It took seven days, heavy machinery and an international team of salvage workers, but it the end it was a force of nature – rising tides – that helped finally free the #Ever #Given cargo ship a week after it got stuck in the #Suez #Canal and blocked one of the world’s busiest waterways.
Category Archives: Analysis
Inside View: ‘George Floyd Memorial’ Controversies
The trial over George Floyd’s death is under way in Minneapolis. What to do with his memorial site has become a controversy of its own.
Space Travel: NASA Seeks Water On The Moon To Fuel Missions (WSJ Video)
NASA is partnering with SpaceX, Blue Origin and others to search for water on the moon. Water is the foundation for rocket propellant, which could supply refueling stations in the cosmos and make Mars trips cheaper. Photo illustration: Crystal Tai
Analysis: Is New York City At Risk Of Bankruptcy?
Mass unemployment, colossal bankruptcies, and a shattered tourism industry have ravaged New York City during the coronavirus pandemic. In January 2021, Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed raising taxes on the wealthy, while cutting Medicaid and school spending to balance the multi-billion dollar budget deficit. Opponents say tax hikes could lead to a mass exodus of the wealthy New Yorkers who fund a large portion of the city’s revenue. Others say that the crisis has exasperated existing inequalities and cutting social services will only hurt those most affected.
Technology: Ranking 10 Printers That Save On Ink
Printers are still the worst but at least new ink-tank printers help you save money on ink. WSJ’s Joanna Stern survived testing 10 home printers from Epson, HP, Brother and Canon to tell you which are worth buying. Personal Technology With Joanna Stern
Analysis: How The Power Grid Failed In Texas (Video)
Texas had a rough winter in 2021. In mid-February, with temperatures dropping to the single digits, demand for electricity hit a record high throughout Texas. Supply ran short, causing the state’s electric grid operator to implement rolling power outages.
At the height of the crisis, more than 4.5 million customers lost power. The freak winter storm caused neighboring states such as Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas to also impose rolling blackouts. Texas residents shivered in the cold, as outages lasted for days at a time. They lost access to water. Some resorted to turning on their cars in their garages to keep warm then died due to carbon monoxide poisoning.
The historic breakdown was a wake-up call — if the power grid in Texas was so fragile, what about the rest of the United States? The U.S. has faced a 67% increase in weather-related power outages since 2000, according to data from Climate Central. Part of the problem is an aging infrastructure. Most of today’s power grid was built in the 1950s and ’60s, with the hopes that it would last for 50 years.
Video Analysis: How Vaccine Passports Can Kick-Start The Economy
Vaccine passports are likely to become a feature of everyday life as lockdowns are lifted across the world. But as “green passes” kick-start economies, what are the potential drawbacks? Read more of our coverage on coronavirus : https://econ.st/397Mkxq
Biotechnology: ‘Genome Sequencing – Unlocking The Covid Code’ (NY Times)
The advent of commercial genome sequencing has recently, and credibly, been compared to the invention of the microscope, a claim that led me to wonder whether this new, still relatively obscure technology, humming away in well-equipped labs around the world, would prove to be the most important innovation of the 21st century.
And unexpectedly, Covid-19 has proved to be the catalyst. “What the pandemic has done is accelerate the adoption of genomics into infectious disease by several years,” says deSouza, the Illumina chief executive. He also told me he believes that the pandemic has accelerated the adoption of genomics into society more broadly — suggesting that quietly, in the midst of chaos and a global catastrophe, the age of cheap, rapid sequencing has arrived.
Analysis: ‘March Madness’ Tries To Limit Covid (Video)
The NCAA has created a ‘controlled environment’ with an extensive list of protocols aimed at keeping the coronavirus from upending March Madness for a second year. The stakes are high for both the players and the NCAA. Photo: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports
Retirement: ‘How 401(K) Plans Work’ (Video)
Since 1980, pensions plans have been phased out in favor of 401(k) plans. They now represent nearly one-fifth of the U.S. retirement market. So how did 401(k) plans become such a popular form of retirement savings and how should they be used? Watch the video to find out.
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