China has initiated research and development for a thorium molten-salt reactor.  They also intend to obtain the intellectual property rights for its use. An MSR (molten salt reactor) is an extremely powerful and flexible type of fission nuclear reactor where the main coolant isn't water but a mixture of molten salt.  

One of the many benefits of an MSR is its great reduction in size. The salt being much more efficient at removing heat from a fission core, there exists less need for piping and pumping other coolants. The small size also makes these reactors safer. 

Finally, Thorium is 3 to 4 times more abundant than Uranium and packs roughly 200 times the amount of power.

Thorium reactors were first conceived roughly 40 years ago. However, Uranium fission produces Plutonium (a crucial element in building nuclear weapons) as a byproduct.  And so, research into Thorium fell by the wayside ...

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Biologists have successfully created beating heart tissue without the use of stem cells. The experiments were done on mice, of course. Previous attempts to grow hearts involved the conversion of cells into stem cells, which were in turn induced to transform into heart cells. However, the Nature Cell Biology project led by Jem Efe of the Scripps Research Institute grew regenerated, beating heart tissue in as little as two weeks. 

By skipping the step turning the cells into stem cells, the research promises to revolutionize regenerative medicine all across the board, including heart disease and diabetes.

Students who hate reading Shakespeare may now rejoice. At first, you could use cliffs notes to avoid reading his plays. But now, thanks to AOL and reality show producer Mark Burnett, you won't even have to read the cliffs notes. They've entered an agreement to produce comedic video shorts based on the little booklets published by Wiley.  The shorts will be featured on AOL.com later this year.

Today, Intel reported that it had shipped 8 million defective chips since January 9, but relatively few of them have reached consumers. The defective chips are a support chip for the Core i5 and Core i7 processors, not the brand-new Sandy Bridge processors.  The flaw causes a degradation in speed over a period of months.  

Replacing the chips and enduring sales lost will cost Intel $1 billion. Also, the new Sandy Bridge processors will be placed on hold until the replacement chips are delivered to PC makers in late-February.

Needless to say, everyone except the government hates it. This Ars Technica article's title captures it all, so I kept it.  They're pretty thorough, so there's very little I can add other than to wonder if this change will in effect cut-off Canada from the visual/video Internet which (until now) had fast been becoming the norm. Consumption patterns will likely change in a huge way.

Ars Technica has a better version of the chart below. I can only fit so large into these columns. It shows the drastic increase in cost versus service delivered to TekSavvy's subscribers. 

Here's a huge breakthrough if it can scale to market. Swiss researchers at the École Polytechnique Fédérale De Lausanne have released their findings that nano-sized transistors made from a common (but publicly unknown) material called Molybdenite (MoS2) could revolutionize the creation of transistors. They report that Molybdenite transistors would use 100,000 times less energy than silicon and graphene (what we use today) and the material is plentiful and cheap.

Transistors are a fundamental building block in modern electronics. 

Molybdenite is most commonly used in stainless steel or other steel alloys, making it a necessary ingredient in an endless list of everyday products including water distribution systems, food handling equipment, hospital and lab gear, gas pipes, steel bearings, dies and other machine components...the list goes on and on.

Graphic by EPFL

Time for another round of great news from all over the world.  Part of the obstacles using solar cells to generate power is their high cost compared to low electricity output.  But, new semiconductor material created by researchers Wladek Walukiewicz and Kin Man Yu at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab promises a major breakthrough on both fronts.  

New solar cells created by their semiconductor material could very well convert half of sunlight's energy into electricity.  Most commercial solar cells average around 15% efficiency.

Nah, probably not. Decision-making authority in these types of corporate partnerships are usually spelled out fairly meticulously...at least that's the hope.  I love Hulu. It's a truly fabulous service, currently delivering over 30,000 free television episodes and an assortment of free movies to casual web users. 

Even so, this article at the WSJ spells out the emerging battle over Hulu's future. As is always the case, the moneymakers were going to show up and want to collect.  

News Corp. (owner of Fox) and Disney (owner of ABC) wish to pull some of the free content, believing they might be cannibalizing other paid opportunities, such as selling those programs through Netflix, Apple and Microsoft.

The Hulu management itself has a differing vision. They want to radically transform their company into an online cable operator that would send live TV channels and video-on-demand to subscribers. I think ...

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Google software engineer Matt Cutts decided to hold his own Kinect hack contest on Nov. 11, 2010, offering $2,000 dollars in prizes. I'm a big fan of the Kinect and love following its developments. Apparently, Matt's an even bigger fan because he actually put money where his mouth is. Check him out, he's got a great blog.

"The first $1000 prize goes to the person or team that writes the coolest open-source app, demo, or program using the Kinect. The second prize goes to the person or team that does the most to make it easy to write programs that use the Kinect on Linux."

