Free Money Galore! The Decline And Fall….

Baltic Dry Index. 1709 -18 Brent Crude 67.39

Spot Gold 1800

Coronavirus Cases 02/04/20 World 1,000,000

Deaths 53,100

Coronavirus Cases 25/02/21 World 113,100,859 

Deaths 2,508,925

A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.

Ariel Durant

Today, more of the same. In the stock casinos, more front running of all that promised free bailout cash and central bankster Magic Money Tree free cash forever.

In the real world, yet more signs of all the Magic Money Tree cash causing a return of inflation in commodities, even as millions still remain unemployed or under employed. Stagflation ahead for most?

Worse, California seems to have developed its very own mutant variant of Covid-19. As goes CA, goes the old US saying, so goes the USA. As goes America, goes the modern equivalent since 1945, so goes the world.

Below, anticipating more punchbowl in the casinos. Long gone are the days of the Fed taking away the punchbowl just after the party got started. Without the punchbowl now forever being topped up, stocks and bitcoin unicorns will come crashing back to earth in a massive Biden bust.

Asian shares jump after Powell nixes rate hike fears

February 25, 2021 12:36 AM By Hideyuki Sano, Echo Wang

TOKYO/MIAMI (Reuters) - Asian stocks jumped on Thursday after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reaffirmed interest rates would stay low for a long time, calming market fears that higher inflation might prompt the central bank to tighten the monetary spigot.

Powell’s reassurance gave a fresh impetus to reflation trades and boosted risk asset prices while also driving U.S. bond yields back up to one-year highs.

MSCI’s ex-Japan Asia-Pacific shares index rose 1.0% while Japan’s Nikkei gained 1.6%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 1.8% to pare more than half of its previous day’s losses following the announcement of a stamp duty hike.

In a second day of testimony in Washington, Powell reiterated the Fed’s promise to get the U.S. economy back to full employment and to not worry about inflation unless prices rose in a persistent and troubling way.

“Powell said it will take three years for them to achieve its inflation target, essentially reaffirming the Fed will not raise interest rates until 2023,” said Norihiro Fujito, chief investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

“A huge amount of cash investors have to work is flowing into the stock market, and that is more than offsetting any negative aspects of higher bond yields.”

The prospects of a prolonged period of low interest rates came as investors expect a huge U.S. fiscal stimulus and a progress in COVID-19 vaccinations to shore up the economy, especially the sectors hit the hardest by the pandemic.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose COVID-19 vaccine appeared safe and effective in trials, paving the way for its approval for emergency use as soon as this week.

Johnson & Johnson rose 1.3% following the news.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones average jumped 1.35% to a record high, outperforming 1.0% gains in tech-heavy Nasdaq, as investors rotated into cyclical shares out of flying-tech firms.

In a possible sign of a fresh frenzy into old economy shares, GameStop rose 83.3% in extended trade, building on a gain of 103.9% on Wednesday.

U.S. bond prices stayed under pressure, boosting their yields to the highest level in a year.

More

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-markets/asian-shares-jump-after-powell-nixes-rate-hike-fears-idUSKBN2AP021

World stocks' dance to continue, but inflation could mute the music: Reuters poll

February 25, 2021 5:13 AM  By Vivek Mishra, Rahul Karunakar

BENGALURU (Reuters) - The bull-run in global stocks fuelled by cheap cash and reflation hopes will continue for at least another six months but a rise in bond yields as inflation expectations grow could throw a spanner in the works, Reuters polls found.

Despite severe economic damage from the pandemic, MSCI’s global stock index -- which tracks shares across 49 countries -- notched up all-time highs this month, having risen over 70% since hitting rock-bottom in late March amid ample liquidity from central banks and massive fiscal stimulus.

In recent trading sessions, world stocks have pulled back as a rapid surge in global bond yields raises expectations that major central banks could eventually turn less accommodative in a bid to tame inflation.

But even as a gauge of equities slipped this week on hints of rising inflation led by higher oil prices and the strongest copper price in nearly a decade, the Feb. 12-24 polls of nearly 300 equity strategists found the trend of stock market gains was set to continue this year.

All 17 major stock indexes polled on by Reuters, from Tokyo to Toronto, were expected to end 2021 higher from here, with nine predicted to extend their record-setting rallies.

Fifteen of those indexes have already breached the mid-2021 consensus level and 10 indexes are above the end-2021 median level predicted in the previous poll in November.

In response to an additional question, over two-thirds, or 79 of 111 analysts, said the run-up in global stocks would continue for at least another six months, including 58 who said over a year.

