Archive for the ‘Google Reader’ Category
Mice with human livers deal with drugs the human way
11
Jul
'Humanized' mice could provide better assessment of drugs' toxicity for humans.
Real Interest On Government Debt Is Negative
11
Jul
Karl Smith observes that the flight to quality has become so severe that the real interest rate on some classes of government debt is negative:
Suppose the government had two choices. It could either pay for infrastructure improvements as it went along out of tax revenue or it could borrow money build the infrastructure now and then repay the money with tax revenues. Ordinarily the question would be, does the advantage of building quickly outweigh the cost of the interest. However, right now the interest cost is negative. The government saves money by borrowing now rather than waiting and paying cash. Let me say again because I have noticed that this goes against so much intuition that its hard for many people to wrap around when I first say it.
In a sane political environment, Washington would be obsessed with the question of how much can get done within this window. How many projects is it logistically possible to complete quickly enough to take advantage of the cheapness of debt. Instead, we’re attempting to resolve thorny and ideologically freighted questions about the long-term trajectory of the welfare state even though resolving these issues won’t change anything about the present environment. It’s weird. It’s sad.
Grains of sand magnified to 250 times real size
11
Jul
Who knew sand could look so damn colourful and interesting? Gary Greenberg, that’s who, whose incredible microphotography reveals each grain of sand to be a kaleidoscope of colour and texture that defies its rather bland reputation.
Splitting Water with Cobalt
11
Jul
Abstract
The future of energy supply depends on innovative breakthroughs regarding the design of cheap, sustainable, and efficient systems for the conversion and storage of renewable energy sources, such as solar energy. The production of hydrogen, a fuel with remarkable properties, through sunlight-driven water splitting appears to be a promising and appealing solution. While the active sites of enzymes involved in the overall water-splitting process in natural systems, namely hydrogenases and photosystem II, use iron, nickel, and manganese ions, cobalt has emerged in the past five years as the most versatile non-noble metal for the development of synthetic H2- and O2-evolving catalysts. Such catalysts can be further coupled with photosensitizers to generate photocatalytic systems for light-induced hydrogen evolution from water.
It’s cobalt’s turn: Splitting water with light appears to be a promising solution for the renewable production of a fuel such as hydrogen. Recent developments on cobalt-based catalysts for H2 or O2 evolution are discussed, along with how they can be coupled with photosensitizers, to generate light-driven systems, or immobilized onto conducting materials to form electrodes or photoelectrodes for integration in a photoelectrochemical cell.
Record for lowest-scoring Super Mario Bros. run broken
10
Jul
No one does better at doing poorly than YouTube power-gamer NotEntirelySure, who recently completed the lowest-scoring no-death game of Super Mario Bros. ever, finishing the entire game with a trifling 600 points. As a spectator sport, we think the low-score run has potential, although we're still not sure why our "average-score" runs never took off with the precision gaming community.
[Thanks Gishman!]
Record for lowest-scoring Super Mario Bros. run broken originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 10 Jul 2011 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Have American Businesses Been Stranded By the MBAs?
10
Jul
theodp writes "In his new book, Car Guys vs. Bean Counters: The Battle for the Soul of American Business, legendary car-guy Bob Lutz says to get the U.S. economy growing again, we need to fire the MBAs and let engineers run the show. The auto industry, writes TIME's Rana Foroohar, is actually a terrific proxy for a trend toward short-term, myopically balance-sheet-driven management that has infected American business. In the first half of the 20th century, industrial giants like Ford, GE, AT&T and others used new technologies to create the best possible products and services with the idea that if you build it better, the customers will come. But by the late '70s, if-you-can-measure-it-you-can-manage-it MBAs were flourishing, and engineers were relegated to the geek back rooms. 'Shoemakers should be run by shoe guys,' argues Lutz, 'and software firms by software guys.' Learning that China plans to open 40 new graduate schools of business in the next few years, Lutz quipped, 'That's the best news I've heard in years.'"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Of Twitter and infographics
09
Jul
I love this infographic because it condenses the original report into a bite-sized nugget that is easy to understand. Its creator probably had to take some creative and interpretive liberties, but he was entitled to.
