“China’s evaporating cheap labor pool will disrupt supply chains and consumption habits around the world.”
Shaun Rein takes a hard look at the economic colossus in The End of Cheap China. Rein is managing director of China Market Research Group, a strategic market intelligence firm with clients like Apple, DuPont and Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Continue reading… “World must adjust to end of cheap labor in China”
Mike Mann has been snapping up Internet domain names and selling them off to the highest bidder for years.
Mike Mann is one of the longest members of the world of domain speculators, and he’s buying up names in force these days. Not all of them are on the aftermarket, as some other speculators buy domain names. They are new names. Dot-com names that aren’t registered — even though 100 million-plus already are — that he then turns around and sells for a few hundred bucks, sometimes far more.
Continue reading… “Mike Mann registers 14,962 domain names in 24 hours”
The new startup, Planetary Resources will mine asteroids for precious metals.
Peter Diamandis, entrepreneur and X-Prize impresario, earlier in 2012 hinted he was about to unveil something amazing: a startup that will mine asteroids for precious metals.
Continue reading… “Google and tech ecexutives back Planetary Resources to mine asteroids”
Artist’s impression based on a real atomic force microscopy (AFM) image showing conductive supramolecular fibers trapped between two gold electrodes spaced 100 nm apart. Each plastic fiber is composed of several short fibers and is capable of transporting electrical charges with the same efficiency as a metal.
Researchers from CNRS and the Université de Strasbourg, headed by Nicolas Giuseppone (1) and Bernard Doudin (2), have succeeded in making highly conductive plastic fibers that are only several nanometers thick. These nanowires, for which CNRS has filed a patent, “self-assemble” when triggered by a flash of light. Inexpensive and easy to handle, unlike carbon nanotubes (3), they combine the advantages of the two materials currently used to conduct electric current: metals and plastic organic polymers (4). In fact, their remarkable electrical properties are similar to those of metals.
Continue reading… “Self-Assembling Highly Conductive Plastic Nanofibers”
The T-Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle from Honeywell.
The FBI and the Air Force have approval to fly drones. But so does Herington, Kansas which has a population of 2,526 according to new documents that shed light on which government agencies are experimenting with the domestic use of unmanned aerial vehicles, also known as drones.
Continue reading… “More drones taking to the skies in the U.S.”
Nephew Mikaia showing Grandpa Norman what he knows
Futurist Thomas Frey: Over the past couple months I’ve become enamored with watching my two-year-old nephew Mikaia learn the letters of the alphabet, colors, and numbers. Even though he doesn’t have them all perfect, he’s scoring in the high 90% when we quiz him verbally.
Next up, the periodic table of elements?
Continue reading… “Teacherless Education and the Competition that will Change Everything”
“In 2050, Amsterdam’s red light district will all be about android prostitutes.”
Researchers in New Zealand predict that in the future brothels will serve-up robot prostitutes offering clean, guilt-free sex.
Continue reading… “Researchers predict brothels will offer robot prostitutes by 2050”
Coral reef
The Florida Keys are a magnet for tourists. But the kaleidoscope of life in the coral reefs under the turquoise waters isn’t just a pretty view. The same chemistry that helps corals and sponges survive is also helping people fight cancer.
Continue reading… “Doctors develop cancer fighting drugs from coral reefs”
X-ray spex in your cell phone?
Researchers at UT Dallas have designed an imager chip that could turn mobile phones into devices that can see through walls, wood, plastics, paper and other objects.
Continue reading… “Future smartphone cameras could see through walls”
As the number of Americans who are overweight has grown, studies show that they have gained some four-legged company.
Lacey, a white German shepherd, was crippled by a weight problem and hip dysplasia and was barely able to walk in the year before she died.
Continue reading… “Half of all dogs and cats in America are overweight: Study”
Dr. Julie Palais (left), NSF-OPP Glaciology Program Manager, and Anais Orsi (right) inside a back-lit snow pit at WAIS Divide
Because of global warming, ice sheets in Antarctica are melting and ancient creatures, which have been trapped there for hundreds of thousands of years, are being released into the world.
A well-worn premise for a sci-fi movie? No, actually – it’s happening for real…
Continue reading… “Ancient bacteria emerge from melting ice sheets”
Scientists create blackest silicon solar cell.
Scientists at Natcore Technology have created a black silicon solar cell with an average reflectance of 0.3%, making it the “blackest” solar cell ever designed. Natcore’s development offers a tenfold decrease in reflectance over the solar spectrum. The result is an increase in energy efficiency that could help solar power compete even more effectively with traditional fossil fuels.
Continue reading… “‘Blackest’ solar cell ever absorbs 99.7% of all light”