Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

In the 09/07/2015 edition: Share Tweet Forward Tesla vs Edison reloaded: this time, it’s the hydrogen vs electric car battle By Tibi Puiu on Sep 07, 2015 10:27 am This is the biggest news that no one seems to notice. Sunvault Energy and the Edison Power Company quietly announced they're incorporating a new company called the the Edison Motor Cars Corporation which will focus on selling hydrogen powered cars running on a graphene-based fuel cells. Based on the press release, this is the dream vehicle the world was promised by the now disappointing hydrogen economy: a car that only runs on water and a bit of electricity, is lightning fast, has a high autonomy, is safe and charges within minutes to be ready to hit the road again. To top everything over, the car will allegedly be ready in 2016. That's less than a year from now. But we don't know how the car looks like and considering all these bombastic claims, it all looks like a bunch of star dust in the eyes. Read article »   Termites know more about ventilation that human architects By Alexandru Micu on Sep 07, 2015 09:45 am The humble termite only has its body, saliva and some soil to work with, and the only blueprints it has are instinctual, based on variations in wind speeds and fluctuations in temperature as the sun rises and sets. Working with such limited resources, they still erect monumental mounds that, a new study reveals, rely on a surprisingly well-tuned mechanism for efficient ventilation, something architects today still struggle with. Read article »   Social skills are more important than ever in the labor market By Tibi Puiu on Sep 07, 2015 09:22 am The rate of growth in the number of high paying jobs in the US has steadily declined since 2000, which some attribute to automation. Historically, analytical skills like mathematics, physics or other STEM variations have been rewarded with much revered "dream jobs" - steady, high pay and status. Computers today, however, have become ever more apt at solving complex analytical tasks. You still need competent people plugging in the numbers, programming the computers and so on, but you no longer need a whole team of engineers to crunch numbers. Instead, social skills have become increasingly important according to David Deming, an associate professor of economics at Harvard who studied how the labor market has changed since the 1980s and built a model that showed which are the desired traits employers look for today. Read article »   Your cat doesn’t see you as a source of security and safety By Alexandru Micu on Sep 07, 2015 07:14 am Animal behavior specialists at the University of Lincoln found in a recent study that adult domestic cats do not view owners as the main provider of security and safety, the way dogs do for example. The paper was published in the science journal PLOS ONE this week and comes to shed light on the mechanics of a feline-human relationship. Read article »   California passes law banning ivory to protect endangered animals By Mihai Andrei on Sep 07, 2015 05:11 am Lawmakers from the state of California have passed a law banning the sale of all ivory and rhinoceros horn products in the state. The move was made in an attempt to protect the critically endangered species which are being hunted massively. All ivory owners have until July 1 to get rid of all their products, after which they risk a misdemeanor Read article »   Gigantic Straw Dinosaurs are Taking over Japan! By Mihai Andrei on Sep 07, 2015 04:14 am When life gives you wara (rice straw), make... wara dinosaurs! Read article »