As hinted by Hyundai CEO John Krafcik earlier this week, officials in Korea have confirmed that the brand will bring over its first plug-in hybrid to the U.S. in late 2012. The vehicle will reportedly be largely be based on the brand’s Blue-Will concept currently on display at the Seoul Motor Show and will go head-to-head with the Toyota Prius and Chevrolet Volt, head of Hyundai-Kia R&D Yang Woong-chul said. ‘We want to be the world leader in fuel economy and alternative fuels,’ he said. The Blue-Will currently shown in Korea sports a 106-in. wheelbase and 1.6L direct-injection gasoline engine, not to mention some edgy styling thanks to a solar-cell-clad panoramic roof. Supplementing the engine is a 100-kw electric motor powered by Hyundai’s own lithium-ion battery pack. Yang estimates the Blue-Will has a range of 38 miles on electric power alone and can achieve 106 mpg in plug-in mode and 55 mpg in hybrid-electric mode. ‘Almost every part on this car has been developed in-house,’ Yang said. ‘That will make it possible to make this vehicle affordable.’
TIANJIN, China — Chinese leaders have adopted a plan aimed at turning the country into one of the leading producers of hybrid and all-electric vehicles within three years, and making it the world leader in electric cars and buses after that. The goal, which radiates from the very top of the Chinese government, suggests that Detroit’s Big Three, already struggling to stay alive, will face even stiffer foreign competition on the next field of automotive technology than they do today. ‘China is well positioned to lead in this, said David Tulauskas, director of China government policy at General Motors. To some extent, China is making a virtue of a liability. It is behind the United States, Japan and other countries when it comes to making gas-powered vehicles, but by skipping the current technology, China hopes to get a jump on the next. Japan is the market leader in hybrids today, which run on both electricity and gasoline, with cars like the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight. The United States has been a laggard in alternative vehicles. G.M.’s plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt is scheduled to go on sale next year, and will be assembled in Michigan using […]
A laboratory robot called Adam has been hailed as the first machine in history to have discovered new scientific knowledge independently of its human creators. Adam formed a hypothesis on the genetics of bakers’ yeast and carried out experiments to test its predictions, without intervention from its makers at Aberystwyth University. The result was a series of ‘simple but useful discoveries, confirmed by human scientists, about the gene coding for yeast enzymes. The research is published in the journal Science. Professor Ross King, the chief creator of Adam, said robots would not supplant human researchers but make their work more productive and interesting. ‘Ultimately we hope to have teams of human and robot scientists working together in laboratories, he said. Adam is the result of a five-year collaboration between computer scientists and biologists at Aberystwyth and Cambridge universities. The researchers endowed Adam with a huge database of yeast biology, automated hardware to carry out experiments, supplies of yeast cells and lab chemicals, and powerful artificial intelligence software. Although they did not intervene directly in Adam’s experiments, they did stand by to fix technical glitches, add chemicals and remove waste. The team has […]
NEW YORK — A US hedge fund, Fairfield Greenwich, has been charged with fraud for pumping nearly $7bn (£4.8bn) of its clients’ money into Bernard Madoff’s corrupt investment empire with ‘total disregard’ for any checks on the renegade financier’s activities. The action, by the Massachusetts securities regulator, is the first to be taken against any of the so-called ‘feeder funds’ said to have channelled billions of dollars in the direction of Madoff, who was jailed last month. In Florida, federal marshals impounded Madoff’s $7m yacht at a mooring in Palm Beach. Television pictures showed officials clambering over the pristine 17-metre (55ft) vessel, searching its cabin and sticking up notices saying ‘US marshals – no trespassing’. The Fairfield Greenwich hedge fund caught up in the scandal is run by Walter Noel, a high-profile New York society figure whose glamorous family was once described by Vanity Fair magazine as ‘shoring up the virtues of a nearly extinct aristocracy’. Charges filed by Massachusetts’ secretary of state, William Galvin, said 95% of the firm’s $7.2bn Sentry fund was invested with Madoff, who admitted in court last month that he had barely done any genuine trading for nearly 20 years. Through […]
LONDON – President Obama and President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia, in their first meeting, vowed a ‘fresh start in relations and announced their intention to cooperate on a variety of issues, beginning with negotiations on a new arms control treaty. In seeking to recast a relationship that has been teetering on the brink of a new cold war, the two leaders also promised to work together on the war in Afghanistan and efforts to rein in Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Appearing after a 70-minute session here, the two struck a warm tone. ‘What we’re seeing today is the beginning of new progress in the U.S.-Russian relations, Mr. Obama said. ‘And I think that President Medvedev’s leadership is, and has been, critical in allowing that progress to take place. The relationship has suffered in recent years over a series of issues, from missile defense to NATO expansion to Russia’s invasion of the Georgian territory of South Ossetia. Mr. Obama conceded that there remained ‘real differences between the countries. But he said he had no intention of ‘papering over those differences, which he said had developed because ‘the relationship between our two countries has been allowed to drift. […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
