tagged w/ New Science
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AS PROTESTS against financial power sweep the world this week, science may have confirmed the protesters' worst fears. An analysis of the relationships between 43,000 transnational corporations has identified a relatively small group of companies, mainly banks, with disproportionate power over the global economy.
The study's assumptions have attracted some criticism, but complex systems analysts contacted by New Scientist say it is a unique effort to untangle control in the global economy. Pushing the analysis further, they say, could help to identify ways of making global capitalism more stable.
The idea that a few bankers control a large chunk of the global economy might not seem like news to New York's Occupy Wall Street movement and protesters elsewhere (see photo). But the study, by a trio of complex systems theorists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, is the first to go beyond ideology to empirically identify such a network of power. It combines the mathematics long used to model natural systems with comprehensive corporate data to map ownership among the world's transnational corporations (TNCs).
"Reality is so complex, we must move away from dogma, whether it's conspiracy theories or free-market," says James Glattfelder. "Our analysis is reality-based."
Previous studies have found that a few TNCs own large chunks of the world's economy, but they included only a limited number of companies and omitted indirect ownerships, so could not say how this affected the global economy - whether it made it more or less stable, for instance.
The Zurich team can. From Orbis 2007, a database listing 37 million companies and investors worldwide, they pulled out all 43,060 TNCs and the share ownerships linking them. Then they constructed a model of which companies controlled others through shareholding networks, coupled with each company's operating revenues, to map the structure of economic power.
The work, to be published in PLoS One, revealed a core of 1318 companies with interlocking ownerships (see image). Each of the 1318 had ties to two or more other companies, and on average they were connected to 20. What's more, although they represented 20 per cent of global operating revenues, the 1318 appeared to collectively own through their shares the majority of the world's large blue chip and manufacturing firms - the "real" economy - representing a further 60 per cent of global revenues.
When the team further untangled the web of ownership, it found much of it tracked back to a "super-entity" of 147 even more tightly knit companies - all of their ownership was held by other members of the super-entity - that controlled 40 per cent of the total wealth in the network. "In effect, less than 1 per cent of the companies were able to control 40 per cent of the entire network," says Glattfelder. Most were financial institutions. The top 20 included Barclays Bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co, and The Goldman Sachs Group.
John Driffill of the University of London, a macroeconomics expert, says the value of the analysis is not just to see if a small number of people controls the global economy, but rather its insights into economic stability.
Concentration of power is not good or bad in itself, says the Zurich team, but the core's tight interconnections could be. As the world learned in 2008, such networks are unstable. "If one [company] suffers distress," says Glattfelder, "this propagates."
"It's disconcerting to see how connected things really are," agrees George Sugihara of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, a complex systems expert who has advised Deutsche Bank.
Yaneer Bar-Yam, head of the New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI), warns that the analysis assumes ownership equates to control, which is not always true. Most company shares are held by fund managers who may or may not control what the companies they part-own actually do. The impact of this on the system's behaviour, he says, requires more analysis.
Crucially, by identifying the architecture of global economic power, the analysis could help make it more stable. By finding the vulnerable aspects of the system, economists can suggest measures to prevent future collapses spreading through the entire economy. Glattfelder says we may need global anti-trust rules, which now exist only at national level, to limit over-connection among TNCs. Sugihara says the analysis suggests one possible solution: firms should be taxed for excess interconnectivity to discourage this risk.
One thing won't chime with some of the protesters' claims: the super-entity is unlikely to be the intentional result of a conspiracy to rule the world. "Such structures are common in nature," says Sugihara.
Newcomers to any network connect preferentially to highly connected members. TNCs buy shares in each other for business reasons, not for world domination. If connectedness clusters, so does wealth, says Dan Braha of NECSI: in similar models, money flows towards the most highly connected members. The Zurich study, says Sugihara, "is strong evidence that simple rules governing TNCs give rise spontaneously to highly connected groups". Or as Braha puts it: "The Occupy Wall Street claim that 1 per cent of people have most of the wealth reflects a logical phase of the self-organising economy."
So, the super-entity may not result from conspiracy. The real question, says the Zurich team, is whether it can exert concerted political power. Driffill feels 147 is too many to sustain collusion. Braha suspects they will compete in the market but act together on common interests. Resisting changes to the network structure may be one such common interest.
When this article was first posted, the comment in the final sentence of the paragraph beginning "Crucially, by identifying the architecture of global economic power…" was misattributed.
