Mar 24, 2006

Google Mars


Mountains, Canyons, Dunes, Plains, Ridges. Mars seems to have everything earth has, except life. Or maybe it had before? I believe here is where a second earth will be.
Have a look at Google Mars. Have you decided where to live if you are in Mars several years later?

Truly Micro Electronics in a Single Molecule - New York Times

"...I.B.M. researchers have succeeded in fashioning an electronic circuit around a single carbon nanotube molecule...The researchers report obtaining switching frequencies of 52 megahertz, which is roughly the equivalent of an Intel 486 microprocessor chip commercially available 15 years ago."

"An author of the I.B.M. paper, Zhihong Chen, said she believed that it would ultimately be possible to build molecular devices that reach switching speeds of trillions of operations a second. Such computing performance is obtained today only by the fastest parallel supercomputers."

The above two paragraph is from Truly Micro Electronics in a Single Molecule - New York Times.

What is worth noting is the number of Chinese names in the author list in the article on science. Here is the abstract of the article: An Integrated Logic Circuit Assembled on a Single Carbon Nanotube -- Chen et al. 311 (5768): 1735 -- Science

How to make China even richer


When talking with some of my foreign friends, I am surprised with their knowledge about China. Sometime I feel ashamed, as a Chinese, of how little I know of my own country. This article, How to make China even richer, gives me a sense of what might be going on in the countryside of my country. Unlike the articles published by Chinese news agencies, which has to obey certain rules in order not to perish, its viewpoint is straightforward: "Let the peasants own their land". It also briefly discussed the pros and cons of its argument.

Pros: "If peasants could mortgage their land (after having the possesion of the land, of course), they could raise money to boost its productivity. Ownership would give them an incentive to do so. And if peasants could sell their land, they could acquire sufficient capital to start life anew in urban areas. This would boost urban consumption and encourage the migration of unproductive rural labour into the cities. For China to sustain its impressive growth rate and reduce inequalities, getting the many tens of millions of underemployed peasants off the land and into wealth-creating jobs is essential. The exodus would help those left behind to expand their land holdings and use them more efficiently."

Cons: "Communist Party ideologues are all too aware that a failure to handle rural issues properly can be destabilising. They worry that allowing peasants to sell their land could restore a rural landowning class, and that peasants would sell up in huge numbers and descend upon ill-prepared cities, throwing up shanty towns and pushing up crime."

I am quite interested in how the author describes the history of China at the end of its article; it lets me remind of what I learn in my Chinese history course in middle school.

"The leadership knows that China's history has been one of recurring bloody upheavals by landless peasants; it is caught between wanting to retain control and wanting to avoid another upheaval."

Image Credit: Economist.

Mar 23, 2006

The beauty of earth at night

Simple look at Blue Marble Navigator
. What a mysterious planet we are living on!

Mar 19, 2006

What is knowledge? : Why am I interested?


Since the first semester in college, I have been stuck to the belief that the main purpose of college life is to learn knowledge. It seems ironic, however, that I have spent nearly four years seeking knowledge without a clear understanding of what it is. So I wish to find justification of my purpose of college life.

Also, I often perceive in myself a feeling of excitement and satisfaction whenever I open a book on a new subject. And the link, I think, between books and knowledge is direct, so knowledge is what I desire. Understanding of what is knowledge might shed a light on understanding on my desires.

Besides, understanding the nature of knowledge will provide guidance for my future if I pursue a professional career in science, whose sole purpose is knowledge. I can imagine now that at some point of my scientific career, I will inevitably question myself whether I make original contributions to the mansion of knowledge. Making clear the direction I am heading as early as possible is beneficial for me in the voyage of science.

What, after all, is knowledge?