Tag Archives: China

Yale Establishes Kissinger Archives and the Johnson Center for the Study of American Diplomacy

By Guest PostSeptember 2, 2011Politicscharles b johnson, charles hill, China, donald kagan, henry a kissinger, jackson institute for global affairs, james levinhson, john lewis gaddis, johnson center for the study of american diplomacy, jonathan spence, kissinger archives, nicholas f brady, paul kennedy, richard c levin, secretary of state, us foreign policy, White House, yale, yale faculty, yale students

Former secretary of state Henry A. Kissinger gave an address before Yale faculty, students and World Fellows during a ceremony to celebrate the establishment of the Kissinger archives and the Johnson Center for the Study of American Diplomacy.

The archives extend well beyond Kissinger’s years in the White House and span the nearly 40 years since he left public service. Kissinger’s papers will serve as the foundation for the newly created Johnson Center, made possible by generous contributions from Charles B. Johnson ’54 B.A. and Nicholas F. Brady ’52 B.A. The Center will be located within the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs at Yale. (more…)

Fossil Discovery Represents New Milestone in Early Mammal Evolution

By Guest PostAugust 26, 2011Nature, Scienceancestors of mammals, carnegie mammalogist, carnegie museum of natural history, China, chong xi yuan, chuck lydeard, dna based methods of dating evolution, earliest known fossil of eutherians, eomaia, eutherian mammals, evolutionary hypotheses, fossil, fossil record, genetic data, john wible, juramaia sinensis, jurassic, jurassic mother from china, kangaroos, mammal evolution, marsupials, metatherians, molecular clock, monotremes, national science foundation, northeast china fossil, nsf, paleontologist, placental mammals, platypus, qiang ji, qing jin meng, shrew like mammal, zhe xi luo

*Northeast China fossil provides new information about earliest ancestors of today’s mammals*

A well-preserved fossil discovered in northeast China provides new information about the earliest ancestors of most of today’s mammal species–the placental mammals. (more…)

First Data from Daya Bay: Closing in on a Neutrino Mystery

By Guest PostAugust 16, 2011Scienceantineutrinos, basic physics, berkeley lab, big bang, China, china guangdong nuclear power group, cosmic rays, daya bay reactor neutrino experiment, dubbed θ13, electron, evolution of basic kinds of matter, flavors of neutrinos, hong kong, kam biu luk, lawrence berkeley national laboratory, liquid scintillator, mixing angles, muon, neutrinos, nuclear reactors, photomultiplier tubes, russia, southern china, taiwan, tau neutrinos, the czech republic, theta one three, united states, william edwards

*Berkeley Lab researchers are leaders in an international effort to close in on neutrino mass*

Some of the most intriguing questions in basic physics focus on neutrinos. How much do the different kinds weigh and which is the heaviest? The answers lie in how the three “flavors” of neutrinos – electron, muon, and tau neutrinos – oscillate or mix, changing from one to another as they race virtually without interruption through unbounded reaches of matter and space.

Three mathematical terms known as “mixing angles” described the process, and the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment has just begun taking data to establish the last, least-known mixing angle to unprecedented precision. China and the United States lead the international Daya Bay Collaboration, including participants from Russia, the Czech Republic, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. U.S. participation is led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). (more…)

‘Chinese Households Save More than American Households’

By Guest PostAugust 12, 2011Economy2008 survey of chinese consumer finance and investor education, american 2007 survey of consumer finances, american households, China, chinese and american households, chinese culture, chinese households, global economy, global households, households, recent chinese economic reforms, rui yao, saving money, savings habits of households, two countries, united states, university of missouri, world most powerful economies

*Saving motives a major factor in increased household savings*

COLUMBIA, Mo. – With the global economy in a state of unrest, saving money seems to be an obvious strategy for households to protect themselves. But are global households saving enough? Researchers at the University of Missouri have compared savings habits of households from two of the world’s most powerful economies: China and the United States. Rui Yao, an assistant professor in the personal financial planning department in the College of Human Environmental Sciences at the University of Missouri, found that urban Chinese households, on average, save much more than American households. She says the difference stems from saving motives.

