7:42 PM
Controversy over how the DARPA chief owns stock in her family business...and that company just received a $400k contract from DARPA. Frankly, I'm shocked that she didn't sell her stock in the family business since they had received DARPA grants in the past and were trying for others...keeping that stock really set her up for conflict-of-interest accusations. Dugan Ventures founded RedXDefense and Regina Dugan was CEO of RedXDefense before taking charge of DARPA:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/03/darpa-chief-owns-darpa-contractor-stock/
This article points out that Regina Dugan co-founded RedXDefense and that her Dad is RedXDefense's CEO. Her uncle is on RedXDefense's board:
http://www.techeye.net/science/darpa-boss-gave-research-money-to-dad
New Zealand estimates that it will take over $15 bil and 10 years to rebuild from a 6.3 magnitude earthquake that devastated the business district of Christchurch:
http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/new-zealand-quake-could-take-ten-years-and-15-billion-clean
It normally takes months to induce iron-based compounds to superconductivity by exposure to the air, but Japanese researchers found that immersing iron-based compounds in hot alcoholic beverages (red wine, sake, and shochu) enabled superconductivity induction in less than a day!
http://www.iop.org/news/11/march/page_50051.html
Researchers found that reducing the function of a protein called Klotho in obese mice with high blood sugar levels produced lean mice with reduced blood sugar levels. This protein also exists in humans, so targeting that protein with a pill could reduce obesity and maybe even Type 2 diabetes:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-03/foas-nwl030711.php
Record prices for copper (all-time high over $10,000 per ton) has led to rampant copper thefts in England, with a cost of $1.25 bil/year to the British government. Organized gangs are cutting all the copper cables on rail way stations, including train signaling, electricity, and data cables:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/8350418/Copper-thefts-reach-all-time-high.html
The geothermal energy market is growing, but is still far behind wind and solar energy. As of last year, there was 10.7 gigawatts of global capacity for geothermal energy,with wind-power generating 175 gigawatts. By 2020, 14.4 gigawatts of new gigawatts of new geothermal capacity will be added with a growth rate of 3% per year, but further increases face problems with financing, drilling rigs, and skilled labor shortages:
http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/growth-geothermal-energy-market-lags-behind-wind-and-solar
Facebook released a new Facebook Comments system that associates comments with users and eliminates anonymous comments. While this does get rid of trolls and SPAM, Facebook makes it so that any replies that your friends make on your Facebook page will *also* appear on the comment section of whatever third-party site you commented on! So, people commenting on your wall will end up posting comments (with their Facebook ID, including their Facebook photo) to websites that they may never have actually visited:
http://www.infoworld.com/t/social-networking/facebook-comments-the-death-web-anonymity-653
ComScore found that for the first time more people in the US owned Android smartphones than either RIM or Apple. Android up 7.7% (31.2% of smartphone users in the US) while Apple was up 0.1%--market share came from RIM (-5.4%), Microsoft Phone (-1.7%) and Palm (-0.7%, going from 3.9% to 3.2%). I think that it is interesting that 68.1% of US mobile subscribers use text messaging on their mobile device while only 37% use their web browser on their device--I block text messages to my phone and use my web browser all the time. 25.3% of mobile subscribers access social networking sites and 23.7% of mobile users play games on their device:
http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/3/comScore_Reports_January_2011_U.S._Mobile_Subscriber_Market_Share
Starting today, Google Maps Navigation will automatically route you around traffic bottlenecks:
http://www.androidcentral.com/google-maps-navigation-will-now-automatically-route-you-around-traffic
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/03/darpa-chief-owns-darpa-contractor-stock/
This article points out that Regina Dugan co-founded RedXDefense and that her Dad is RedXDefense's CEO. Her uncle is on RedXDefense's board:
http://www.techeye.net/science/darpa-boss-gave-research-money-to-dad
New Zealand estimates that it will take over $15 bil and 10 years to rebuild from a 6.3 magnitude earthquake that devastated the business district of Christchurch:
http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/new-zealand-quake-could-take-ten-years-and-15-billion-clean
It normally takes months to induce iron-based compounds to superconductivity by exposure to the air, but Japanese researchers found that immersing iron-based compounds in hot alcoholic beverages (red wine, sake, and shochu) enabled superconductivity induction in less than a day!
http://www.iop.org/news/11/march/page_50051.html
Researchers found that reducing the function of a protein called Klotho in obese mice with high blood sugar levels produced lean mice with reduced blood sugar levels. This protein also exists in humans, so targeting that protein with a pill could reduce obesity and maybe even Type 2 diabetes:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-03/foas-nwl030711.php
Record prices for copper (all-time high over $10,000 per ton) has led to rampant copper thefts in England, with a cost of $1.25 bil/year to the British government. Organized gangs are cutting all the copper cables on rail way stations, including train signaling, electricity, and data cables:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/8350418/Copper-thefts-reach-all-time-high.html
The geothermal energy market is growing, but is still far behind wind and solar energy. As of last year, there was 10.7 gigawatts of global capacity for geothermal energy,with wind-power generating 175 gigawatts. By 2020, 14.4 gigawatts of new gigawatts of new geothermal capacity will be added with a growth rate of 3% per year, but further increases face problems with financing, drilling rigs, and skilled labor shortages:
http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/growth-geothermal-energy-market-lags-behind-wind-and-solar
Facebook released a new Facebook Comments system that associates comments with users and eliminates anonymous comments. While this does get rid of trolls and SPAM, Facebook makes it so that any replies that your friends make on your Facebook page will *also* appear on the comment section of whatever third-party site you commented on! So, people commenting on your wall will end up posting comments (with their Facebook ID, including their Facebook photo) to websites that they may never have actually visited:
http://www.infoworld.com/t/social-networking/facebook-comments-the-death-web-anonymity-653
ComScore found that for the first time more people in the US owned Android smartphones than either RIM or Apple. Android up 7.7% (31.2% of smartphone users in the US) while Apple was up 0.1%--market share came from RIM (-5.4%), Microsoft Phone (-1.7%) and Palm (-0.7%, going from 3.9% to 3.2%). I think that it is interesting that 68.1% of US mobile subscribers use text messaging on their mobile device while only 37% use their web browser on their device--I block text messages to my phone and use my web browser all the time. 25.3% of mobile subscribers access social networking sites and 23.7% of mobile users play games on their device:
http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/3/comScore_Reports_January_2011_U.S._Mobile_Subscriber_Market_Share
Starting today, Google Maps Navigation will automatically route you around traffic bottlenecks:
http://www.androidcentral.com/google-maps-navigation-will-now-automatically-route-you-around-traffic