ANIMALS - Insects - Alex Wild's Best Bug Pictures Of 2012
Since I'm asking everyone else to pony up a selection of their best science & nature photos of the year, I figure it's only fair I participate. Here are 10 images I consider my personal favorites of the last 12 months. Please follow Science on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story
http://www.businessinsider.com/alex-wilds-best-bug-pictures-
ANIMALS - Beautiful New Film Follows The 40-Year Search For The Monarch Butterfly's Winter Home
Flight of the Butterflies, opening in New York at The American Museum of Natural History on Jan. 5 lets you take a journey with monarch butterflies during their annual migration. Theirs is the longest insect migration, which spans thousands of miles and several generations and took 40 years to uncover. Director Mike Slee co-wrote the script with co-executive producer Wendy MacKeigen to reenact the discovery of a lifetime. They received help from ...
http://www.businessinsider.com/flight-of-the-butterflies-mov
ART - Dance of water molecules turns fire-coloured beetles into antifreeze artists
Certain plants and animals protect themselves against temperatures below freezing with antifreeze proteins. How the larva of the beetle Dendroides Canadensis manages to withstand temperatures down to -30 degrees Celsius is reported by an international team of researchers. Researcher have shown that interactions between the antifreeze proteins and water molecules contribute significantly to protection against the cold ...http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130102083551.ht
BOOKS - Guy Kawasaki to Traditional Publishers: Your Days are Numbered
Mention Guy Kawasaki's name and you instantly think of one of two things: Apple's Social Evangelist or best-selling author. He's combined both talents in his latest project, a book called APE (Author, Publisher Entrepreneur, How to Publish a Book) which is a comprehensive guide to self-publishing ...http://www.forbes.com/sites/markfidelman/2013/01/01/guy-kawa
ECONOMICS - A Close Look At Long-Term Bull And Bear Markets Since 1871
Was the March 2009 low the end of a secular bear market and the beginning of a secular bull? Without crystal ball, we simply don't know. One thing we can do is examine the past to broaden our understanding of the range of possibilities. An obvious feature of this inflation-adjusted is the pattern of long-term alternations between up-and down-trends. Market historians call these "secular" bull and bear markets from the Latin word saeculum "long pe ...
http://www.businessinsider.com/secular-bull-and-bear-markets
ECONOMICS - Apple Is Blasting A Multi-Billion Dollar Hole In Samsung's Business (AAPL, SSNLF)
As consumers, it seems to most of us that all Korean gadget giant Samsung makes is TVs, Android phones, Android tablets, some computers, and commercials featuring LeBron James or hipsters in iPhone lines. But actually, Samsung also has a pretty big business making the guts of gadgets for other companies. During the quarter that ended October 25, Samsung generated $8.2 billion in revenue through its semiconductor business. Samsung profited more th ...
http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-is-blasting-a-multi-bil
ECONOMICS - Buffett Is Still Crushing That Bet He Made Against Two Hedge Fund Managers In 2008
It's 2013, and that means that Warren Buffett is 5 years into a bet he made against two hedge fund managers at New York based fund Protege Partners. Back in 2008, Buffett told Ted Seides and Jeffrey Tarrant of Protege that funds that invest in hedge funds for their clients would not beat the S&P 500 over ten years. The loser of this bet has to donate $1 million to the winner's charity of choice on December 31st, 2017. Right at this very m ...
http://www.businessinsider.com/buffett-still-winning-hedge-f
ECONOMICS - DON'T BE FOOLED: The Republicans Are Winning
To listen to all the moaning out of the House of Representatives yesterday, you could be forgiven for thinking that the Republicans are losing the fiscal battle in Washington. Actually, they're winning. To see this, you just need to step back and look at the tax deal and the country's fiscal trends from a broader perspective. Yesterday, the American government voted to extend almost all of the Bush Tax Cuts permanently. Not temporarily, as a sti ...
http://www.businessinsider.com/republicans-are-winning-2013-
ECONOMICS - Every Change In The Debt Ceiling Since 1940 [CHARTS]
The US has hit its debt ceiling. As of December 31 2012, the US Treasury says I can confirm we will reach the statutory debt limit today, Dec. 31 It has gone up from an unimaginable $14.3 trillion in August last year to $16.394tn as part of a package agreed then. After the fiscal cliff deal, the level of the debt ceiling is the next big debate to be had. But what is the debt ceiling? Under US law, all government borrowing has to be approved by ...
http://www.businessinsider.com/everything-to-know-about-debt
ECONOMICS - ISM MANUFACTURING INDEX CLIMBS TO 50.7
The ISM Manufacturing index report is out and it's a slight beat. Click Here For Updates > The headline number climbed to 50.7 from 49.5 in Novemer. This was higher than the 50.4 economistswere looking for. A reading above 50 signals expansion. Earlier this morning, Markit US PMI surprised to the upside, coming in at 54.0, up from 52.8 a month ago. From the ISM: (Tempe, Arizona) - Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in Dece ...