“Saving is one of the critical tools that households utilize to achieve financial goals and to improve financial well-being,” Yao said. “By looking at saving motives for households in each country, we hope to explain the difference in saving rates across these two countries.” (more…)

Alibaba Group, Yahoo!, and SoftBank Reach Agreement on Alipay

By Guest PostJuly 29, 2011Technologyalibaba group, alibaba group chairman, alipay, Carol Bartz, China, china internet business, financial performance, future ipo, jack ma, joseph tsai, masayoshi son, risk factors, sec, securities and exchange commission, softbank, taobao, Yahoo, yahoo ceo, yahoo quarterly report

*Alibaba Group will Participate in the Ongoing Value of Alipay*

HONG KONG & TOKYO & SUNNYVALE, Calif.-– Alibaba Group, Yahoo!, and SoftBank today announced they have reached an agreement in which Alibaba Group will continue to participate in Alipay’s future financial performance, including a future IPO or other liquidity event. The agreement is consistent with the two agreed-upon principles established at the outset of the negotiations: structure the inter-company relationship between Alipay and Taobao in order to preserve the value within Taobao and, by extension, within Alibaba Group; and provide that Alibaba Group is appropriately compensated for the value of Alipay. (more…)

Climate Adaptation of Rice

By Guest PostJuly 17, 2011Environmentbacteria, China, climate change, climate impacts on plants, developing countries, disease, dna of the rice plant, drought, dunegrass, endophytes, genetically unrelated plant species, geothermal, heat tolerant plants, microscopic fungi, minimum air temperature, native plants, natural and agricultural ecosystems, process of darwinian evolution, rice, rusty rodriguez, salt, salt tolerant, seattle, seawater, symbiogenics, symbiotic endophytes, temperature, the philippines, tiny fungi, U.S. Geological Survey

*Symbiogenics — a New Strategy for Reducing Climate Impacts on Plants*

Seattle – Rice – which provides nearly half the daily calories for the world’s population – could become adapted to climate change and some catastrophic events by colonizing its seeds or plants with the spores of tiny naturally occurring fungi, just-published U.S. Geological Survey-led research shows.

In an effort to explore ways to increase the adaptability of rice to climatic scourges such as tsunamis and tidal surges that have already led to rice shortages, USGS researchers and their colleagues colonized two commercial varieties of rice with the spores of fungi that exist naturally within native coastal (salt-tolerant) and geothermal (heat-tolerant) plants. (more…)

Eva Longoria Asks You to Vote for a Brighter Future

By Guest PostJune 20, 2011Technologyactivist, actor, africa, american, author, China, eva longoria, german, global humanitarian issues, imagine cup 2011, longoria, microsoft corp., new york city, philanthropist, student technology competition, Technology, united nations millennium development goals, worldwide finals

*Voting opens for Microsoft Imagine Cup 2011 People’s Choice Award.*

NEW YORK — June 20, 2011 — Today, activist, actor, author and philanthropist Eva Longoria asked people around the world to celebrate the amazing work of student humanitarians by voting for the Imagine Cup 2011 People’s Choice Award at https://www.imaginecup.com/pca. Imagine Cup by Microsoft Corp. is the world’s premier student technology competition, challenging students from around the globe to use technology to tackle social issues, such as helping with disaster recovery, improving access to clean water, and expanding rural education and health care.

In an online video, Longoria spoke about how students can make a difference by using technology to address the world’s toughest problems, and she encouraged people to vote for the People’s Choice Award, in which the public chooses their favorite projects from this year’s Imagine Cup. Voting begins today and runs through July 12. (more…)

Under Pressure: Germanium

By Guest PostApril 11, 2011Scienceatomic number, China, condensed matter, condensed matter theory, crystal structures, element, fiber optic systems, flowers, germanium, ho kwang mao, next generation computer architecture, phonons, pressure, series of phase transitions, superconductivity, vibrations, viktor struzhkin, xiao-jia chen

Washington, D.C. — Although its name may make many people think of flowers, the element germanium is part of a frequently studied group of elements, called IVa, which could have applications for next-generation computer architecture as well as implications for fundamental condensed matter physics.

New research conducted by Xiao-Jia Chen, Viktor Struzhkin, and Ho-kwang (Dave) Mao from Geophysical Laboratory at Carnegie Institution for Science, along with collaborators from China, reveals details of the element’s transitions under pressure. Their results show extraordinary agreement with the predictions of modern condensed matter theory. (more…)