The top 50 of the 147 superconnected companies
1. Barclays plc
2. Capital Group Companies Inc
3. FMR Corporation
4. AXA
5. State Street Corporation
6. JP Morgan Chase & Co
7. Legal & General Group plc
8. Vanguard Group Inc
9. UBS AG
10. Merrill Lynch & Co Inc
11. Wellington Management Co LLP
12. Deutsche Bank AG
13. Franklin Resources Inc
14. Credit Suisse Group
15. Walton Enterprises LLC
16. Bank of New York Mellon Corp
17. Natixis
18. Goldman Sachs Group Inc
19. T Rowe Price Group Inc
20. Legg Mason Inc
21. Morgan Stanley
22. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc
23. Northern Trust Corporation
24. Société Générale
25. Bank of America Corporation
26. Lloyds TSB Group plc
27. Invesco plc
28. Allianz SE 29. TIAA
30. Old Mutual Public Limited Company
31. Aviva plc
32. Schroders plc
33. Dodge & Cox
34. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc*
35. Sun Life Financial Inc
36. Standard Life plc
37. CNCE
38. Nomura Holdings Inc
39. The Depository Trust Company
40. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance
41. ING Groep NV
42. Brandes Investment Partners LP
43. Unicredito Italiano SPA
44. Deposit Insurance Corporation of Japan
45. Vereniging Aegon
46. BNP Paribas
47. Affiliated Managers Group Inc
48. Resona Holdings Inc
49. Capital Group International Inc
50. China Petrochemical Group Company
* Lehman still existed in the 2007 dataset used
Graphic: The 1318 transnational corporations that form the core of the economy
(Data: PLoS One)
SHARE AND LET YOUR VOICES BE HEARDAS PROTESTS against financial power sweep the world this week, science may have... more
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Now there is an easy way to find if you are hot or not, literally! NEC Avio Infrared Technologies ...based in Japan has introduced a new fever-screening tool which has a mirror-like surface and can detect and display a person's skin temperature on its surface. This tool is important
http://bit.ly/f4l7dXNow there is an easy way to find if you are hot or not, literally! NEC Avio Infrared... more
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‘THE AADETYA VEGYAANA’ or ‘THE SCIENCE OF THE LIGHT’
The INTRODUCTION:
I propose to introduce the independent subject called the “AADETYA VEGYAANA” or the SCIENCE OF THE SUN or THE SCIENCE OF THE LIGHT.
The MEANING:
The word ‘AADETYA’ is a Sanskrta/Hindi word. It means ‘the SUN’ in the English language. The word ‘AADETYA’ is made up of two roots: ‘AADE’ and ‘ATYA.’ The root ‘AADE’ means the ‘BEGINNING’ and the root ‘ATYA’ means ‘NOT’. Thus, the meaning of the word ‘AADETYA’ is as follows: The one who/which does not have a beginning. We can understand it from a similar example of the word ‘ATYANTA’ in the Hindi language. Here, the root ‘ATYA’ means ‘NOT’ and the root ‘ANTA’ means the ‘END.’ Now, let us say we see following two Hindi words ‘ATYANT AAKRSHAKA.’ The word ‘AAKRSHAKA’ would mean ‘ATTRACTIVE’ in the English language. So, ‘ATYANT AAKRSHAKA’ would mean the ‘ATTRACTION WHICH HAS NO END’ or ‘THE ENDLESS ATTRACTION’ or ‘THE MOST ATTRACTIVE.’
The word ‘VEGYAANA’ is a Sanskrta/Hindi word. It means ‘the SCIENCE’ in the English language.
The CONCEPT:
The AADETYA or the SUN is the prime source of the light in our solar system. So, the “AADETYA VEGYAANA” would mean that branch of the science which would study the SUN in its entirety and in detail in order to ensure the effective use of the benefits like the SUN LIGHT emitting from the Sun, for MAANAVATA [HUMANITY].
On a spiritual plane, the “AADETYA VEGYAANA” would mean that branch of the philosophy and spirituality which would study the ETERNAL RESERVOIR OF THE WHITE SPIRITUAL LIGHT- the Source from which all souls originate and finally Merge into. In other words, it would mean ‘the SCIENCE OF THE LIGHT.’ This source has no beginning. It is just there. It has just been there.
The SCOPE:
On a material plane, the “AADETYA VEGYAANA” can be used variously, i.e., to carry out studies to find out how with the help of the genetic engineering, we humans could be in a position to have cells in our human body make the food directly from the Sun light just as plants do with the help of the chlorophyll through the process of the photosynthesis. This could help us solve the food problem permanently on this Earth. It could be used to find out the best possible effective ways for the solar energy to replace the fast depleting non-renewable sources of energy like the COAL, PETROLEUM, etc.