And it looks like I fall in the blue 5%. I don’t tweet enough to be in that purple group!
Tagged: infographic, twitter
Today’s Polar Bears Started Out Brown and Irish [Video]
08
Jul
Polar bears' "mitochondrial Eve," the female from whom all of today's polar bears are descended, was not a polar bear at all.
On July 7 researchers published their findings about the species history of polar bears in Current Biology . One of their discoveries was that the mitochondrial DNA in the cells of every polar bear's body originated in the cells of a female brown bear that lived in the neighborhood of Britain and Ireland during the era when Neandertals' numbers began go dwindle. [More]
Space Exploration: 9 Private Sector Companies Ready to Take Off
08
Jul
When Atlantis launched on Friday morning, it was the last of NASA’s space shuttle flights.
The event marks the end of a 30-year program that has put 777 people in orbit.
But it is not the end of space exploration in the United States. Companies have been engaging in a private sector space race alongside and in partnership with NASA for quite some time.
In April, NASA awarded four of these companies $269 million to develop spacecraft, and companies in the private sector have also established expertise in other aspects of space travel, like space suits and climate control. Some are even famously selling tickets for consumer space flights.
Here are what some of them are working on.
1. Armadillo Aerospace
What it does: Builds reusable rocket-powered vehicles.
Claim to fame: An exclusive agreement with Space Adventures, a consumer space travel company. "Eventually, we wish to provide a platform for civilian flights to suborbital space, and ultimately, we plan to reach orbit," reads the site's FAQ.
2. Masten Space
What it does: Designs and builds reusable space vehicles. Unlike most other commercial space companies, Masten specializes in unmanned, suborbital flights.
3. Oribital Outfitters
What it does: makes space suits for commercial and government space travels.
Most interesting project: Orbital Outfitters partnered with a company called SpaceDiver on a project that will demonstrate the capability to dive from a space shuttle and return to Earth safely.
4. Oribital Sciences
What it does: About 3,700 employees help make space launch vehicles, missile defense systems and satellites as well as offer space technical services at this more than 29-year-old company. It's like a department store for space.
Claim to Fame: In 2002, the company signed its largest contract ever: $900 million to develop, build, test and support missile interceptor booster vehicles for the Boeing Company.
5. Paragon Space Development
What it does: Makes environmental controls for extreme and hazardous environments, like space.
Claims to fame: Paragon is responsible for the first full-motion, long-duration video (4 months, 60 total minutes) of plant and animal growth on orbit, the first multigenerational animal experiment in space and the first commercial experiment on the International Space Station.
6. Virgin Galactic
What it does: Sells tickets for consumer space trips. The company has already sold about 430 tickets.
Cost per ticket: $200,000
7. XCOR Aerospace
What it does: Flight vehicles, piston pumps and rocket engines. And of course, consumer sub-orbital space travel. Its two rocket-powered vehicles, the X-Racer and EX-Rocket, have safely completed 67 piloted demonstrations.
Cost per ticket: $95,000
8. SpaceX
What it does: Space transport. Eventually wants to put a man on Mars.
Famous Founder: SpaceX was founded by Elon Musk, the cofounder of PayPal and Tesla Motors.
9. Blue Origin
What it does: Develops vehicles and technologies to lower the cost and increase the reliability of human access to space.
What Amazon and space have in common: Blue Origin is owned by Amazon-founder Jeff Bezos.
10. Bigelow Aerospace
What it does: "Expandable space habitat technology." The company creates space stations that have more breathing room than your everyday "aluminum can" International Space Station by using inflatable components. Eventually it hopes to lease space on one of its stations for experiments and research. Two prototypes are already in orbit.
Great Expectations: "We anticipate construction of our first space station to begin with a Sundancer launched in early 2014, and that by 2015 the station will be available for client use," says Bigelow's website.
More About: astronomy, Atlantis, List, Lists, Science, space, startups, tech
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