http://www.businessinsider.com/december-ism-manufacturing-in
ECONOMICS - MORGAN STANLEY: The BRIC Era Is Over
Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill famously coined the phrase "BRICs" in 2001 to describe the bloc of emerging markets - Brazil, Russia, India and China - whose growth was so explosive that their markets were on their way to eclipsing America's. In the December issue of Foreign Affairs, Ruchir Sharma, head of Morgan Stanley Investment Management's emerging markets desk, argues that the miracle of the BRICs is over. ...the new norm ...
http://www.businessinsider.com/morgan-stanleys-ruchir-sharma
ECONOMICS - One Of The Biggest 'Hedge Funds' In The World Is Getting Destroyed By The Yen
One of the biggest leveraged hedge funds in the world got hit with a 2×4 during the 4th Q. This fund has a mixed bag of assets, but was heavily exposed to big FX positions. The fund made a big "bet" recently when they went short EURYEN. This turned sour in a very big way; the EURYEN moved an incredible 14 big figures against them in just 60 trading days. Street players, who know of this currency spec, refer to it as a "Size" position. At the end ...
http://www.businessinsider.com/swiss-national-bank-whacked-b
ECONOMICS - RIP: The Bush Tax Cuts
Thanks to last night's Fiscal Cliff deal, we an now put to bed the term "The Bush Tax Cuts." As of now, they're the Obama Tax Cuts. It should be noted, that income taxes are lower for everyone today than they would have been if the American Taxpayer Relief Act hadn't gone into effect. While top marginal rates are rising for those making over $400K, those earners still get a cut on their income up to $400K. The difference between the Obama Tax Cut ...
http://www.businessinsider.com/rip-the-bush-tax-cuts-they-ha
ECONOMICS - The 10 Most Fascinating Brands To Watch In 2013
The New Year brings significant challenges for many brands. Here are several brands that are worth keeping an eye on as 2013 unfolds. J.C. Penney is implementing a major turn-around plan under the leadership of CEO Ron Johnson. Results to date have been fairly grim; sales and profits have slumped and the stock with it. Will J.C Penney stick with the plan? Or will the company be forced to reverse course and compete more on price? Best Buy is also ...http://www.businessinsider.com/most-interesting-brands-of-20
ECONOMICS - The Analyst Who Nailed The Fiscal Cliff Is Not So Optimistic About What's Coming Up Next
Sean West is the Eurasia Group analyst who nailed the Fiscal Cliff fight, putting 2-1 odds of there being a deal as late as December 31, when many people were concerned that it was all over. So we asked him his take on the Debt Ceiling fight, which will be coming up in the next couple of months. As a refresher, a whole bunch of stuff is coming up over the next two months, as the debt ceiling, the sequester, and the end of the current budget are a ...
http://www.businessinsider.com/eurasias-sean-west-on-the-deb
ECONOMICS - The Egyptian Pound Is Getting Destroyed, As Banks Are Running Out Of Dollars
The Egyptian pound (EGP) came under further pressure again this morning (see earlier discussion), with the central bank no longer able or willing to maintain the previous currency peg. BBC: - The Egyptian pound has fallen further against the US dollar, despite efforts by the country's financial authorities to halt its slide on the money markets. The renewed decline came as the central bank held the second in a series of currency auctions. It ...
http://www.businessinsider.com/egyptian-pound-hits-record-lo
ECONOMICS - Three Ways To Straighten Out Your Finances In 2013
January is generally seen as a time of renewal, recommitment and change. We enter the new year with the best of intentions, and sometimes even act on them for a little while. The gym is packed, nobody will touch dessert, and we vow that this is finally going to be the year that we get our financial house in order. Yet, slowly but surely, our resolve falters. To understand why, evaluate how the mind works when it comes to achieving goals. It's a c ...
http://www.businessinsider.com/3-financial-resolutions-for-2
ECONOMICS - WPP CEO Says Paying Corporate Tax Is 'A Question Of Judgment'
Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of global advertising group WPP, said the amount of corporation tax companies pay is "a question of judgement". Sir Martin suggested that coffee chain Starbucks chose to pay a £20m royalty to the UK taxman because "doing good is good business". [Starbucks had paid almost no U.K. corporate tax in 20 years, despite revenues of 3 billion, according to The Guardian.] He said firms thinking long-term abou ...