Similarly, on a spiritual plane, the “AADETYA VEGYAANA” could be used to find out SCIENTIFICALLY the CORRECT answers as to the EXACT nature and make-up of the SOUL, the ETERNAL RESERVOIR OF THE WHITE LIGHT from which we all souls come from and so on. This could involve studying the BIO[CHEMICAL]-ELECTRO-MAGNETIC PROPERTY of the ENTITY called the SOUL.
The NOTE:
The above delineated scope is suggestive only and not exhaustive.‘THE AADETYA VEGYAANA’ or ‘THE SCIENCE OF THE LIGHT’
The... more
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As we observe September 11th in the coming weeks, let us remember how we do so informs our children's children's children's view of the event. This month also marks the return to school with many parents and caregivers experiencing the backlash of the 'back to school' blues which the children under their care are increasingly suffering.As we observe September 11th in the coming weeks, let us remember how we do so informs... more
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Micro-robotic bacteria with the similar whip-like tail of of E. coli, may be the future treatment to tackle diseases.
The microscopic mechanical machines known as Artificial Bacterial Flagella (ABFs), were invented to be able to 'swim' through the body to specific target areas affected by certain disease, possible hard to reach regions of the internal human system.
Bradley Nelson, Professor at the Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at ETH Zurich, and his team of researchers see the ABFs as a potentially common treatment technique of the futureMicro-robotic bacteria with the similar whip-like tail of of E. coli, may be the... more
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From New Scientist article:
MAGNETS are being used to control the transformation of stem cells into specific tissues. They could also be used to guide stem cells to target locations in the body, allowing arthritic joints and torn cartilage, for example, to be repaired without surgery.
Alicia El Haj of Keele University, UK, and her colleagues have created magnetic beads up to 2 micrometres across that bind to receptors on human mesenchymal stem cells, which are extracted from bone marrow or fat tissue. When a magnetic field is applied, the beads move, deforming the surface of the cells and forcing open its pores. The resulting influx of potassium ions sets in motion a cascade of reactions inside the cell that determine what kind of tissue it will turn into.From New Scientist article:
MAGNETS are being used to control the transformation of... more
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Is the era of designer babies finally here?
Every week, it seems, we're told that this discovery or that technology might lead to "designer babies." I've heard this so many times that I've stopped taking it seriously. Genetic engineering always turns out to be more complicated than expected, and our latest technology always turns out to be less capable than advertised.
But now trait selection seems to be coming into view for real.
On one hand, I cannot help but to laugh and think of GATTACA but on the other, I am truly disturbed by the idea of determining the cosmetic features of our future children...Is the era of designer babies finally here?
Every week, it seems, we're told... more
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Gitsie
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2 years ago
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Scientists believe a common heart medicine may be able to banish fearful memories from the mind.
The Dutch investigators believe beta-blocker drugs could help people suffering from the emotional after-effects of traumatic experiences.
They believe the drug alters how memories are recalled after carrying out the study of 60 people, Nature Neuroscience reports.
But British experts questioned the ethics of tampering with the mind.
Paul Farmer, chief executive of mental health charity Mind, said he was concerned about the "fundamentally pharmacological" approach to people with problems such as phobias and anxiety.
Professor Neil Burgess of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience said the research merely demonstrates that the beta blockers reduce a person's startle response, breaking the association of the spider to these unconscious responses.
And Dr Daniel Sokol, lecturer in Medical Ethics at St George's, University of London, said memories were important, for people to learn from their mistakes for example.
"Removing bad memories is not like removing a wart or a mole. It will change our personal identity since who we are is linked to our memories. It may perhaps be beneficial in some cases, but before eradicating memories, we must reflect on the knock-on effects that this will have on individuals, society and our sense of humanity."Scientists believe a common heart medicine may be able to banish fearful memories from... more
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Gitsie
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According to the National Nanotechnology Initiative, "The worldwide need for nanotechnology workers is expected to reach 2 million by 2015."According to the National Nanotechnology Initiative, "The worldwide need for... more
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It was only a matter of time before the ports were targeted.
Personally, I think the "hybrid tugboat" is a great idea and it definitely another big step in the right direction.
"Foss Maritime Co. of Seattle, for instance, has developed the Prius of tugboats, which consumes less diesel and generates less pollution by using batteries for all the vessel's low-power needs. Foss calls it the world's first hybrid tug and expects to deliver it to San Pedro harbor early next year."It was only a matter of time before the ports were targeted.