“It’s the health-crisis nature of this recession that has led to the greatest monetary and fiscal policy response in history. It’s not that people are so bullish about the future but rather they are flush with cash and the excitement of making money,” said Michael Wilson, chief U.S. equity strategist at Morgan Stanley.

More

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-stocks-poll/world-stocks-dance-to-continue-but-inflation-could-mute-the-music-reuters-poll-idUSKBN2AP0FV?il=0

Biden to press for $37 billion to boost chip manufacturing amid shortfall

February 24, 202110:03 AM  Updated 4 hours ago  By Trevor Hunnicutt, Nandita Bose

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he would seek $37 billion in funding for legislation to supercharge chip manufacturing in the United States as a shortfall of semiconductors has forced U.S. automakers and other manufacturers to cut production.

Biden also signed an executive order on Wednesday aimed at addressing the global semiconductor chip shortage that has alarmed the White House and members of Congress, administration officials said.

The scarcity, exacerbated by the pandemic, was also the subject of a discussion between Biden and a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers at the White House on Wednesday.

“I’m directing senior officials in my administration to work with industrial leaders to identify solutions to the semiconductor shortfall,” Biden said on Wednesday. “Congress has authorized a bill but they need ... $37 billion to make sure that we have this capacity. I’ll push for that as well.”

The White House said his remarks were in reference to measures aimed at boosting chip manufacturing capacity that were included in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act but which require a separate appropriations process to garner funding.

The chip industry has pressed the Biden administration and Congress to take action to fund the provisions of the law. “We urge the president and Congress to invest ambitiously in domestic chip manufacturing and research,” the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said earlier on Wednesday.

Biden’s executive order launched a 100-day review of supply chains for four critical products: semiconductor chips, large-capacity batteries for electric vehicles, rare earth minerals and pharmaceuticals.

The order also directs six sector reviews, modeled after the process used by the Defense Department to strengthen the defense industrial base. It will be focused on the areas of defense, public health, communications technology, transportation, energy and food production.

---- The chip shortage, which in some cases is forcing automakers to take employees off production lines, is the latest example of supply bottlenecks.

“Make no mistake, we’re not simply planning to order up reports. We are planning to take actions to close gaps as we identify them,” an administration official previewing the executive order said.

More

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-biden-supply-chains/biden-to-press-for-37-billion-to-boost-chip-manufacturing-amid-shortfall-idUSKBN2AO13D

But is inflation already back? We will know by the end of summer.

Oil prices hit 13-month highs on tighter supplies, Fed assurance on low rates

February 25, 2021  4:26 AM  By Florence Tan

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices rose for a fourth straight session on Thursday to the highest levels in more than 13 months, underpinned by monetary easing policies and lower crude production in the United States.

Brent crude futures for April gained 19 cents, 0.3%, to $67.23 a barrel by 0400 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for April was at $63.30 a barrel, up 8 cents, 0.1%.

Both contracts touched their highest since January 2020 earlier in the session with Brent at $67.44 and WTI at $63.67.

An assurance from the U.S. Federal Reserve that interest rates would stay low for a while boosted investors’ risk appetite and global financial markets.

“Comments from Fed Chairman, Jerome Powell, earlier in the week relating to the need for monetary policy to remain accommodative have probably helped, but sentiment in the oil market has also become more bullish, with expectations for a tightening oil balance,” ING analysts said in a note.

A rare winter storm in Texas has caused U.S. crude production to drop by more than 10%, or 1 million barrels per day (bpd) last week, the Energy Information Administration said. [EIA/S]

Fuel supplies in the world’s largest oil consumer could also tighten as its refinery crude inputs had dropped to the lowest since September 2008.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, is due to meet on March 4.

The group will discuss a modest easing of oil supply curbs from April given a recovery in prices, OPEC+ sources said, although some suggest holding steady for now given the risk of new setbacks in the battle against the pandemic.

Extra voluntary cuts by Saudi Arabia in February and March have tightened global supplies and supported prices.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-oil/oil-prices-hit-13-month-highs-on-tighter-supplies-fed-assurance-on-low-rates-idUSKBN2AP0CK

 

«We’re Getting Closer to a Breaking Point»

David Rosenberg, Chief Economist & Strategist of Rosenberg Research, worries that the surge in bond yields threatens the economic recovery. He warns of the consequences of today’s massive debt volumes and explains why he spots investment opportunities in the commodity sector and in Asia.

22.02.2021

Interview

Deutsche Version

The temperature is rising. In the US, yields on long-term government bonds have jumped to the highest level since early 2020. Oil prices are rising, and copper is more expensive than it has been in almost ten years – clear signals that markets are bracing for a strong economic recovery.

