Remarkable stories from the web in a new, easier format.
That natural human genes cannot be patented was one of the biggest biotechnology stories of 2013 and the effects of that Supreme Court decision are already threatening defendant Myriad Genetics. The Salt Lake City-based molecular diagnostic company lost the ability to patent DNA sequences of genes known as BRCA1 and BRCA2, which are associated with the risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers (see “U.S. Supreme Court Says ‘Natural’ Human Genes May Not Be Patented”). Hours after that decision was announced, other molecular-diagnostics companies announced that they would offer similar tests at a lower cost than Myriad’s test.
Cheaper Genetic Tests for Breast Cancer Risks in 2014? | MIT Technology Review
Sometimes it seems as if cloud is old news, but the truth is we’ve barely scratched the surface on cloud adoption, even in established categories such as SaaS.
Cloud computing: Not nearly hyped enough – TechRepublic
I truly believe that a tablet running Linux could really shock the naysayers in 2014. If you don’t believe me, I’ll give you five good reasons why this could be the case.
Five reasons why the Ubuntu tablet could shock naysayers in 2014 – TechRepublic
As many as three quarters of a million young people in the UK may feel that they have nothing to live for, a study for the Prince’s Trust charity claims. The trust says almost a third of long-term unemployed young people have contemplated taking their own lives.
BBC News – Young people ‘feel they have nothing to live for’
Many advanced economies are likely to require financial repression, outright debt restructuring, higher inflation and a variety of capital controls, a new research paper commissioned by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned.
The magnitude of today’s debt in Western economies will mean fiscal austerity will not be sufficient, Harvard economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff said in the report, as policymakers continue to underestimate the depth and duration of the downturn.
Debt defaults for advanced economies likely: IMF research
Of the 12 economies examined since 2008, the per-capita gross domestic product of Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain kept contracting through 2013, according to a draft of the paper. Other than the U.S. or Germany, the rest either didn’t grow or didn’t grow enough to attain their previous income peaks.
Reinhart-Rogoff Find Hangovers in Bank Crises: Cutting Research – Bloomberg
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Lending to companies in the euro zone contracted at the fastest pace on record in November, piling pressure on the European Central Bank to do more to revive the currency bloc’s economy.
Euro zone corporate lending shrinks at record pace in Nov – Yahoo Finance
As many as 4.6 million users of Snapchat have had their usernames and phone numbers downloaded by a website calling itself SnapchatDB.info. That may be fewer than 10% of the total Snapchat user base but the security breach could end up costing founder Evan Spiegel and other investors in the so-called “sexting” app billions of dollars.
Snapchat hack may have just cost the company founder $4 billion | Breakout – Yahoo Finance
Ten thousand dollars an hour worth of lawyers filed into a courtroom in lower Manhattan on the morning of Nov. 8. The legal team represented Steven Cohen’s hedge fund, SAC Capital Advisors, which had agreed to pay $1.2 billion to settle criminal charges that it had engaged in securities fraud.
Why SAC Capital’s Steven Cohen Isn’t in Jail – Businessweek
I expect that the next round of capacity in China will be added with much more capital efficiency than in 2010 and 2011. And China has just announced new regulations, where new plants that “purely” expand capacity will be banned, suggesting that instead of companies buying new equipment, you’ll see a lot of existing capacity changing hands, possibly through M&A activity. So I think we’re looking at a much more balanced market in 2014 in terms of supply vs. demand.
Solar Energy and Industry Strength | The Energy Collective
Administrative Law Judge Eric Lipman this week concluded that Xcel Energy should invest in some large solar power arrays rather than natural gas generators in order to meet projected power needs in Minnesota. The reason solar was preferred is that the solar power arrays would offer ratepayers a better deal. If Minnesota’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) upholds the decision, Minnesota could see its solar power capacity increase at least 7 times over.
Judge Rules Solar Power A Better Deal For Minnesota Than Natural Gas | CleanTechnica
Other key points are that falling wind and solar costs make them competitive with natural gas, even ignoring externalities. As a result, Credit Suisse has cut its natural gas projections considerably. “We estimate renewables slowing the rate of natural gas demand growth from power generation to <0.5 bcf/d through 2020 versus our prior estimate of 1.0-1.2 bcf/d even when taking into account planned coal plant shutdowns and assumed nuclear plant retirements.”
the Chinese government is pushing for a drastic shakeout of the country’s overcrowded solar cell industry, supporting only a quarter of players and practically telling the rest to get out of the business. This is essentially a death sentence to 75% of solar cell makers.
But that means many of them are actually poised for a strong first quarter in 2014, according to a new note from Goldman Sachs’s research team.
Goldman Sachs: 40 Stocks To Own In 2014 – Business Insider
