB in 2020 Chen Dongqi, vice president of the Academy of Macroeconomic Research, a think tank under the NDRC, said that China’s GDP in 2020 will be equivalent to that of the U.S. in the same year, …
UK Guardian – Scientists at this Wake Forest University facility have grown 22 different types of tissues and organs. Lives are being saved and more amazing successes are on the way. Researchers in Boston and beyond are building everything from blood vessels to internal organs, using engineering tricks and dome-like bioreactors. On Monday Feb 6, …
Minutes of the Fed’s policy-setting meeting Jan. 25-26 showed central bank officials expect U.S. gross domestic product to increase between 3.4% and 3.9% this year. That compares with a November 2010 prediction the economy would expand between 3.0% and 3.6% in 2011. Though the economy looks a bit stronger, central bank officials expect the unemployment …
Artificial General Intelligence researcher Ben Goertzel has interviewed nanotech/AI researcher Josh Hall and AGI researcher Pei Wang for Humanity+ magazine. In the Pang interview, Dr. Pang interview Pang claims that sentient machines could be only a decade away. In the Hall interview, Hall argues that advanced machine intelligence and desktop nanofactories will emerge sometime in …
Egypt has gone offline. In a stunning development unprecedented in the modern history of the Internet, a country of over 80 million people has found itself almost entirely disconnected from the rest of the world. The near-disconnection — at least one Internet provider is still online — comes after days of street protests demanding an …
UK-based Cella Energy has developed a synthetic fuel that could lead to US$1.50 per gallon gasoline. It is hydrogen based fuel and produces no carbon emissions when burned. The technology is based on complex hydrides, and has been developed over a four year top secret program at the prestigious Rutherford Appleton Laboratory near Oxford. Early …
The three major economic mega-urban zones are the pearl river delta in the south (merging into one 42 million person city) and Yangtze River delta around Shanghai and the Bohai economic rim The area around Beijing and Tianjin, two of China’s most important cities, is being ringed with a network of high-speed railways that will …
