Global Food Shortages And Higher Prices Around The Corner

Expert Warns Of Global Food Shortages And Higher Prices -- Sydney Morning Herald

AS MUCH food is wasted in developed countries as is produced in sub-Saharan Africa.

This ''eye-popping'' statistic highlights one of the big changes urgently required to meet the challenge of feeding 9 billion people by 2050, a visiting expert in agriculture and economics has said.

Chris Barrett, of Cornell University, warns there is ''dangerous complacency'' about global food security. Professor Barrett, who will give a public lecture on Wednesday night at the University of Sydney, said that demand for food is about to rise significantly, particularly as a result of population growth in developing countries, rises in income and the migration of people to towns and cities.

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My Comment: The focus has always been on oil and resource conflicts .... and the geopolitics that it spawns. The coming food and water shortages in the developing world is something that we in the West are not accustomed to .... but I suspect will have to get use to as refugee numbers start to swell from these areas.

A Review Of The Porsche Cayman R

Porsche Cayman R. Photo by Basem Wasef/Wired

No, Officer, I Don't Know How Fast I Was Going: A Review Of The Porsche Cayman R -- Wired

n this unprecedented age of obscene horsepower and affordable performance, the Porsche Cayman R is the Jenyne Butterfly of the sports car world.

Who is Jenyne Butterfly? Look her up, preferably not at work.

Ms. Butterfly’s sinewy muscles are cut on gracile bone, and articulate her long limbs with purposeful flexibility. She’s graced with the sort of physique you’d associate with an Olympic swimmer or an extreme yogi. She also possesses a preternatural ability to fling herself across a pole with fluid undulations that appear to disobey the laws of physics.

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My Comment: A car clearly built for speed.

China Pushes To Have Supercomputers

China's Tianhe-1A is the second most powerful supercomputer in the world. Photo: Nvidia

Intel Feeds China’s Supercomputers With New Xeon Chip -- Wired Enterprise

China took the world by surprise last year when it unveiled a previously unknown supercomputer called the Sunway BlueLight MPP. It’s one of the world’s top supercomputers and here’s the kicker: It uses ShenWei SW-3 microprocessors that are made in China.

Now, Intel has introduced a new Xeon chip that could provide Chinese companies with an incentive to stick with Intel, already the top provider of microprocessors to supercomputers worldwide. The chip, called the E5-4600, essentially fuses four Xeon chips and as many as 32 processor cores into one package that is more efficient at shipping around data between various parts of the computer.

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My Comment: China`s push into supercomputers should surprise no one.

Advances In "intelligence Clothing" Could Save U.S. Military Lives

Photo By U.S. Army Spc. Sara Wakai

Intelligent Clothing Could Save US Military Lives -- Yahoo News/Live Science

When soldiers fall wounded on future battlefields, their smart uniforms may instantly report the location of gunshot wounds or even detect traces of nuclear, biological or chemical attacks in blood and sweat. That intelligent clothing could make a lifesaving difference in medical care and give U.S. commanders a sense of battles unfolding as casualties mount.

The smart uniforms would include medical sensors built into the fabric to monitor the health of U.S. troops, according to a notice issued by the Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) on May 7. Such clothes would not only detect where wounds occurred and how deep they go, but also report a fallen soldier's location with GPS coordinates and pass along other critical information for battlefield medics.

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My Comment: This research looks very promising.

Why Canines Yawn After Their 'Dog Tired' Owners

Open wide: Yawning is infectious - for dogs such as this Basset hound mid-yawn. Daily Mail

Revealed: Why Canines Yawn After Their 'Dog Tired' Owners -- The Telegraph

Dogs are compelled to yawn if they hear their owners do the same, a study has suggested.

Researchers claimed that dogs responded only to an audio cue such as a yawn even if they didn’t see the action taking place.

The study found this was particularly noticeable when the dogs were listening to the yawns of people they knew.

Scientists suggested the findings, presented at the National Ethology Congress in Lisbon, showed canines had empathy to human behaviours.

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My Comment: It should be noted that sometimes the owners yawn after their dogs do (at least in my case).

Nasa Probe Sees The 'Edge' Of Our Solar System For First Time

Detecting clues: The discovery, by Nasa's Interstella Boundary Explorer (IBEX) ship, gives the most complete glimpse yet of what lies beyond our solar system

The Outer Limits: Nasa Probe Sees The 'Edge' Of Our Solar System For First Time - And It's Completely Different From What We Thought -- Daily Mail

* Solar system 'travelling more slowly than thought'
* 'Bow shock' - like a sonic boom in space - does not exist
* 25 years of research turned on its head
* Detected by the orbitiing IBEX probe, with information from Nasa's two Voyager craft

Nasa's probes have seen the 'edge' of our solar system for the first time - and it's completely different from what scientists thought.

