Controversial U.S. China Initiative gets new name, tighter focus on industrial espionage | Science

University scientists and civil rights groups in the United States are offering qualified praise for the federal government’s decision last week to rename and revise the China Initiative, a controversial, 3-year-old law enforcement campaign intended to prevent the Chinese government from stealing U.S.-funded technologies. “Dropping the name is good,” says Steven Pei, an electrical engineer … Read more

Microbes convert industrial waste gases into commodity chemicals | Science

Chemicals cost more than just money: Today, petrochemical production spews out nearly 2% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Now, researchers have taken an important step to vastly reduce that footprint, by using bacteria and waste gases from steel plants, rather than petroleum, as the starting ingredient for dozens of commodity chemicals. So far, the … Read more