Pandemic slows across world | AFP

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Jan. 29, 2021 (MedicalXpress) -- The COVID-19 pandemic slowed down in every region of the world over the past week, according to a specialised AFP database. Here is the state of the pandemic worldwide: Slowdown worldwide The pace of the pandemic slackened for the second week in a row, with 11 percent fewer new cases per day, or 564,300, compared with the previous ...

World's Fastest Optical Neuromorphic Processor | Swinburne University of Technology

Dr Xingyuan (Mike) Xu with the integrated optical microcomb chip, which forms the core part of the optical neuromorphic processor. Credit: Swinburne University of Technology Jan. 7, 2021 (TechXplore) -- An international team of researchers led by Swinburne University of Technology has demonstrated the world's fastest and most powerful optical neuromorphic processor for artificial intelligence (AI ...

The World is Changing: China Launches Campaign for Superpower Status | Ramzy Baroud

Dr. Ramzy BaroudRamzy Baroud -- Ramzy Baroud Oct. 19, 2020 The outdated notion that China "just wants to do business" should be completely erased from our understanding of the rising global power’s political outlook. Simply put, Beijing has long realized that, in order for it to sustain its economic growth unhindered, it has to develop the necessary tools to protect itself, its allies and their c ...

Energy Scavenging Nanogenerator Finds Power All Around Us | Flinders University

Aqueous biologically based polyurethanes reinforced with cellulose nanocrystals. Credit: CC0 Public Domain Oct. 20, 2020 (Phys.org) -- Imagine a mobile phone charger that doesn't need a wireless or mains power source. Or a pacemaker with inbuilt organic energy sources within the human body. Australian researchers led by Flinders University are picking up the challenge of "scavenging" invisible po ...

A Global Survey Of Potential Acceptance Of A COVID-19 Vaccine | Nature Medicine

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Differences in acceptance rates range from almost 90 percent (in China) to less than 55 percent (in Russia) Nature Medicine Oct. 20, 2020 Abstract Several coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines are currently in human trials. In June 2020, we surveyed 13,426 people in 19 countries to determine potential acceptance rates and factors influencing acceptance of ...

The Mask of Disenchantment | John Michael Greer

Illustration: Kai and Sunny. The Guardian Sept 30. 2020 (EcoSophia.net) -- When I noticed at the beginning of the month that September had five Wednesdays, and I didn’t have anything in mind to post here for the fifth of them, I asked my readers for their suggestions, following an old custom here that I’ve recently revived. As usual, the resulting discussion was lively and quite a few topics were ...

Theosophy: The Dog and the Wolf | John Michael Greer

The dog and the wolf, from the Book of Lambspring Sept. 16, 2020 (EcoSophia.net) -- In last month’s discussion of America’s magical history, we explored the 19th-century transformations of alchemy into a system (or more precisely several systems) of spiritual transformation that had little or nothing to do with furnaces, retorts, and chemicals. It’s a nice bit of synchronicity that the story we’l ...

Meet BlackRock, the New Great Vampire Squid | Ellen Brown

June 22, 2020 (Web of Debt) -- BlackRock is a global financial giant with customers in 100 countries and its tentacles in major asset classes all over the world; and it now manages the spigots to trillions of bailout dollars from the Federal Reserve. The fate of a large portion of the country’s corporations has been put in the hands of a megalithic private entity with the private capitalist manda ...

The Great Reset | World Economic Forum

The Great Reset: A Unique Twin Summit to Begin 2021 “The Great Reset” will be the theme of a unique twin summit in January 2021, convened by the World Economic Forum. “The Great Reset” is a commitment to jointly and urgently build the foundations of our economic and social system for a more fair, sustainable and resilient future. It requires a new social contract centered on human dignity, social ...

A Chronicle Of A Lost Decade Foretold | Yanis Varoufakis

Yanis Varoufakis, Berlin 2015June 1, 2020 -- ATHENS (YanisVaroufakis.eu) -- To exorcise my worst fears about the coming decade, I chose to write a bleak chronicle of it. If, by December 2030, developments have invalidated it, I hope such dreary prognoses will have played a part by spurring us to appropriate action. Before our pandemic-induced lockdowns, politics seemed to be a game. Political par ...

Vaccine Hopes And Economic Woes As Virus Spreads | AFP

Credit: CC0 Public Domain May 16, 2020 (AFP) -- President Donald Trump voiced hope Friday that a coronavirus vaccine will be available by late 2020, cushioning dire US economic news as parts of Europe re-open despite fears of a second wave of the pandemic. Several nations have eased restrictions to stem the economic damage from lockdowns, as much of the world learns to live as best it can under t ...