China’s Black Market Stem Cells
Despite government efforts to ban unapproved stem cell treatments, companies around China still offer them openly.
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Crowdfunding Successes Show Value of Small Donations
Legislation making its way through U.S. Congress would allow anyone to invest in the latest cool idea, with the prospect of making a profit one day. The Crowdfund Act, which passed the Senate in March, would let anyone invest up to 5% of their annual income, or $2,000, in a project or firm that is…
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Environmental Rules: Job Killers or Job Creators?
The Environmental Protection Agency and the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, which reviews all proposed federal regulations, have never used job figures as part of the calculus of the costs and benefits of rule-making, largely because there is no accepted methodology for assessing them. But the Institute for Policy Integrity at New…
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For Science Ph.D.’s, There Is No One True Path
Last April the scientific journal Nature published a series of articles on the overproduction of Ph.D.’s in the sciences. In particular, the journal singled out doctoral education in the United States for its imbalanced Ph.D.-to-job ratio, citing some stunning statistics: From 1973 to 2006, for example, the number of biological-sciences Ph.D. recipients in tenure-track positions…
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U.S. Inches Toward Goal of Energy Independence
Increasing production and declining consumption of oil and gas have unexpectedly brought the United States markedly closer to a goal that has tantalized presidents since Richard Nixon: independence from foreign energy sources, a milestone that could reconfigure American foreign policy, the economy and more. In 2011, the country imported just 45 percent of the liquid…
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Europe’s Water Resources Under Pressure
Continued inefficient use of water could threaten Europe’s economy, productivity and ecosystems, a report has warned. The European Environment Agency (EEA) said that the continent’s water resources were under pressure and things were getting worse. It said limited supplies were being wasted, and nations had to implement existing legislation more effectively.
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Wind-Power Market Blows Cold
The climate is getting worse for wind-power companies, which are finding it increasingly difficult to attract venture backers. Investment in U.S. turbine farms and wind-energy businesses tumbled 38 percent last year to $9.7 billion, according to data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Venture capitalists have practically left the sector altogether. They invested only $177.6 million…
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Think You’ll Live Long? Think Again
Despite great medical advances that have lengthened human life spans, your chances of living a very long life may be lower than you’d hoped. That’s the conclusion of a study by two longevity experts who reviewed the standard models that predict mortality rates and turned up a major error. Instead of confirming that death rates…
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Ultrafast Trades Trigger Market Crashes and Spikes
The US financial markets have suffered over 18,000 extreme price changes caused by ultrafast trading, according to a new study of market data between 2006 and 2011. This kind of trading appears to generate emergent behavior that has nothing to do with the actual value of a company. Instead, these events are unavoidable properties of…
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NASA Issues Call for New Space Taxis
NASA is looking for at least two U.S. firms to design and build space taxis to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station, program managers said. NASA plans to invest $300 million to $500 million in each of the firms selected under new 21-month partnership agreements. The new program aims to build upon…