Personally, I think... more
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Gitsie
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"I wasn't allowed to see animal experiments, but I did get to look at the two operating theatres on the new primate research floor.
It looks like a hospital - only the operating tables have still to be fitted.
What will go on here will appal those who are opposed to animal experiments.
Under general anaesthetic monkeys will be given brain lesions to mimic the effects of Parkinson's disease.
Oxford scientists say this has already helped lead to new treatments for the condition.
And they point out that all animal experiments - especially those involving monkeys - are strictly controlled.
Animals can be used only if experiments with cells or computer models are deemed inappropriate.""I wasn't allowed to see animal experiments, but I did get to look at the... more
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Gitsie
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Follow the url to hear the "music"
Scientists have recorded the sound of three stars similar to our Sun using France's Corot space telescope.
A team writing in Science journal says the sounds have enabled them to get information about processes deep within stars for the first time.
If you listen closely to the sounds of each star you'll hear a regular repeating pattern.
These indicate that the entire star is pulsating.
You'll also note that the sound of one star is very slightly different to the other. That's because the sound they make depends on their age, size and chemical composition.
The technique, called "stellar seismology", is becoming increasingly popular among astronomers because the sounds give an indication of what is going on in the stars' interior.
Professor Ian Roxburgh of Queen Mary College, London is among those trying to work out what the sounds from the stars tell us about processes occurring inside stars.
"It's not easy," he says "It's like listening to the sound of a musical instrument and then trying to reconstruct the shape of the instrument".
Astronomers are increasingly listening into stars and other space sounds, according to Dr Tim O'Brien, of Manchester University's Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics.
It's interesting in itself," he said, "it's also scientifically useful."
Dr O'Brien has collected his favourite space sounds in the Jodrell Bank podcast, known as the Jodcast.
"All you are really doing when you're collecting stuff from space is that you've got to get that information into your brain so you can think about it," he explained in his podcast.
"And what we're used to doing is putting visual information into our brain - well there's no real reason why we shouldn't listen to signals."
Follow the url to hear the "music"
Scientists have recorded the sound... more
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Gitsie
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The study by researchers at the University of Sussex, showed that gorilla’s use facial expressions and mouth movements were controlled by the left side of the brain just like it is in humans.The study by researchers at the University of Sussex, showed that gorilla’s use... more
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Japanese scientist Professor Susumu Tachi claims to have developed this 'invisibility coat' which creates an optical illusion of invisibility. Scientists at the University of California are also making investigations into the manipulation of light, and specifically the ability to render objects invisible.Japanese scientist Professor Susumu Tachi claims to have developed this... more
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Many New York sushi restaurants and seafood markets are playing a game of bait and switch, say two high school students turned high-tech sleuths.
In a tale of teenagers, sushi and science, Kate Stoeckle and Louisa Strauss, who graduated this year from the Trinity School in Manhattan, took on a freelance science project in which they checked 60 samples of seafood using a simplified genetic fingerprinting technique to see whether the fish New Yorkers buy is what they think they are getting.
They found that one-fourth of the fish samples with identifiable DNA were mislabeled. A piece of sushi sold as the luxury treat white tuna turned out to be Mozambique tilapia, a much cheaper fish that is often raised by farming. Roe supposedly from flying fish was actually from smelt. Seven of nine samples that were called red snapper were mislabeled, and they turned out to be anything from Atlantic cod to Acadian redfish, an endangered species.
What may be most impressive about the experiment is the ease with which the students accomplished it. Although the testing technique is at the forefront of research, the fact that anyone can take advantage of it by sending samples off to a laboratory meant the kind of investigative tools once restricted to Ph.D.’s and crime labs can move into the hands of curious diners and amateur scientists everywhere.
The project began, appropriately, over dinner about a year ago. Ms. Stoeckle’s father, Mark, is a scientist and early proponent of the use of DNA bar coding, a technique that greatly simplifies the process of identifying species. Instead of sequencing the entire genome, bar coders — who have been developing their field only since 2003 — examine a single gene. Dr. Stoeckle’s specialty is birds, and he admits that he tends to talk shop at the dinner table.
One evening at a sushi restaurant, Ms. Stoeckle recalled asking her father, “Could you bar code sushi?”
Dr. Stoeckle replied, “Yeah, I think you could — and if you did that, I think you’d be the first ones.”
Ms. Stoeckle, who is now 19, was intrigued. She enlisted Ms. Strauss, who is now 18.
Their field technique was simple, Ms. Stoeckle said. “We ate a lot of sushi.”
