Star Formation on Overdrive

SPACE WATCH
NASA – A new Chandra X-ray Observatory image of Messier 82, or M82, shows the result of star formation on overdrive. M82 is located about 12 million light years from Earth and is the nearest place to us where the conditions are similar to those when the Universe was much younger with lots of stars forming.

M82 is a so-called starburst galaxy, where stars are forming at rates that are tens or even hundreds of times higher than in a normal galaxy. The burst of star birth may be caused by a close encounter or collision with another galaxy, which sends shock waves rushing through the galaxy. In the case of M82, astronomers think that a brush with its neighbor galaxy M81 millions of years ago set off this torrent of star formation. more> http://tinyurl.com/64r8c7w

Credits: NASA/CXC/Wesleyan Univ./R. Kilgard et al

There Is No Getting Around Gold

By Jeffrey Bell and Rich Danker – The busts of the post-Bretton Woods era have been the downsides of the bubbles. Taken together they represent the chronic problem of modern capitalism: the excess credit that at its high point decouples capitalist virtues from prosperity and at its low point pins ordinary people under acute economic distress. This is the distinguishing feature of the debt-based monetary system the world inherited by going off gold.

U.S. dollars, the world’s main reserve money supply, are pieces of paper with no independent value. It is no wonder that government, corporate, and household debt levels have soared under this arrangement and muddled the difference between the genuine article of economic ingenuity and the next conduit for hot money. more> http://tinyurl.com/5uzsfam

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Fed’s Plosser: Monetary policy has its limits

By Emily Kaiser – In a speech to be delivered in Santiago, Chile, on Monday (1/17/11), Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Plosser cautioned against relying too much on the central bank, and said its powers ought to be curbed to prevent abuse.

“I believe we have come to expect too much from monetary policy,” he said. “Monetary policy is not going to be able to speed up the adjustments in labor markets or prevent asset bubbles, and attempts to do so may create more instability, not less.” more> http://tinyurl.com/4k8toet

Pimco Takes Control of Fund Sales From Allianz After Assets Surge Sixfold

By Sree Vidya Bhaktavatsalam – In a step toward more independence, Pacific Investment Management Co. is taking control of fund sales from parent Allianz SE after assets at the bond manager jumped sixfold since the takeover a decade ago.

Pimco, the largest U.S. asset manager still owned by a bank or insurance company, is seeking more independence in marketing products as it forecasts the end of the 30-year bond rally that has fueled its growth. Led by Mohamed El-Erian and Bill Gross, assets at the firm have grown to $1.2 trillion from $200 billion when Allianz acquired it in 2000, making it the biggest money- management unit of the Munich-based insurer. more> http://tinyurl.com/45lbuoy

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TNO College: Dr. Tinus Pulles talks about climate change

VIDEO 7:34

Dr. Tinus Pulles of TNO explains the difficulties to find solutions for the climate change problem.

Dr. Pulles uses the Energy system of the Netherlands as an example to explain why sustainable energy alone will not provide all energy the present society will need under the present practice, where energy is always and everywhere available on demand. We must change the way we use energy in our life and economy and get used to physical limitations of the availability of renewable energy sources.

TNO College: Dr. Tinus Pulles talks about climate change – Part 1/3

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• Financial firms in dark about climate change risks, EurActiv http://tinyurl.com/65gzqyo