Our solar system is flying through space more slowly than we thought - and Nasa's IBEX - Interstellar Boundary Explorer - has found it doesn't have a 'bow shock', an area of gas or plasma that shields our solar system as it hurtles though space

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My Comment: This is what I love above space science .... learning things that we never thought of before.

Rise And Fall Of An Underwater Volcano

Rise And Fall Of Underwater Volcano Revealed -- BBC

The violent rise and collapse of an underwater volcano in the Pacific Ocean is captured in startling clarity for the first time.

Researchers studying the Monowai volcano, near Tonga, recorded huge changes in height in just two weeks.

The images, gathered by sonar from a research ship, shed new light on the turbulent fate of submarine mountains.

Published in the journal Nature Geoscience, the findings were made during a seabed survey last year.

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My Comment: I wish they had an underwater camera to capture all of this.

Interview With A Safecracker

Interview With A Safecracker -- Marginal Revolution

Interesting throughout, here is one bit:

Q: How realistic are movies that show people breaking into vaults? A: Not very! In the movies it takes five minutes of razzle-dazzle; in real life it’s usually at least a couple of hours of precision work for an easy, lost combination lockout.

Most vault lockouts are caused by malfunctions. A bank employee over-winds the time lock, a technician makes a mistake servicing the vault, or there was no maintenance because the bank has initiated yet another round of cost cutting.

Another 10-20% of my income comes from law enforcement searches and seizures or estate, aka “dead relative” openings. They hire me and I drill it open, but these are not situations where I like to hang around too long.

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My Comment: A fascinating read.

Eerie Second World War RAF Fighter Plane Discovered In The Sahara

Shifting sands: The final resting place of the Kittyhawk P-40 has been discovered in the Sahara 70 years after it crashed there

Frozen In The Sands Of Time: Eerie Second World War RAF Fighter Plane Discovered In The Sahara... 70 Years After It Crashed In The Desert -- Daily Mail

* Pilot of the Kittyhawk P-40 was thought to have survived crash, but died trying to walk out of the desert
* Aircraft was found almost perfectly preserved, unseen and untouched, after it came down in 1942
* Historian describes find as 'an incredible time capsule' and 'the aviation equivalent of Tutankhamun's Tomb'

He was hundreds of miles from civilisation, lost in the burning heat of the desert.

Second World War Flight Sergeant Dennis Copping took what little he could from the RAF Kittyhawk he had just crash-landed, then wandered into the emptiness.

From that day in June 1942 the mystery of what happened to the dentist’s son from Southend was lost, in every sense, in the sands of time.

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My Comment: 200 miles away from the nearest town .... the pilot must have known that he was not going to make it. But he tried anyway.

Google - NSA Ties Can Still Remain Secret

Court Affirms Protection Of Google/NSA Communications -- CNN

Washington (CNN) -- U.S. authorities are not required to release any internal National Security Agency communications it had with Internet giant Google Inc. after a 2010 cyber attack in China, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

At issue was a Freedom of Information Act request from a private group over the suspected collaborative relationship between the public and private entities. The NSA said disclosure of any communications -- even with outside companies -- would threaten government information systems.

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More News On The U.S. Courts Affirming The Secrecy Of Google/NSA Communications

US spy agency can keep mum on Google ties: court -- AFP
Appeals court won’t order public release of Google-NSA communications following cyberattack -- Washington Post/AP
Court Upholds Google-NSA Relationship Secrecy -- Threat Level
Court allows NSA and Google to keep their ties secret -- RT
Court Rules NSA Doesn't Have To Reveal Its Semi-Secret Relationship With Google -- Forbes
Google Could Be Helping The Government Spy -- Business Insider
We'll Never Know What Google's Doing With the NSA -- Atlantic Wire

The Ultimate Electric Car Inspired By Jaguar's Iconic E-Type

Stunning: The Jaguar XKX concept car features amazing energy capturing bodywork that recharges the battery as air flows over it

Look What The Bright Sparks At Jaguar Have Come Up With: The Ultimate Electric Car Inspired By The Iconic E-Type -- Daily Mail

* Car features layers of microscopic ripples that recharge batteries when stimulated by the friction of airflow

If this stunning electronic concept car drives half as well as it looks Jaguar should be able to convert even the most ardent petrol heads to battery power.

The XKX will not be unveiled to the world any time soon as it the dream child of an independent design studio which has no links to the car marque.

But it does provide a glimpse of the astonishing cutting-edge science which could be driving cars of the future.

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My Comment: The word 'sleek' comes to me when I look at this car.

A Doomsday Scenario For The Japanese?

Lack Of Babies Could Mean The Extinction Of The Japanese People -- FOX News

Japan has a problem, a lack of children, and it seems likely there will be even fewer in the future.

Japanese researchers have now warned of a doomsday scenario if it carries on this way with the last child to be born there in 3011 and the Japanese people potentially disappearing a few generations later.

Academics from the city of Sendai, which was hit hard by last year's tsunami, calculate there are now 16.6 million children under the age of 14 now in Japan.

