Science Journal - WSJ.com

Science Journal - WSJ.com: "In ways we are only beginning to understand, the synapses and neurons in the human nervous system work in concert to perceive the world around them, to learn from their perceptions, to remember important experiences, to plan ahead, and to decide and act on incomplete information. In a rudimentary way, they predetermine our choices."

Accelerating-Intelligence News: Single Article View

Accelerating-Intelligence News: Single Article View: "The total number of people online will climb to 1.8 billion by 2012, encompassing roughly 25 percent of the planet, with the highest growth rates in areas such as China, Russia, India and Brazil, according to a report by Jupiter Research.

Asia will have the highest online growth rate compared to other regions in the world, ans a large pool of sophisticated online users."

Accelerating-Intelligence News: Single Article View

Accelerating-Intelligence News: Single Article View: "Christian Science Monitor, June 18, 2008

A simple new low-cost solar dish developed by MIT students produces steam heat for less than the cost of heat from oil or natural gas, according to the MIT team.

The steam heat can be used cost effectively for manufacturing, food pasteurization, and heating buildings.

New Discovery Proves 'Selfish Gene' Exists

New Discovery Proves 'Selfish Gene' Exists: "A new discovery by a scientist from The University of Western Ontario provides conclusive evidence which supports decades-old evolutionary doctrines long accepted as fact."

Foreign Policy: Seven Questions: The New World Energy Order

Foreign Policy: Seven Questions: The New World Energy Order: "On the supply side, when we look at how much money we need to invest to increase production, we mainly look at how much oil demand will grow in the future. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. The main problem here is that the existing fields, many mature fields, are declining. So we have to increase production, not only to meet the growth in demand, but also to compensate for the decline in existing mature fields outside of OPEC. These decline-rate issues are not really taken into consideration, which is much more important than demand growth when it comes to production prospects. Our book, World Energy Outlook 2008, will provide a lot of data on that."

Foreign Policy: Seven Questions: The New World Energy Order

Foreign Policy: Seven Questions: The New World Energy Order: "The bulk of the oil has in the past been produced by the international oil companies, so-called Big Oil. But their existing reserves are declining in what they have under ownership. They have no access to new reserves, the bulk of which are in Middle East countries. In most of these countries, only the national oil company can, by law, invest. So, even though the international oil companies may have the capital and the technology, they don’t have access to the reserves. Therefore, the bulk of the growth in the future needs to come from the national oil companies, and perhaps price will no longer be the main determinant when they make their [production] decisions, because for many countries, oil is their only natural endowment. And those countries legitimately value and want to leave their one and only natural endowment for future generations."

Six Technologies with Potential Impacts on US Interests out to 2025 – (National Intelligence Council – April, 2008)http://www.dni.gov/nic/confreports_disruptive_tech.htmlA “disruptive technology” is defined as a technology with the potential to causes a noticeable-even if temporary- degradation or enhancement in one of the elements of US national power (geopolitical, military, economic, or social cohesion). The six disruptive technologies most likely to enhance or degrade US national power out to 2025 were in the areas of: Biogerontechnology; Energy Storage Materials; Biofuels and Bio-Based Chemicals; Clean Coal Technologies; Service Robotics; and the Internet of Things.

The Dirty Truth about Canada's Tar-Sands Baby – (Foreign Policy – October 30, 2007)http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/6843Canada is already the largest supplier of oil to the United States. Tar-sand extraction has exploded since oil prices began to rise with the start of the Iraq war, and Canada's total oil output will soon double Kuwait's. But tar-sand extraction comes at a much higher environmental cost than traditional drilling. The extraction of the oil requires heat, and thus the burning of vast amounts of natural gas - effectively one barrel of gas to extract two of crude - and some estimate that Fort McMurray and the Athabasca oil sands will soon be Canada's biggest contributor to global warming; nearly as much as the whole of Denmark. This in an area that has already seen, according to David Schindler, professor of ecology at the University of Alberta, two degrees of warming in the past 40 years.

Africa Fast Running Down Resources – (Planet Ark – June 10, 2008http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48713/story.htmMany African countries are rapidly running down their natural resources as growing populations push the continent towards its ecological limits. The warning was issued in its first-ever detailed report on Africa's ecological footprint -- an estimate of the area of a country or region's land and sea surface used annually in meeting the individual consumption demands of its people. The report put Egypt, Libya and Algeria at the head of a list of nations of the continent already living well beyond their ecological means. But nine others were also using up their bio-capacity -- Morocco, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Senegal, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

The World is Upside Down – (Herald Tribune – June 1, 2008) http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/01/opinion/edcohen.php?page=1
Globalization is now a two-way street; in fact it's an Indian street with traffic weaving in all directions. "In an inverted world, not only have developing economies become dominant forces in global exports in the space of a few years, but their companies are becoming major players in the global economy, challenging the incumbents that dominated the international scene in the 20th century," said Claudio Frischtak, a Brazilian economist and consultant.A shift in economic power is underway whose implications the developed world has not grasped.

