In The News

China’s Diversified Energy Strategy

S. Kumar October 3, 2011
China, the world’s biggest consumer of energy, “faces challenges in the area of energy security” due to its contentious political relationships and dependence on supply routes. In this opinion piece for Al Jazeera, S. Kumar describes diversified energy strategy that China is employing with both foreign governments and companies. For example, China is “actively trying to attract investments from...

Portable Microscope Detects Bacteria Using Holograms

September 19, 2011
Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, recently developed a portable microscope that detects bacteria using holograms, an invention that promises to have far-reaching effects in the developing world and telemedicine. The handheld device costs less than $100 to build. Rather than optics, the device relies on a digital photo sensor, common in iPhones, to magnify images of...

The Women Bringing Solar Power to Sierra Leone

September 15, 2011
Developing renewables to meet the growing demand for energy is a top priority in the 21st century. So is enhancing collaboration among developing countries. By training semi-literate women from rural Sierra Leone in solar-energy techniques, Barefoot College in western India works towards achieving both these goals. Twelve women attended and then returned to villages in Sierra Leone to assemble 1,...

Pakistan to Ban Encryption Software

Josh Halliday, Saeed Shah September 1, 2011
Protecting privacy is good for business. Yet the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority has ordered internet providers in the world’s sixth largest nation to report any customers using virtual private networks to browse the web. The directive could disrupt the work of investors, entrepreneurs and researchers who routinely rely on virtual private networks, including encrypted emails, for secure...

Torture in Bahrain Aided by Nokia Siemens

Vernon Silver, Ben Elgin August 31, 2011
Torture victims in Bahrain report that interrogators confronted them with detailed transcripts of mobile phone conversations. Surveillance equipment in Bahrain was sold by Siemens AG and maintained by Nokia Siemens Networks and Trovicor, according to company employees who requested anonymity. “The use of the system for interrogation in Bahrain illustrates how Western-produced surveillance...

Blinded by Science

Timothy Caulfield August 26, 2011
The unscrupulous know the desperately sick will risk all for potential cures. Experimental stem-cell treatment is but the latest quest in medical tourism, propelled by the internet and social media. Patients with autism, Alzheimer’s and other conditions travel to China, India or Central America seeking treatment from providers “generating false hope, robbing families of their resources, and...

Only 3 Percent of What You Buy Is Made in China, But It's the Most Important 3 Percent

Greg Lindsay August 25, 2011
For four decades, corporations have outsourced manufacturing operations to Asia, reducing costs. Shifting manufacturing off-shore eliminated jobs and also “sacrificed the know-how to think of new ways of manufacturing goods,” explains Greg Lindsay for Fast Company. In all, services represent two thirds of the US economy. Manufacturing’s role is small: San Francisco Federal Reserve economists...