Time to look around the intertubes and see if anything is new on subjects I've covered so far.
The Decline of Russia: Well, if anyone needs a second opinion on Russia, I'd refer you to World Affairs, and an article by Nicholas Eberstadt called Drunken Nation: Russia's Depopulation Bomb. Eberstadt takes a much longer and closer look at the demographics destroying Russia today.
Green Technology: Venture capital investment in green technology fell 48% in the first quarter of 2009, to a paltry total of $1 billion in 82 countries. (No comment on how poorly VC investment is doing in other sectors--I'd be surprised if Green Technology fared any worse than anbyody else.) But nobody will even notice, I imagine, as governments around the world have earmarked $400 billion for various green technologies.
Nanotechnology. Two story leads here, reported without comment: 1. An article in the April 2009 The Lancent Infectious Diseases, highlights research being conducted using nanotechnology to prevent, diagnose and treat infectious diseases. Saying that progress in this field is moving at an exponential pace, the author quotes Karin Forsberg-Nilsson, chair of the EuroNanoMed Network Steering Committee, as urging industrial players to collaborate more closely with scientists and clinicians, to shorten the delay from patents to patients. 2. The European Parliament's Environment Committee this week adopted a report that calls for nanotechnology products already on the market to be withdrawn until safety assessments can be made.
Robotics: ADAM is the first robot—but maybe not the last—to have independently discovered new scientific information, according to scientists who recently built themselves the mechanical colleague.
Genetics: Gene mutations that cause infertility in men could point the way to a male birth control pill, American and Iranian researchers say.
That's it for Sunday--more rigorous work on tap for tomorrow.
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