«Not so fast,» says David Rosenberg. The internationally renowned economist and strategist from Toronto has no doubt that the pandemic will subside. But he also thinks that the post-opening growth spurt in the economy will soon lose steam and structural problems will resurface and reality sets in. «And then, we have to assess how these massive deficits and debts are going to be regressed,» he’s warning.

In this in-depth interview with The Market/NZZ which has been edited and condensed for clarity, the founder of Rosenberg Research explains why he sees attractive prospects for commodities such as oil, gas and copper despite subdued demand. He’s also bullish on US banks. Globally, he sees the best investment opportunities in Asia, where the economy is benefiting from China's robust growth.

Mr. Rosenberg, one year ago today, the global outbreak of the pandemic triggered the worst market crash since 1929. Since then, the S&P 500 has fully recovered and gained another 15%. What's your take on the current state of the financial markets against this background?

We are in another massive bubble. Not every single part of the market is in a bubble, but we have speculative frenzies in many pockets. There is not just this view that the central banks are always going to have your back and we have tremendous growth in money supply and liquidity, but there is also this extremely high level of confidence that life is going back to normal starting in the second half of this year. That’s really the primary driver of this tremendous confidence, whether you’re talking about corporate bonds, crypto currencies or the stock market.

More

https://themarket.ch/interview/were-getting-closer-to-a-breaking-point-ld.3681?mktcid=smsh&mktcval=E-mail

Finally, so you really, really, really want to travel abroad? See the next section for why travel to California may not be a good idea for now.

Air Travel Quarantines Are Getting Longer and Lonelier

Author of the article: Angus Whitley and Kyunghee Park

Publishing date: Feb 23, 2021  

(Bloomberg) — Quarantines continue to frustrate travelers and strangle airlines a year into the pandemic, with the threat from highly infectious coronavirus variants meaning enforced isolations are mostly getting longer and stricter rather than easing up.

Even as vaccines embolden countries like Israel and the U.K. to plot paths to reopening, authorities around the world are tightening the screws to stop Covid-19 mutations slipping through quarantine models designed to contain a less aggressive virus. With questions hanging over the efficacy of vaccines on mutated strains, this new front in the public-health battle is damping hopes of a swift rebound in international air travel.

While U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Monday that foreign travel could start as soon as May 17, triggering a surge in flight bookings, England has only just put in place its toughest border curbs of the pandemic, imposing 10-day hotel quarantines for British and Irish nationals and residents arriving from dozens of countries.

Pfizer Shot Elicits Fewer Antibodies to South Africa Strain

Meanwhile, in parts of the world that have been most successful in keeping out the virus, quarantine rules are being tightened and policy makers are striking a more cautious tone on when travel may start again. Authorities in Melbourne are sketching out plans for custom-built isolation facilities outside the city. Hong Kong has one of the most extreme policies: a soul-crushing 21-day hotel lockup awaits residents arriving from outside China.

The different requirements are neutering a push by airlines for a standardized global response to get people flying again. The International Air Transport Association’s proposal for test or vaccine certificates to replace quarantines hasn’t gained traction with governments.

Brace Yourself: Long-Haul Travel Might Not Start Until 2023

“We cannot seriously talk about recovery as long as quarantine requirements are in place,” said Volodymyr Bilotkach, a lecturer in air-transport management at the Singapore Institute of Technology. “Countries continue making up their rules, changing them as they go.”

Cabin Fever

Isolation can take a toll on travelers stuck in hotel rooms, which often have sealed windows and minimal space. Finance worker Chanyoung Kim struggled through three weeks without exercise, fresh air or human interaction in the Sheraton in Hong Kong on his return from a business trip to South Korea. Kim, who has also endured several 14-day quarantines in Seoul, has sought treatment from a psychiatrist and told his manager he’s not sure how long he can maintain this lifestyle.

More

https://financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/quarantines-crushing-air-travel-are-getting-longer-and-lonelier

“The five marks of the Roman decaying culture:

Concern with displaying affluence instead of building wealth;

Obsession with sex and perversions of sex;

Art becomes freakish and sensationalistic instead of creative and original;

Widening disparity between very rich and very poor;

Increased demand to live off the state.”

Edward Gibbon, The Decline And Fall of the Roman Empire.

Covid-19 Corner                       

This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.