The winners of his competition have been selected.  In fact, he was so impressed he ended up naming 5 more runner-ups for the second category.

1) Tomoto Washio created a program that turns you into the anime superhero Ultra Seven ...

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Fearing that the intense desire for political reform in Egypt might spill over into their country, China banned the word "Egypt" from Chinese search portals Sina.com and Sohu.com...both being a Chinese version of Twitter.

The Chinese government routinely blocks social networking sites including Twitter, Flickr, Facebook and YouTube.

Credit: Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi

This linked article represents a follow-up to Logic-Cool's entry on January 27. Several major news outlets including Time and CNN reported that China intends to unify 9 cities into one giant super-city of 42 million residents.  

On Thursday, a senior consultant on the project Ma Xiangming clarified that China will not actually unify the governments of the 9 cities. Instead, they simply intend to integrate the public services and transportation.

This lady should've sued P. Diddy for 1 zillion dollars instead.  Oh wait...

"Turks also alleges that Diddy, real name Sean Combs, caused the 9/11 attacks, put her son in hospital and sold a poker chip belonging to her, which she says was worth 100 zillions of dollars".

Man, I'm working in the wrong business.

In other entertainment news, Autobot leader Optimus Prime has also filed suit against P. Diddy for the destruction of the planet Cybertron. Darth Sidious also wants damages for P. Diddy blowing up the Death Star...TWICE...which cost him about 10 zillion dollars each.  

The judge has set a January 31 court date for the case to be heard.

"How much?!"

Just heart-breaking.

In addition to those photos, Associated Press reports that looters ripped the heads off two ancient mummies. Inspiringly enough, the Egyptian protesters attempted to form a human shield to protect the museum until the military could arrive. 

Photo by Al-Jazeera

Researchers at Columbia University have successfully used a "bio-scaffold" infused with growth materials to regenerate bone cartilage in test rabbits. This is the first such attempt that didn't require a surgical transplant, where the body part was grown inside the patient (In Vivo). Previously, researchers had to grow the body part outside of the body, and then surgically implant it when ready (In Vitro).

 All animals recovered full weight-bearing ability within 4 weeks of their treatment, making a complete recovery in 4 months. Human trials will be next.

(RNHRD NHS Trust/Getty Images)

LinkedIn filed last Thursday to raise $175 million in an IPO, which if successful will make the company the 1st publicly traded social network. The company does not expect to be profitable in 2011 due to investments in growth.

LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner talks during an interview during the Reuters Technology Summit in San Francisco, California May 17, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Robert Galbraith

The Chinese continue their current penchant for doing everything huge, this time by creating a giant rabbit sculpture using 30,000 porcelain plates. The sculpture was presented earlier today.

I haven't been covering the Egyptian protests because I feel so many others are doing it better than I could. I prefer exploring peripheral questions around it.

For example, how do you keep in touch after the government takes down the Internet? PC Magazine asked exactly that question recently. As it turns out, getting access to the Internet might be fairly simple. You just go back to basics.

"In the land of no Internet connection, the man with dial-up is king."

Dial-up modems using basic land lines were the original method for connecting to the Internet. And it's harder to shut down the entire phone system than the Internet. More than a few of you probably have old computers lying around with dial-ups or you could buy an external USB dial-up modem for ~$20-30. 

Protestors have been able to get online through various creative methods including fax and ...

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I gotta get this article to my wife FAST. Our health depends on it!

"Research suggests that adults who begin their day this way are healthier and happier than those who simply opt for a cup of tea and some toast before heading out of the door. 

Not only does it make them less likely to catch a cold or flu, it can also improve the quality of their hair, skin, and nails. Dr Debby Herbenick, an American research scientist and sex advice columnist, said: ‘Having sex in the morning releases the feel-good chemical oxytocin, which makes couples feel loving and bonded all day long."

Okay, I couldn't resist posting one more. Today, Netflix released their rankings for various internet providers. How does yours stack up? 

The chart below reflects the streaming of HD movies from Netflix. Charter and Comcast come in #1 and #2 respectively in their ability to provide consistently high and steady streams for movie viewers. Verizon and AT&T ranked 8th and 9th place out of 16 comparisons.  Clearwire came in last as the loser.

You may have to visit the link to the Huffington Post above to get a better look at the chart.  I can only fit so large in this column.

Time is running short on my end, so I can't really discuss this latest bio-tech news in much detail, but its quite fascinating. Researchers in the U.K. have learned how to turn off genes dictating aggression in lab mice, through genetic manipulation of the sperm and eggs. 

And yep, humans carry the same genes. Now if only we had this technology for some of the people I've worked with...