China could have high speed rail to Central Asia and Moscow around 2025

China has opened a 330-mile stretch of high speed rail between Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi, and Hami, a city in eastern Xinjiang, is the first stage of the 1100-mile Lanxin Railway, which will connect Urumqi to Lanzhou, the capital of the northwestern province of Gansu. The full length of the passenger railway was on schedule to …

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Photosynthesis genetic ‘Switch’ Enables Rice Yield Increase of 30 Percent

Scientists at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture have found that they can harness photosynthesis – the process that plants use to convert light energy to chemical energy – to increase rice yields by up to 30 percent. A research group led by Andy Pereira of the Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences Department …

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USA and China have agreement for ten year visas

The USA and China have agreed to increase the validity of short-term tourist and business visas issued to each other’s citizens from one to ten years – the longest validity possible under U.S. law – and increase the validity of student and exchange visas from one to five years. The United States will begin issuing …

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Elon Musk could participate in network of 700 cheaper and smaller space satellites for internet service

Elon Musk and Greg Wyler have discussed launching around 700 satellites, each weighing less than 250 pounds. That is about half the size of the smallest communications satellites now in commercial use. The satellite constellation would be 10 times the size of the largest current fleet, managed by Iridium Communications Inc. Greg Wyler is a …

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Orbital Science might turn to Spacex to Fulfill NASA Space Station Contracts

Initial evidence shows that the decades-old rocket engines used by Dulles-based Orbital Sciences Corp. were the cause of the catastrophic explosion Oct. 28, spurring the company to look to its competitors to help launch its vehicle to the International Space Station. Orbital will need to go to direct competitors to launch its Cygnus cargo spacecraft. …

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Buying about $ 8 trillion of foreign assets and companies will prevent Chinese yuan from strengthening beyond 5 to 1 until about 2045

According to the most recently published data, in 2011 total deposits held in these institutions by corporations, individuals and other entities amounted to 80.9 trillion yuan ($13.3 trillion)—70% more than China’s GDP. (In the U.S. in 2014, M2—consisting of total demand deposits, savings deposits and small time deposits—was 35% less than U.S. GDP). If and …

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Paper strip tests for Ebola for 4 to 65 cents each

James Collins, a synthetic biologist at Boston University, says he’s been able to print the ingredients for simple DNA experiments on paper, freeze dry them, and use them as much as a year later. It could lead to cheap diagnostic tests for viruses like Ebola. The idea of inexpensive paper-based diagnostics isn’t new. But so …

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Without more intervention the world is on track to stop Ebola in 2016 after about 1 million deaths

A new model by David Fisman and Ashleigh Tuite of the University of Toronto in Canada – the first to take account of efforts to fight infections – suggests that if things continue as they have been up until now, 700,000 people could have had the virus by the time the epidemic in Liberia, Guinea …

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Comparing Electric Car Monthly Lease Costs with Apple iPhones with Family Plans

It is possible to find electric cars with monthly lease costs of $69-99 per month. These are usually leftovers from a prior year. Early in 2014, some Mitsubishi dealers went as low as $69 per month (for 24 months), with $2,100 down, on the 2013 I-MiEV. Currently there have been deals on Fiat 500e’s in …

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