Ramez Naam's Blog, page 11
June 27, 2012
Pricing Nature to Save the Planet
New Scientist, covering Rio+20, talks about putting a price on the natural world: Green economics, the theory goes, will work by quantifying nature and giving it a cash value. As Steiner put it: “Factoring natural capital into the bottom line … Continue reading →
May 3, 2012
Is Automation the Handmaiden of Inequality?
In Technology Review, Christopher Mims asks if the increasing automation of US industry has contributed to growing inequality, by bringing its gains to factory owners rather than workers. Here’s how I would interpret the odd coincidence of these two trends: … Continue reading →
One gene helped human brains become complex
Two extra copies of the SRGAP2 gene appear to have led to slower human brain development, but denser interconnection between neurons, possibly contributing to our current cognitive abilities. (Total brain interconnectivity correlates moderately well with IQ.) Makes one wonder about … Continue reading →
April 24, 2012
China now consumes twice as much meat as the United States
Janet Larsen at the Earth Policy Institute has an extremely informative post on meat consumption in China. Total meat consumption there has risen by a whopping 600% since 1980 and is now double the amount consumed in the US. Yet … Continue reading →
April 23, 2012
Nano-devices that cross blood-brain barrier
In my upcoming sci-fi novel Nexus , I write about a nano-device that can cross the blood-brain barrier and which has a very real impact on the mind. Not so far fetched… A team of scientists from Johns Hopkins and elsewhere have … Continue reading →
February 22, 2012
Combining Current Tech Could Make Solar Cheaper than Coal
By the end of the decade, manufacturers in the United States could make solar panels that are less than half as expensive as the ones they make now. That would be cheap enough for solar power to compete with electricity … Continue reading →
January 31, 2012
Innovation as the Infinite Resource: My Talk at Chicago Ideas Week
Innovation as the Infinite Resource: Ramez Naam at Chicago Ideas Week Tagged: energy, environment, infinite resource, science, solar
No Big Fukushima Health Impact Seen, UN Official Says: Scientific American
The health impact of last year’s Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan appears relatively small thanks partly to prompt evacuations, the chairman of a U.N. scientific body investigating the effects of radiation said on Tuesday. …. “As far as the doses … Continue reading →
January 30, 2012
Japans population to drop by 1 million each year
Japans rapid aging means the national population of 128 million will shrink by one-third by 2060 and seniors will account for 40 percent of people, placing a greater burden on the shrinking work force population to support the social security … Continue reading →
