China needs 7.2% GDP Growth for fully employed economy

Speaking at a national congress for China’s official trade union two weeks ago, Premier Li Keqiang said that China needs economic growth of at least 7.2 percent in order to ensure adequate employment. Li’s comment contrasts with the once oft-intoned rallying cry of “bao ba” or “protect eight,” meaning China must ensure growth does not …

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China could become the third largest producer of nuclear energy in 2014

Russia currently has the third largest active production of nuclear energy. Japan has more but most of their nuclear reactors are shutdown. Japan is likely to only have a partial restart of about 12 nuclear reactors in 2014. Russia could complete 1-4 nuclear reactors by the end of 2014. China could complete 8-15 nuclear reactors …

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Enhancing cell metabolism was an unexpected key to regrow hair, cartilage, bone, soft tissues

Young animals are known to repair their tissues effortlessly, but can this capacity be recaptured in adults? A new study from researchers at the Stem Cell Program at Boston Children’s Hospital suggests that it can. By reactivating a dormant gene called Lin28a, which is active in embryonic stem cells, researchers were able to regrow hair …

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China’s aging population will trim about 3.25% from annual GDP growth from now to 2030

According to two Citigroup economists, Nathan Sheets and Robert A. Sockin, China’s “deteriorating demographics” are likely to trim 3.25 percentage points off China’s annual growth rate between 2012 and 2030, compared to its double-digit growth of past decades. They estimate China’s growth ceiling over the coming two decades is 6.9% annually, “and to the extent …

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Hollow Nanoparticles to boost lithium-ion battery performance

Hollow carbon nanoparticles are strong, conduct electricity well and have a remarkably large surface area. They show promise in applications such as water filtration, hydrogen storage and battery electrodes — but commercial use would demand reliable, low-cost ways for their production. Xu Li of Singapore’s A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering and co-workers have …

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Both sides of the African poverty industry debate

The Afrobarometer research project says that access to food, healthcare and education is still terrible for millions The impression from travelling in Africa, including in many rural parts, is that things are improving for the poorest. Having visited about half of Africa’s 55 countries this year or last, Baobab thinks the report’s findings seem odd. …

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China outsourced to Ukraine for rocket engines for Long March 6 and Long March 7 and beyond

The Ukrainian space agency has always been short of funding. The Ukrainians used to work closely with the Russians as part of the Soviet program, but that stopped with the breakup of the soviet union. Currently Russia’s leader Putin has bad relations with the Ukraine. Ukraine has the Zenit rocket family Ukraine had been working …

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Nanosys ships two tons of quantum dot concentrate

Nanosys, enabling a new generation of perfect-color fidelity, energy-efficient displays with its quantum-dot technology, today announced that it has passed a major production milestone at its recently opened 60,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Milpitas, CA. The shipment of more than 2000kg of Nanosys Quantum Dot Concentrate™, used to make Quantum Dot Enhancement Film (QDEF™), …

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Frederik Pohl has died. He was an award winning science fiction author, editor and blogger

Frederik George Pohl was an American science fiction writer, editor and fan, with a career spanning over seventy-five years — from his first published work, the 1937 poem “Elegy to a Dead Satellite: Luna”, through the 2011 novel All the Lives He Led and articles and essays published in 2012. From about 1959 until 1969, …

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New technique for activating multiple genes at the same time

By creating a powerful new gene regulation system called CRISPR-on, Whitehead Institute researchers now have the ability to increase the expression of multiple genes simultaneously and precisely manipulate each gene’s expression level. The system is effective in both mouse and human cells as well as in mouse embryos. “CRISPR-on is a tool that will be …

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