The Battle To Survive

“I start every day pretty much the same way: Coffee and News Items.” — Richard Haass, president emeritus, Council on Foreign Relations.

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1. On a 300-acre farm in an undisclosed location in rural Wisconsin live some of the most pampered pigs in the world. They are delivered by C-section to protect them from viruses that sows can carry, and bottle-fed instead of nursed for the same reason. They are kept under warming lights and monitored around the clock for the first days of their lives, given toys and marshmallows as treats. But they don’t get to go outside and play in the dirt like other pigs. They are clones and constitutionally weak, genetically engineered to have kidneys, hearts and livers more compatible with the human body. These miniature pigs are part of a bold scientific experiment that takes advantage of breakthroughs in cloning and gene editing to realize the centuries-old dream of xenotransplantation — the transfer of animal kidneys, hearts, livers and other organs into humans who need them. (Source: nytimes.com)

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2. Throughout China’s annual legislative meeting, the national leader Xi Jinping made clear that he wants nothing to hold back his plans for China to march past its rivals by becoming a technological superpower. Not the economic slowdown or heavy local government debt, nor a trade war with the United States. “Xi has seen how decades of investment into science by the U.S. government after World War II was a knockout success for the United States, and wants to replicate that,” said Jimmy Goodrich, who studies China’s science policies as a senior adviser at RAND Corporation. “He believes strongly that only by being more self-sufficient and a global leader in science can China achieve success in upgrading its economy, boosting its military capabilities and achieving world-leader status,” Mr. Goodrich said. Mr. Xi’s implicit message is that other efforts, such as restoring the confidence of China’s private entrepreneurs, must align with that bigger national goal. (Source: nytimes.com)

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3. A team of researchers at Peking University claims to have shattered chip performance limits and proven that China can use new materials to “change lanes” in the semiconductor race by circumventing silicon-based roadblocks entirely. The researchers, led by physical chemistry professor Peng Hailin, said their self-engineered 2D transistor could operate 40 per cent faster than Intel and TSMC’s cutting-edge 3-nanometre silicon chips, while consuming 10 per cent less energy. “It is the fastest, most efficient transistor ever,” according to an official statement published last week on the PKU website. (Source: scmp.com)