Category: Top Stories

Responding to Trump: the new economies of Pittsburgh…and Paris and Paris and Paris

Responding to Trump: the new economies of Pittsburgh…and Paris and Paris and Paris

June 4, 2017 |

Last November, Donald J. Trump was elected President by the voters of Paris. Paris, PA, that is. It’s a suburb of Pittsburgh, as it happens. Of “I was elected by voters of Pittsburgh, not Paris,” fame.  Where Pittsburgh mayor Bill Peduto joined the mayors of more than 175 cities in a rebel yell that has […]

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Responding to Trump with a Rebel Yell: the new economies of Pittsburgh and Paris and Paris and Paris

Responding to Trump with a Rebel Yell: the new economies of Pittsburgh and Paris and Paris and Paris

June 4, 2017 |

Last November, Donald J. Trump was elected president by the voters of Paris. Paris, PA, that is. It’s a suburb of Pittsburgh, as it happens. Of “I was elected by voters of Pittsburgh, not Paris,” fame.  Where Pittsburgh mayor Bill Peduto joined the mayors of more than 175 cities in a rebel yell that has […]

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President Trump pulls US out of Paris Climate Treaty: “We’re getting out”

President Trump pulls US out of Paris Climate Treaty: “We’re getting out”

June 1, 2017 |

In Washington, President Trump said that he would withdraw the US from the Paris Climate Treaty signed by President Obama last year. The move leaves the US as one of three countries that are opposing the Paris Agreement — the others are Syria and Nicaragua. The President denounced the Climate Treaty for its “draconian terms” […]

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Makin’ Money in Muddy Waters with a Magic Molecule

Makin’ Money in Muddy Waters with a Magic Molecule

June 1, 2017 |

In Wisconsin, James Dumesic and his cohort of biomagicians revealed that they have trained up gamma valerolactone (GVL) into a solvent that converts biomass into three viable products, in one step — the platform chemical furfural, a dissolving pulp that can be spun into textile fibers and a highly pure lignin that makes battery anodes […]

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Burn better, cook faster, save $$: the quest for an efficient African cookstove

Burn better, cook faster, save $$: the quest for an efficient African cookstove

May 31, 2017 |

By 2050, Africa will need 2.9 billion tons of wood per year to provide cooking fuel for its population, and according to the FAO it will require 771 million hectares of woody biomass cultivation to support that demand, and Africa only has 649 million hectares of forest if no one cuts any down in the […]

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ExxonMobil’s owners revolt against management over climate change transparency

ExxonMobil’s owners revolt against management over climate change transparency

May 31, 2017 |

In a stunning result in Dallas, ExxonMobil shareholders revolted against management over the company’s climate change policy, as investors holding 62.3% of the company’s shares called on the company to reveal the impact of climate change policy on the company’s operations.  The company’s management vigorously opposed the non-binding measure, saying that it already conducts sufficient […]

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Anellotech Confidential: Pilot running, new mystery investor as catpyro begins to scale

Anellotech Confidential: Pilot running, new mystery investor as catpyro begins to scale

May 31, 2017 |

In New York, Anellotech and IFPEN/Axens engineers completed a successful continuous performance test of the TCat-8 pilot plant as part of unit commissioning in Silsbee, Texas. The test involved continuous injection of MinFree woody biomass feedstock and production of BTX and other valuable chemical by-products. The primary objectives of the test were met by demonstrating […]

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Algae at scale: Qualitas Health triples algae farm acreage for omega-3 now, protein soon

Algae at scale: Qualitas Health triples algae farm acreage for omega-3 now, protein soon

May 29, 2017 |

Think beyond nanotechnology. It’s Nanno Technology, as Qualitas’ Nannochloropsis strain gets deployed in New Mexico at the old Green Crude Farm (now Green Stream Farms), as well as in Texas. In Texas, Qualitas Health unveiled a long-term partnership with commercial crop producer Green Stream Farms to triple its algae production to 45,000 pea-equivalent acres, achieving […]

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A Nuu World: with technology convergence, fast change is getting faster

A Nuu World: with technology convergence, fast change is getting faster

May 28, 2017 |

Not long ago, we started covering the convergence of a group of technologies — advanced industrial biotechnology, genetics, robotics, data processing, machine intelligence, transmission speed and storage – a new publication which was titled, simply, Nuu. There are immensely exciting technology advances happening in every one of these fields — and convergence may well bring […]

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10 Industrial Biotechnology Wave Trends to Watch

10 Industrial Biotechnology Wave Trends to Watch

May 25, 2017 |

There are news items, then there are trends, and finally there are wave trends — trends of critical importance and that carry the likelihood of having long-lasting impact. Like the fast ripples that presage a fearsome tsunami, they are not always easy to discern from the ordinary newsflow. What are the Top 10 Wave Trends we’re seeing […]

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