Finland has recently seen a large influx of asylum seekers, is using a cryptographic ledger called blockchain to help them get on their feet faster. For two years the Finnish Immigration Service has been giving asylum seekers who don’t have bank accounts prepaid Mastercards instead of the traditional cash disbursements, and today the program has …
The number of children dying worldwide of diarrhea fell by a third between 2005 and 2015, researchers have found. The study says better access to clean water and sanitation is key, with fewer weak and malnourished children becoming infected. New vaccines have also had a positive impact. However, diarrhea is still the fourth-biggest killer of …
The New York Times reports that members of armed bands who have become key enforcers for President Nicolás Maduro as he attempts to crush a growing protest movement against his rule. The groups, called collectives or colectivos in Spanish, originated as pro-government community organizations that have long been a part of the landscape of leftist …
New technologies, including better land mapping, prefabricated construction and cheaper solar power, have begun bringing the costs of housing down 20 percent to 30 percent, say experts. At the low end of the scale, the changes may be most significant: There is a new market developing to serve 200 million households in slums in emerging …
Basic development of the level that has been mostly achieved in Europe today will be norm throughout the world by about 2080. Key aspects of development are non-slum urbanization at 70% or higher. Universal literacy. Energy and other infrastructure to European levels or better. Generally developed world level education systems. Public health at developed world …
Applications of the genome editing system CRISPR are appearing at a furious pace, and gathering momentum toward therapeutic use in human cells. Indeed, Chinese scientists recently began a human clinical trial using CRISPR-edited cells to fight lung cancer, and U.S. clinical trials are slated to begin in 2017. But leading up to this exciting milestone, …
The Military Balance 2017 is the annual assessment of global military capabilities and defence economics from the IISS (International Institute for Strategic Studies, London) There has been no reduction in the range and number of security challenges demanding the attention of policymakers. Conflict and insecurity continue in Africa, the Middle East and, in the case …
In the recent work, Stanford researchers improved on all three variables related to extracting uranium from seawater: capacity, rate and reuse. Their key advance was to create a conductive hybrid fiber incorporating carbon and amidoxime. By sending pulses of electricity down the fiber, they altered the properties of the hybrid fiber so that more uranyl …
Nuclear energy’s share of Ukraine’s electricity mix is “rapidly approaching” 60%, President Petro Poroshenko said at a meeting of the country’s National Security and Defence Council yesterday, according to a statement on the presidential website. The president did not give a date by which the increase would be achieved. Ukraine has 15 nuclear units in …
The first Korean-designed Advanced Pressurised Reactor-1400 (APR-1400) officially entered commercial operation on 12 December. Unit 3 of the Shin Kori nuclear power plant in the south east of South Korea was connected to the grid in January. Shin Kori units 3 and 4 (Image: KHNP) Construction of Shin Kori 3 began in October 2008. Korea …
The devaluation of the British pound has resulted in India’s nominal GDP exceeding the UK. India is now the fifth or sixth largest economy in the world based on nominal (exchange rate) GDP UK, India and France are nearly tied based on exchange rate. The value of the pound declined by 20% over the last …