In boost for COVID-19 battle, Pfizer vaccine found 94% effective in real world

February 24, 2021 10:09 PM  By Maayan Lubell, Ari Rabinovitch

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The first big real-world study of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to be independently reviewed shows the shot is highly effective at preventing COVID-19, in a potentially landmark moment for countries desperate to end lockdowns and reopen economies.

Up until now, most data on the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines has come under controlled conditions in clinical trials, leaving an element of uncertainty over how results would translate into the real world with its unpredictable variables.

The research in Israel - two months into one of the world’s fastest rollouts, providing a rich source of data - showed two doses of the Pfizer shot cut symptomatic COVID-19 cases by 94% across all age groups, and severe illnesses by nearly as much.

The study of about 1.2 million people also showed a single shot was 57% effective in protecting against symptomatic infections after two weeks, according to the data published and peer-reviewed in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday.

The results of the study for the Clalit Research Institute were close to those in clinical trials last year which found two doses were found to be 95% effective.

“We were surprised because we expected that in the real-world setting, where cold chain is not maintained perfectly and the population is older and sicker, that you will not get as good results as you got in the controlled clinical trials,” senior study author Ran Balicer told Reuters. “But we did and the vaccine worked as well in the real world.”

“We have shown the vaccine to be as effective in very different sub-groups, in the young and in the old in those with no co-morbidities and in those with few co-morbidities,” he added.

More

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-israel-vaccine/in-boost-for-covid-19-battle-pfizer-vaccine-found-94-effective-in-real-world-idUSKBN2AO2UA

India warns of worsening COVID-19 situation, vaccinations to expand

February 24, 2021   8:18 AM

By Krishna N. Das, Neha Arora

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India announced an expansion of its vaccination programme on Wednesday but warned that breaches of coronavirus protocols could worsen an infection surge in many states.

Nearly a month after the health minister declared that COVID-19 had been contained, states such as Maharashtra in the west and Kerala in the south have reported a surge in cases, as reluctance grows over mask-wearing and social distancing.

India’s infections are the second highest in the world at 11.03 million, swelled in the past 24 hours by 13,742, health ministry data shows. Deaths rose by a two-week high of 104 to 156,567.

“Any laxity in implementing stringent measures to curb the spread, especially in view of new strains of virus ... could compound the situation,” the ministry said in a statement singling out nine states and a federal territory.

India has confirmed the long-time presence of two mutant variants - N440K and E484Q - in addition to those first detected in Brazil, Britain and South Africa.

The ministry said that while cases in the states of Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kerala, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab, as well as the federal territory of Jammu and Kashmir, were rising, the proportion of high-accuracy RT-PCR tests in those places was falling. Cases have also risen in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

In the past week, a third of India’s 36 states and union territories have reported an average of more than 100 new cases each day, with Kerala and Maharashtra both reporting more than 4,000, in a trend experts link to the reopening of schools and suburban train services.

The government has also asked states to speed vaccinations for healthcare and frontline workers. Just about 11 million people have received one or two doses in a campaign that began on Jan. 16, versus a target of 300 million by August.

More

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-india-cases/india-warns-of-worsening-covid-19-situation-vaccinations-to-expand-idUSKBN2AO0TG

California's coronavirus strain looks increasingly dangerous: 'The devil is already here'

Melissa Healy  Tue, February 23, 2021, 1:00 PM

A coronavirus variant that probably emerged in May and surged to become the dominant strain in California not only spreads more readily than its predecessors but also evades antibodies generated by COVID-19 vaccines or prior infection and is associated with severe illness and death, researchers said.

In a study that helps explain the state’s dramatic holiday surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths — and portends further trouble ahead — scientists at UC San Francisco said the cluster of mutations that characterizes the homegrown strain should mark it as a “variant of concern” on par with those from the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil.

Californians, along with the rest of the country, have been bracing for an onslaught of the more transmissible strain from the U.K. known as B.1.1.7. But they should know that a rival strain that is probably just as worrisome has already settled in, and will probably account for 90% of the state’s infections by the end of next month, said Dr. Charles Chiu, an infectious diseases researcher and physician at UCSF.

“The devil is already here,” said Chiu, who led a team of geneticists, epidemiologists, statisticians and other scientists in a wide-ranging analysis of the new variant, which they call B.1.427/B.1.429. “I wish it were different. But the science is the science.”