FUTUREdition - The Future Today

FUTUREdition - The Future Today: "Harnessing Sunlight on the Cheap (Phys Org – May 7, 2008)
http://www.physorg.com/news129389932.html
For a project that could be on the very cutting edge of renewable energy, this one is actually decidedly low tech–and that’s the point. A team of MIT students has spent the last few months assembling a prototype for a concentrating solar power system they think could revolutionize the field. It’s a 12-foot-square mirrored dish capable of concentrating sunlight by a factor of 1,000, built from simple, inexpensive industrial materials selected for price, durability and ease of assembly rather than for optimum performance."

FUTUREdition - The Future Today

FUTUREdition - The Future Today: "Tasmanian Tiger DNA Resurrected – (BBC News – May 20, 2008)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7408840.stm
A fragment of DNA from the Tasmanian tiger has been brought back to life. The last living specimen died in Hobart zoo in 1936. Australian scientists extracted genetic material from a 100-year-old museum specimen, and put it into a mouse embryo to study how it worked.
It is the first time DNA of an extinct species has been used in this way, says a University of Melbourne team. Some researchers think the method could help reveal the function of genes in species such as the Neanderthals or mammoths."

FUTUREdition - The Future Today

FUTUREdition - The Future Today: "A Critique of Shortsighted Anthropic Principles – (Phys Org – May 16, 2008)
http://www.physorg.com/news130167074.html
Many people marvel that we live in a universe that seems to be precisely tailored to suit the development of intelligent life. The observation is the basis for some forms of “Anthropic Principles” that strive to explain why the laws of physics take the form we observe, given the nearly countless other possibilities permitted by schools of thought such as string theory. But a new paper in Physical Review Letters from a group of physicists at Case Western Reserve University argues that any connection between the laws of physics and the existence of life is likely to be an illusion stemming from our shortsighted definition of intelligent life."

We're really subsidising Opec-Swaminomics-Swaminathan A Aiyar-Columnists-Opinion-The Times of India

We're really subsidising Opec-Swaminomics-Swaminathan A Aiyar-Columnists-Opinion-The Times of India: "Rich countries have learned from history, but developing countries have not. The demand for oil in rich countries is slowing today with rising prices. Petrol consumption has fallen in the US as the price has risen to $4/gallon. US demand for gas-guzzling large cars has collapsed, and General Motors wants to sell its Hummer brand, the largest car of all. All these positive outcomes flow from passing on the burden of Opec to the consumer.

But China, India and many developing countries have tried to keep oil prices artificially low. Thus, they have kept demand artificially high (they now account for a big chunk of world demand). And that is why Opec is able to sell oil at $135/barrel, despite a global slowdown.

Ideally, India should pass on the full cost to consumers, as it did in 1974. But for politicians who view high subsidies as electoral necessities, here is a proposal. First, abolish all implicit and explicit subsidies on oil. Use the money saved to cut excise duties on other items of common consumption and provide cash to poor families. Overall inflation and government revenue will be unchanged. Yet, the poor will benefit, and high oil prices will encourage energy-efficiency. India's oil use will fall, helping lower Opec's prices. That will be better than today's policy, which ends up subsidising Saudi Arabia."

Economic View - This Global Show Must Go On - NYTimes.com

Economic View - This Global Show Must Go On - NYTimes.com: "By 2010, China will have more Ph.D. scientists and engineers than the United States. These professionals are not fundamentally a threat. To the contrary, they are creators, whose ideas are likely to improve the lives of ordinary Americans, not just the business elites. The more access the Chinese have to American and other markets, the more they can afford higher education and the greater their incentive to innovate."

Economic View - This Global Show Must Go On - NYTimes.com

Economic View - This Global Show Must Go On - NYTimes.com: "THE last 20 years have brought the world more trade, more globalization and more economic growth than in any previous such period in history. Few commentators had believed that such a rise in trade and living standards was possible so quickly.
David G. KleinMore than 400 million Chinese climbed out of poverty between 1990 and 2004, according to the World Bank. India has become a rapidly growing economy, the middle class in Brazil and Mexico is flourishing, and recent successes of Ghana and Tanzania show that parts of Africa may be turning the corner as well."