The Economist (May 3)
“Relations between America and China are at a low ebb. Tariffs of well over 100% on both sides have severed trade. Each is striving to dominate 21st-century technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). A massive military build-up is under way. In the previous cold war such rivalries came to a head over flashpoints like the Berlin airlift and the Cuban missile crisis. Today American resolve is likely to be tested over Taiwan—and sooner than many think.”
Tags: AI, Berlin airlift, China, Cold war, Cuban missile crisis, Dominate, Flashpoints, Low ebb, Military build-up, Relations, Resolve, Rivalries, Severed trade, Tariffs, Technologies, Tested, U.S.
Bloomberg (May 31)
“Power-hungry, fossil-fuel dependent Japan has successfully tested a system that could provide a constant, steady form of renewable energy, regardless of the wind or the sun.” The Kairyu prototype is designed to harness the Kuroshio current. “The advantage of ocean currents is their stability. They flow with little fluctuation in speed and direction, giving them a capacity factor…of 50-70%, compared with around 29% for onshore wind and 15% for solar.”
Tags: Capacity factor, Dependent, Energy, Fossil fuel, Japan, Kairyu, Kuroshio current, Ocean, Power-hungry, Prototype, Renewable, Solar, Steady, Tested, Wind
USA Today (November 30)
“People are in for an anxious couple of weeks as data is collected, patient records are scoured, hospitalizations are tracked and blood samples are tested. Only then will we know whether this is another delta variant, fast-moving and highly contagious, or something like a gamma, which appeared, sputtered out and quickly disappeared.”
Tags: Anxious, Contagious, Data, Delta, Disappeared, Fast-moving, Gamma, Hospitalizations, Patient records, Sputtered, Tested, Tracked, Variant
The Times (September 14)
“Only 0.5 per cent of Covid-19 deaths in the first six months of the year followed ‘breakthrough infections’ in fully vaccinated people, figures show…. The Office for National Statistics said only 256 out of 51,281 coronavirus deaths appeared to be true “breakthrough” infections, in which people tested positive at least a fortnight after their second dose.”
Tags: Breakthrough infections, COVID-19, Deaths, Fully vaccinated, Positive, Second dose, Statistics, Tested
