Category: Science

McKinsey’s view on the automotive Revolution…

Reality update: The automotive revolution is speeding up | McKinsey … :

“For more than two years, the industry has been talking about the four disruptive trends changing the rules in the mobility sector: autonomous driving, shared mobility, connectivity, and electrification. A McKinsey report from January 2016 integrated the impact of these trends into a single picture for the first time. Today, we can offer a perspective on three questions that are a top priority: What is the speed of change? What do the new value pools look like? What is required to succeed in the future? This article addresses the first two questions; the third question will be covered in a forthcoming piece (for more on how we developed our perspective, see sidebar “How we derive insights”).”

“Considering our base case, by 2030, about 20 percent of value generated from classic vehicle sales might shift toward new technologies, such as xEV powertrains or autonomous-vehicle software and components. But more than 60 percent of revenue from disruptive business models could still be carried by traditional elements, such as the shared vehicle itself or fleet operations”

“While same-day delivery still seems like a novelty to many, automotive, e-commerce, and logistics players are already working on solutions that use data from fully connected vehicles to have packages delivered to car trunks, regardless of where the driver is.”

“The increasing momentum of all disruptive trends, the shifts in value pools and corresponding capabilities, and the growing need for more granular perspectives on consumers requires we rethink our view of the automotive industry. The new personal-mobility landscape that is emerging is much broader than the traditional automotive industry; it is extending to include, among many others, tech players and new entrants from other industries such as software and utilities. Whether incumbents or challengers, all players will find themselves part of an increasingly diverse playing field (Exhibit 5).“

Hydrogen – the next hoax, after nuclear energy

I’ve been telling this story since the nineties, but the players don’t listen, because they don’t want to. Hydrogen and fuel cells are one way of driving electric cars, but far from the best. There may be some aspects that are helpful, but the downsides are way too big. But – and that is why it is being pushed – you need a monoplists’ industry behind it – that is what drives the wet dreams of leaders in tech – and which I don’t understand. Not at all.

 The Hydrogen Hoax – The New Atlantis … :

“The New Energy Charlatans

The idea of hydrogen as the fuel of the future dates back to Jules Verne, and by the 1930s was a staple of science fiction. With the advent of nuclear energy after World War II, technologists expected that atomic power would provide electricity “too cheap to meter” — electricity that could be used to produce pure hydrogen at low cost, which could then be used as a fuel. By the 1970s, however, it was apparent that nuclear energy, while potentially competitive with conventional power, did not usher in a new golden age of cheap electricity. Still, researchers devoted to the idea of the “hydrogen economy” soldiered on, and with increased public concern about carbon dioxide emissions in the 1990s and about America’s dependence on foreign oil after 9/11, the pro-hydrogen crowd seized a new opportunity to make their pitch. Incredibly, the Bush administration swallowed it, hook, line, and sinker. As a result, over the past six years, billions of dollars have been dished out to national labs, auto companies, fuel-cell firms, and other beneficiaries of government largesse on hydrogen show projects that have no practical application.“

Diet Coke anybody?

New research casts doubts on safety of world’s most popular artificial sweetener : Press releases : … : News : University of Sussex … :

“The new study points out the EFSA panel discounted the results of every single one of 73 studies that indicated that aspartame could be harmful while treating 84% of studies providing no prima facie evidence of harm as unproblematically reliable. Since 1974, studies and scientists have warned of the risks of brain damage, liver and lung cancer, brain lesions and neuroendocrine disorders from consuming Nutrasweet, which is found in thousands of products around the world including diet soft drinks.“

This world is burning like it never did before

 How global warming is unlike the last 2,000 years of climate shifts | Science News … :

“Temperatures across 98 percent of Earth’s surface were hotter at the end of the 20th century than at any time in the previous 2,000 years. Such nearly universal warming, occurring in lockstep across the planet, is unique to this current era, scientists say. By contrast, other well-known cold and warm snaps of the past, such as the Little Ice Age or the Medieval Warm Period, were, in fact, regional rather than worldwide.”

#FLOGW

Hedy Lamarr’s grave in Vienna

Now that is a tombstone that suits the person. Beautiful, as she was. Both in appearance and genius. For those of you that don’t know her: She invented frequency hopping – without which lots of the things we do today with mobile networks and roaming wouldn’t be possible. And she performed the first femal orgasm on film. Not in porn, in a decent movie. Thanks, Bösi, for this beautiful memory. 

Lionesses safeguard their investments by mating with multiple males.

What a beautiful cover… Battle of the sexes: a multi-male mating strategy helps lionesses win the gender war of fitness | Behavioral Ecology | Oxford Academic … : 

“By mating with multiple males, lionesses safeguard their investments and outdo the males in the war of fitness.”

“Battle of the sexes: a multi-male mating strategy helps lionesses win the gender war of fitness”  

“Given a land-tenure system where lionesses encounter many males capable of killing unfamiliar cubs, multi-male mating buffers cub infanticide and likely diversifies paternal lineages in litters. Consequently, infanticide was observed only when “new” males invaded a female group’s territory. An age-based mate choice was observed in lionesses: maiden breeders chose males having highest range overlaps, whereas experienced females selected peripheral males. The intergender spacing patterns and resultant sexual strategies of lions differ in Asia and Africa probably because of contrasting resource availability, highlighting behavioral plasticity within species inhabiting diverse eco-regions.”

First step into parallel universes are about to be taken…

Scientists are searching for a mirror universe. It could be sitting right in front of you. … :

“She calls it an “oscillation” that would lead her to “mirror matter,” but the idea is fundamentally the same. In a series of experiments she plans to run at Oak Ridge this summer, Broussard will send a beam of subatomic particles down a 50-foot tunnel, past a powerful magnet and into an impenetrable wall. If the setup is just right — and if the universe cooperates — some of those particles will transform into mirror-image versions of themselves, allowing them to tunnel right through the wall. And if that happens, Broussard will have uncovered the first evidence of a mirror world right alongside our own.“