Or, as Dr. Stoeckle put it, “It involved shopping and eating, in which they were already fluent.”
Many New York sushi restaurants and seafood markets are playing a game of bait and... more
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Scientists recently achieved an important milestone in the field of stealth research.
By creating exotic "metamaterials" which have unique nano-scale structures, new mystical effects are being observed and exploited.
Not too long ago, a structure capable of deflecting radar in a puzzling way was demonstrated. Now, scientists have upped the ante by reducing the size of those structures, and along with it, the wavelength of the energy waves with which it interacts.
This recent advance suggests that the researchers are on the right track, and may soon further improve the technology to work in the realm of visible light.
The effects can best be described as light flowing around the cloaked object much like water flows around a rock in a stream.
The military is especially interested in the implications of these discoveries.
"Peeping-toms" everywhere rejoice.Scientists recently achieved an important milestone in the field of stealth research.... more
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Sally Stride
Scientific Blogging
August 4, 2008
New science indicating fluoride’s dangers to the brain and other organs will be presented by prominent fluoride research scientists during back-to-back conferences of the International Society for Fluoride Research (ISFR) and the Fluoride Action Network (FAN) in Toronto August 7-11, 2008.
Fluoride, added to water supplies to prevent tooth decay, is also in virtually all non-organic foods and beverages. Fluoride’s brain effects were never examined prior to water fluoridation. Recently, because of health concerns, Health Canada recommended that fluoride levels be lowered in Canadian water supplies (0.7 mg/L) , children’s toothpaste and infant formula but claims that “the weight of evidence does not support a link between fluoride and intelligence quotient deficit.”
“It is hard to believe that any “weight of evidence” analysis could possibly dismiss fluoride’s neurological impacts. There have now been over 40 animal studies which show that fluoride can damage the brain, and no less than 18 studies which show that fluoride lowers IQ in children, and only 2 that don’t. I look forward to reading the full report when it is made available,” says Paul Connett, PhD, FAN Executive Director.
According to ISFR conference organizer, Dr. Hardy Limeback, “Our conference features experts who researched the dangers that fluoride poses to human health. Our keynote speaker, Dr. A.K. Susheela, (Executive Director, Fluorosis Research and Rural Development Foundation, India) probably knows more about fluoride’s toxic effects to the body than any other living scientist. It is important that officials who promote water fluoridation hear what she and others have to say,” says Limeback. Susheela can also explain to Medical Doctors, often untrained in fluoride toxicology, how to diagnose, treat and reverse early symptoms of fluoride toxicity which mimic arthritis and irritable bowel syndrome.
The latest issue of ISFR’s journal, Fluoride, published 12 newly-translated Chinese studies, which report fluoride’s effects on the brain, including the lowering of IQ in children. These and other brain studies will be reviewed at both conferences. Coupled with these conferences, the Toronto-based Citizens for a Safe Environment (CSE) will host two public meetings with FAN in downtown Toronto on Monday August 11. According to CSE director Karen Buck, “These meetings will give the public information they don’t get from our government or dental organizations. In the afternoon, a panel will address the question of whether Toronto should stop fluoridating its water. In the evening experts will explain fluoride’s dangers to health."
After receiving an invitation to attend these meetings, the Ontario Dental Association sent out a news release urging legislators and communities to stand up in support of fluoridation; but they won’t do so, themselves.“The best way that the ODA can get communities and politicians to stand up for water fluoridation is to provide, in person, a cogent and scientifically-referenced defense of fluoridation at the afternoon forum,” says CSE President Karen Buck.
At all three events, Dr. Vyvyan Howard, an infant and fetal pathologist, and president of the International Society of Doctors for the Environment, will be presenting a major review of studies on fluoride’s brain effects, including the translated Chinese studies. “The best way to lower children’s fluoride intake, as Health Canada suggests, is to stop fluoridation,” says Connett. “It makes no sense to prescribe fluoride drugs to children via the water supply at levels which are between 150 and 250 times higher than the level in mothers’ milk."Sally Stride
Scientific Blogging
August 4, 2008
New science indicating... more
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My brother in law has serious side effects from the anthrax vaccine. Our government is still using our soldiers as guinea pigs and testing drugs on them without FDA approvalMy brother in law has serious side effects from the anthrax vaccine. Our government is... more
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Its a big read, but is definately worth the time to do so. This procedure is already in late term clinical trials and will be tested on humans very soon. Is it any wonder all we have to do is boost our natural defenses to fight off this disease?Its a big read, but is definately worth the time to do so. This procedure is already... more
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