http://www.businessinsider.com/wpp-sorrell-says-corporate-ta
ECONOMICS - Warren Buffett Killed It In 2012 Without Making A Single Major Acquisition
Investing legend Warren Buffett didn't make a single major acquisition this year, but Berkshire Hathaway Class A stock still beat the S&P 500 this year by 4%, Bloomberg reports. The secret sauce was a combination of Buffett's big bet on Bank of America, whose shares doubled last year to $11.61, and a share buy back plan that he announced last month. From Bloomberg: The Omaha, Nebraska-based company is also poised to extend its record of ...
http://www.businessinsider.com/buffett-beats-in-2012-without
ENERGY - Perverse Economics of the Electric Grid: As Generation Gets Cheaper, Transmission Costs Soar
Electrons are cheap - at least electrons are cheap to create. Until recently, it was also cheap to deliver electrons from power plants to customers. That is no longer the case. The electric grid may once have been an engine of economic efficiency, but these days it looks more like an albatross hanging like a noose around our economy's future prospects. To make matters worse, it appears to be tightening ...http://www.forbes.com/sites/williampentland/2013/01/02/the-p
ENERGY - Survey Shows Support For Clean Energy, Opportunity For EVs & Smart Grid
American consumers continue to show strong support for renewables and alternative-fuel vehicles, while apathy toward smart grid technologies may represent a golden opportunity for smart meter advocates.These promising findings come from Pike Research's most recent Energy & Environment Consumer Survey, which polled 1,000 Americans during the third quarter of 2012. This is Pike's fourth annual consumer survey on clean energy.Even though s .. ...
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/01/02/survey-shows-support-for
HOMES - A Deep Fryer That Minimizes Odors As It Cooks
This is the Krups High Performance Deep Fryer from Williams-Sonoma. Why We Love It: Chances are you woke up today with a hangover. And wouldn't it be nice if instead of needing to leave the house to eat the fried food you're craving, you could simply make it yourself? The Krups Deep Fryer has a patented technology that flows air through a carbon filter to minimize frying odors, and can cook over two pounds of food at a time, from doughnuts to fre ...
http://www.businessinsider.com/krups-high-performance-deep-f
PLANTS - Scientists join forces to bring plant movement to light
Elementary school students often learn that plants grow toward the light. This seems straightforward, but in reality, the genes and pathways that allow plants to grow and move in response to their environment are not fully understood. Leading plant scientists explore one of the most fundamental processes in plant biology-plant movement in response to light, water, and gravity-in a January Special Issue of the American Journal of Botany ...http://phys.org/news/2013-01-scientists-movement.htm
SCIENCE - Magnetic forces without magnets: Physicist calculates field strengths in the early universe
Magnets have practically become everyday objects. Earlier on, however, the universe consisted only of nonmagnetic elements and particles. Just how the magnetic forces came into existence has now been researched. A theoretical physicist describes a new mechanism for the magnetization of the universe even before the emergence of the first stars ...http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130102083553.ht
SCIENCE - Nanoscale engineering could lead to faster, smaller, more stable electronic memories
Developing a so-called 'universal memory', or the perfect electronic memory, has long been the holy grail of electronic engineering. A universal memory should have a fast read and write speed, high reliability, low power consumption, and be compatible with other electronic components as well as non-volatile; that is, it should retain the data even when the device's power is switched off ...http://phys.org/news/2013-01-nanoscale-faster-smaller-stable
SOLAR - China Announces Large-Scale Overhaul Of Its Solar Panel Industry
The government of China has announced a major overhaul of its solar panel industry. It will be actively encouraging mergers among producers of solar panels, reducing government support, and "blocking" local leaders from "supporting domestic producers." And there has even been some talk that some producers will be allowed to go bankrupt.The overhaul is designed to simultaneously strengthen the industry, which has suffered some setbacks recen .. ...
