by Ben Daviss One of the first things the United Kingdom did after leaving the European Union was to scrap the EU’s farm subsidy policy and create what one Oxford economist calls an “agricultural revolution.” Under EU rules, farmers were paid for the amount of land they worked and the volume of crops they delivered....
Tag: Feb112020
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INSTANT HYDROGEN FOR ON-DEMAND POWER
by Ben Daviss Fuel cells are tantalizing as a vehicle engine. They run on hydrogen taken out of the air and their only exhaust is water. But the lingering problem has been getting the hydrogen: typically, an intricate chemical reaction is needed, making the process slower and more complicated, using more parts and power. Now...
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LIVING ROBOTS MADE FROM FROGS
by Ben Daviss Scientists continue to blur the line between living creatures and machines. Researchers at the University of Vermont and Tufts University took cells from frog embryos and configured them into living robots that can carry out assignments, such as traveling through arteries to scrape away plaque or picking up toxic molecules and ferrying...
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FOREVER CHEMICALS: POISON ON TAP
Worried about climate change? Forget about it. Keep drinking the water in cities across the United States, and you’ll be long dead before the climate changes. Besides the tons of chemicals, pesticides, and industrial poisons pumped and sprayed into the earth, water, air, and food, the Defense Department has cited 401 bases in the U.S....
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ARGENTINA: BORROWED MONEY, BORROWED TIME
Argentina has suspended all payments on its $57-billion debt to the International Monetary Fund. Vice president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner announced on Saturday that her country will not pay “even half a cent” until Argentina’s recession is over. The way a country ends a recession is through “a lot of state investment,” she added, which...
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INDIA: UP FOR SALE
India’s government has unveiled a plan to raise $30 billion in the new fiscal year by selling state-owned businesses and other public assets. Among those assets are portions of the Life Insurance Corporation of India, various government-owned banks, and the money-losing Air India airline. The fund-raiser is meant to help the government cut its deficit....
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BRITAIN: TRUMP FUMES AT JOHNSON
Donald Trump reportedly vented “apoplectic” fury at Boris Johnson in a phone call last week after the British prime minister’s decision to use technology from the Chinese tech giant Huawei in the UK’s 5G network. The U.S. government has accused Huawei of stealing sensitive American technology and has banned U.S. companies from selling technology to...
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OIL DOWN, GOING LOWER?
In early January, following America’s assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, tensions escalated in the Middle East driving Brent crude to $70 per barrel. Then, as data from the U.S., Europe, and Asia supported a slowing global economy, followed by Coronavirus fears, oil prices, now at around $54 a barrel for Brent crude, have hit...
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CHINA FIGHTS THE VIRUS WITH MONEY
The People’s Bank of China – the country’s central bank – offered $173 billion in cash to overnight markets as they opened last week after being closed from 24 January through 3 February for the Chinese New Year holiday. Because many short-term bonds matured the same day, the available cash nets to about $150 billion....
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DOUBLING DOWN ON THE CORONAVIRUS
Last Thursday, Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, said the Coronavirus has succeeded the U.S.-China trade turmoil as Europe’s main risk to growth this year because China has closed factories, restricted travel, and quarantined cities due to the virus. Her comment followed news that German factory orders fell 2.1 percent in January from...