Surprising Science — December 6, 2011

China at the Forefront of Internet and Soon Computing Innovation?

Not only is China the country moving fastest to deploy the new internet protocol, IPv6, it is converting itself into the leader in developing advanced computing centers.

bigthinkeditor

What’s the Latest Development?

China is already the world’s main maker of computers and consumer electronics goods but it is also now at the forefront of internet technology–leading everyone in deployment of the next generation protocol, IPv6 –and the next generation of computing. American officials agree that the Chinese government’s investment in supercomputing is paying off.

What’s the Big Idea?

China is also now the world’s second-largest venture capital market, growing to $7.6 billion from just $2.2 billion in 2005, while the American venture capital market has remained largely stagnant. At the same time, there is a consensus that China’s entrepreneurs have a workaholic culture that is unmatched anywhere in the world. All of which helps fuel its rapid technological advances.

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The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

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6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

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The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

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7 min

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with

Laurie Santos

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The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

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