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/01/02/china-announces-large-sc
SOLAR - Solar power prices to continue falling through 2025, experts say
Prices for solar modules—the part of solar panels that produce electricity—will continue to fall, in line with the long-term trend since 1980, according to a survey of experts by Near Zero, , a nonprofit energy research organization. However, for prices to keep falling for the long term will require continued committment to research, such as on materials used for making solar modules ...http://phys.org/news/2012-12-solar-power-prices-falling-expe
SOLAR - SolarCity Announces Pricing of Its Initial Public Offering
SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolarCity Corporation, a provider of clean distributed energy, announced today the pricing of its initial public offering of 11,500,000 shares of common stock at a price of $8.00 per share. The common stock is expected to begin trading on The NASDAQ Global Market on December 13, 2012 under the ticker symbol “SCTY.” A total of 11,434,988 shares are being offered by SolarCity and 65,012 shares are being offered b ...http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20121212006723/en/Sola
SPACE - Going To Mars Could Damage The Brains Of Astronauts
In 1960s, space travel was sometimes likened to an enlightening event - a moment where a person became more than they thought possible. In Star Trek, travel beyond the edge of the Galaxy caused some people to develop god-like powers. In 2001: A Space Odyssey, space travel led to the next phase of human evolution. Exposure to cosmic rays gave the Fantastic Four superpowers ...http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2013/01/02/going-to-ma
SPACE - Houston, we have another problem: Study shows space travel is harmful to the brain
(Phys.org)-As if space travel was not already filled with enough dangers, a new study out today in the journal PLOS ONE shows that cosmic radiation - which would bombard astronauts on deep space missions to places like Mars - could accelerate the onset of Alzheimer's disease ...http://phys.org/news/2012-12-houston-problem-space-brain.htm
TECH - 10 Predictions For The Mobile Industry In 2013
As we enter 2013 it's only fitting to present a few predictions for the sector that's become as important to established tech as technology itself to the makers of cars, consumer goods and services. With a little help from analysts, entrepreneurs and researchers, here are 10 forecasts on the big changes we'll see for telecommunications and mobile technology in 2013 ...http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2013/01/02/10-predict
TECH - Google Experiments With New Flight Explorer Feature
Google is trying out a new travel search tool that seems to be aimed primarily at casual travelers that are as concerned about price as they are about a destination ...http://searchengineland.com/google-experiments-with-new-flig
TECH - Maxwell The Geico Pig Is Back ... And Making Fun Of Alec Baldwin
After spending months in hiding, Maxwell the Pig is back to promote Geico's new smartphone app. But he's undergone one major change: he has stopped shouting "Wheeee." While it's always risky to change a spokesperson ... er, spokesanimal's ... signature move, this makeover is probably a good thing. For everything the smooth Australian accent of the Geico gecko is, Maxwell's shrill "wheeee" exaltations is not. So people who ju ...http://www.businessinsider.com/maxwell-the-geico-pig-is-back
TECH - Mossberg: Here's What's Coming In 2013
Here's what 2013 holds for us in terms of technology, according to gadget guru Walt Mossberg: Tablets will continue to dominate over laptops. Companies like Microsoft and Google will take cues from Apple's playbook and make their own devices complete with the hardware, operating system, apps, and an online ecosystem. Mossberg says he wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft made its own smartphone this year. Smart TVs will take off and Apple will unv ...
http://www.businessinsider.com/mossbergs-predictions-for-tec
TECH - People Are Paying $30,000 For Apple Products Covered In Gold And Diamonds
Computer Chompers has made a business out of making Apple products more expensive. The company takes all sorts of electronics, from Nintendo game controllers to iPhones and Blackberries, strips them down, and plates them in 24-caret gold. It then adds engravings and diamonds to the golden shells. Each device looks a little different for each customer. Alex Wiley has been creating the computers for a few years now. Fortune recently interviewed him ...
http://www.businessinsider.com/people-are-paying-30000-for-a
TECH - Software detects and extracts text from within video frames, makes it searchable
As video recording technology improves in performance and falls in price, ever-more events are being captured within video files. If all of this footage could be searched effectively, it would represent an invaluable information repository. One option to help catalogue large video databases is to extract text, such as street signs or building names, from the background of each recording. Now, a method that automates this process has been develope ...http://phys.org/news/2013-01-software-text-video-searchable.
TECH - This Is The Perfect Bookmarklet For Tweeters
It's here: the perfect bookmarklet for active Twitter users. It's the creation of a fellow named Paul Ford. You click it and it highlights all the "tweetable" sentences on the Web page you are currently looking at in red. You click on one of the sentences, and a Tweet box pops up, with the highlighted sentence in quotes, next to a link to the page you are looking at. Click on this link to find the bookmarklet. An illustration of how it works: Pl ...
http://www.businessinsider.com/this-is-the-perfect-bookmarkl
URBAN - Construction Spending Unexpectedly Fell In November
Construction spending fell 0.3 percent in November. Economists were looking for an increase of 0.6 percent. To make things worse, last month's number was revised down to +0.7 percent from +1.4 percent. From the Census: The U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced today that construction spending during November 2012 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $866.0 billion, 0.3 percent (±1.6%)* below the revised Octo ...
http://www.businessinsider.com/november-construction-spendin
URBAN - HUB 01 Features Mobile Student Housing Covered in Plants or Solar Panels in Belgium
Read the rest of HUB 01 Features Mobile Student Housing Covered in Plants or Solar Panels in BelgiumPermalink |Add todel.icio.us | diggPost tags: "solar energy", "wind turbine", A3 Architects, belgium, dmvA Architecten, green design, HUB01, Katho Catholic Academy, modular student housing, solar cladding, solar panels, student housing covered in plants, vertical garde ..
http://inhabitat.com/hub-01-features-mobile-student-housing-
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