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My Comment: The population is going to decline .... that is the world trend .... but I doubt that it will go to zero.

Seven Volcanoes That Should Be Watched

Popocatépetl, Mexico

7 Volcanoes We Should Be Watching -- Popular Mechanics

Two years ago, Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull brought most European air travel to a halt. This year, volcanoes such as Mexico's Popocatépetl and Indonesia's Lokon-Empung are rumbling. Volcanoes are impossible to predict with certainty, but these are seven active ones that we know we must watch.

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My Comment: I would add a few others to this list .... but these 7 are OK for now.

Surfer Sets Guinness Record Riding 78-Foot Wave

Surfer Catches 'Biggest Wave Ever' Off Portugal -- Christian Science Monitor

The Guinness World Records recognizes Hawaii pro surfer for the biggest wave ever ridden. Garrett McNamara surfed a 78-foot wave off the coast of Portugal.

The Guinness World Records has recognized a 44-year-old Hawaii pro surfer for catching a 78-foot wave off the coast of Portugal, saying the November feat beats a 2008 record for the biggest ridden by more than 1 foot.

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My Comment: That's one impressive wave.

Using Magnetic Bacteria To Construct Biocomputers

Magnetospirilllum magneticum University of Leeds

Using Magnetic Bacteria To Construct The Biocomputer Of The Future -- Popular Science

As computer components grow smaller and smaller it becomes more and more difficult to manufacture them by conventional means, meaning the nano-hard-drives of the future are going to come at a cost. So researchers from the University of Leeds in the UK and Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology are enlisting the help of magnetic bacteria, which they say can be harnessed to build tiny computing components similar to those found in conventional PCs, or even to construct the biological computers of the future.

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My Comment: Talk about small .... correction .... very small.

The First Solar-Powered Ship To Circumnavigate The Globe

Tûranor PlanetSolar Wikimedia Commons

The First Solar-Powered Ship To Circumnavigate The Globe Completes Its Trip -- Popular Science

The MS Tûranor PlanetSolar pulled into Monaco's Hercule Harbor on Friday, completing its journey around the world--the very first solely solar-powered watercraft to do so. Of course, it's not an ordinary ship. It cost over $16 million USD, has over 500 square meters of solar panels, and can house 200 people.

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My Comment: A top speed of 14 knots .... and 585 days to go around the world. Impressive (for a solar power boat) if you ask me.

New Hope For An Alzheimer Treatment

Injection Offers Alzheimer's Hope -- The Telegraph

Hopes have been raised for new Alzheimer's treatments after scientists found an injection could stop the body from killing brain cells by "cutting off" their protein supply.

Researchers found that by injecting a protein into the brain, they could protect nerve cells in the brains of mice with prion disease, a condition which normally causes the brain to slowly die.

Because the process by which prion disease affects the brains of mice is similar to some degenerative brain conditions in humans, it is hoped that the findings could lead to breakthroughs in the treatment of Alzheimer's or Parkinson's.

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Mystery Continues On Marine Monster Caught In Video

Mysterious Marine Monster Caught In Video -- Discovery News

A strange creature allegedly filmed by underwater drillers in the deep ocean on April 25 has sparked intrigue and controversy on the Internet. Theories about the mysterious animal range from a jellyfish to an unknown marine version of the Loch Ness monster to a whale placenta.

Neither the source of the video nor the location where it was filmed have been revealed, leading some people to suspect a hoax.

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My Comment: Learning something new every day.

Vesta Is A Baby Planet, Not An Asteroid

Artist's concept shows NASA's Dawn spacecraft orbiting the giant asteroid Vesta (Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Vesta A Baby Planet, Not An Asteroid -- ABC News (Australia)

Vesta, the second largest object in the main asteroid belt, has an iron core, a varied surface, layers of rock and possibly a magnetic field - all signs of a planet in the making, not an asteroid.

So concludes an international team of scientists treated to a virtual front row seat at Vesta for the past 10 months, courtesy of NASA's Dawn robotic probe.

They have a bit more ground to cover before Dawn leaves Vesta's cratered, lava-like surface in late August to rendezvous with the king of the asteroid belt, Ceres, another type of proto-planet believed to be flush with water ice.

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My Comment: Looks like a planet to me.

Microsoft's Bing Search Engines To Use Social media Platforms

The new social results will appear in a grey column on the right-hand side of Bing's results page

Microsoft's Bing Search Engines To Use Facebook Tips -- BBC

Microsoft is revamping its Bing search engine to include advice from Facebook and other social media platforms.

The move involves the introduction of a new sidebar which seeks to connect users with friends and other enthusiasts who can provide help.

The firm says it is based on the fact "90% of people consult with a friend or expert before making a decision".

Surveys suggest Bing has about a 15% share of the US search market, lagging behind Google's 66% portion.

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My Comment: It's about time that search engines start using social media outlets like Facebook for results.