The U.K. and California variants are each armed with enhanced capabilities, and the likelihood that they could circulate in the same population raises the specter of a return to spiking infections and deaths, Chiu said. It also opens the door to a “nightmare scenario”: That the two viruses will meet in a single person, swap their mutations and create an even more dangerous strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The new evidence that the California variant could make people sicker, and vaccines less effective, should spur more intensive efforts to drive down infections, Chiu said

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious diseases expert, raised a further concern in an interview with The Times. A survival-of-the-fittest contest between the U.K. and California variants could accelerate the spread of the strain that's best able to elude the effects of COVID-19 vaccines, he said. The best way to prevent this, he added, is to stop the spread of either variant by getting vaccinated, wearing masks and limiting exposure to others.

The new analysis is currently under review by the public health departments of San Francisco County and the state, which collaborated in the new research. It is expected to post late this week to MedRxiv, a website that allows new research to be shared before its formal publication.

---- Samples collected from a range of counties, and using a variety of collection methods, suggest the variant is 19% to 24% more transmissible. But in some circumstances, its advantage was much greater: In one nursing home outbreak, B.1.427/B.1.429 spread at a rate that was six times higher than that of its predecessors.

---- In a UCSF lab, scientists found that the L452R mutation alone made the California strain more damaging as well. A coronavirus engineered to have only that mutation was able to infect human lung tissue at least 40% more readily than were circulating variants that lacked the mutation. Compared with those so-called wild-type strains, the engineered virus was more than three times more infectious.

In the lab, the California strain also revealed itself to be more resistant to neutralizing antibodies generated in response to COVID-19 vaccines as well as by a previous coronavirus infection.

More

https://news.yahoo.com/californias-coronavirus-strain-looks-increasingly-130055544.html

New COVID-19 variants may force tweaks to tests, vaccines, FDA says

Feb. 23, 2021 / 3:05 AM

The emergence of new coronavirus variants could require a quick pivot on the part of pharmaceutical and medical device companies, to help stay one step ahead of COVID-19.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued guidelines Monday encouraging drug and test developers to pay attention to new coronavirus variants and be prepared to make that pivot if necessary.

The guidance provides recommendations for companies seeking to tweak already-approved vaccines, medicines and tests so that they will remain effective against any new variants that emerge.

"Many of these products might be impacted by changes to the virus, particularly their efficacy or their performance," acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock said during a media briefing Monday.

"We recognize we are in a pandemic situation and we need to make sure that health care providers have the best available diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines to fight the virus. These may need to be modified over time to remain maximally effective," Woodcock added.

The emergence of highly infectious new COVID-19 variants out of Britain, South Africa and Brazil have raised concerns that mutations might weaken the effectiveness of vaccines and drugs now used to treat the disease.

Studies have shown that the two vaccines now on the market remain effective in thwarting the U.K. and South African variants of the virus that causes COVID-19, but experts are worried that monoclonal antibody treatments might not work as well.

"Monoclonal antibodies are laboratory-made proteins that mimic the immune system in fighting off harmful pathogens such as viruses," Woodcock said. "We know that some of the monoclonal antibodies that are currently authorized are less active against some of the [COVID-19] variants that have emerged and are prevalent in some parts of the world."

More

https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2021/02/23/New-COVID-19-variants-may-force-tweaks-to-tests-vaccines-FDA-says/8621614036296/

 

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Next, some vaccine links kindly sent along from a LIR reader in Canada. The links come from a most informative update from Stanford Hospital in California.

World Health Organization - Landscape of COVID-19 candidate vaccines. https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/draft-landscape-of-covid-19-candidate-vaccines

NY Times Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html

Stanford Website. https://racetoacure.stanford.edu/clinical-trials/132

Regulatory Focus COVID-19 vaccine tracker. https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2020/3/covid-19-vaccine-tracker

Some other useful Covid links.

Johns Hopkins Coronavirus resource centre

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

Rt Covid-19

https://rt.live/

Covid19info.live 

https://wuflu.live/

Centers for Disease Control Coronavirus

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

The Spectator Covid-19 data tracker (UK)

https://data.spectator.co.uk/city/national

Technology Update.

With events happening fast in the development of solar power and graphene, I’ve added this section. Updates as they get reported.

Polymer film protects from electromagnetic radiation, signal interference

The breakthrough combines excellent electromagnetic shielding with ease of manufacture and electrical isolation

Date:  February 22, 2021

Source:  University of California - Riverside

Summary:  Engineers describe a flexible film using a quasi-one-dimensional nanomaterial filler that combines excellent electromagnetic shielding with ease of manufacture.

As electronic devices saturate all corners of public and personal life, engineers are scrambling to find lightweight, mechanically stable, flexible, and easily manufactured materials that can shield humans from excessive electromagnetic radiation as well as prevent electronic devices from interfering with each other.

In a breakthrough report published in Advanced Materials -- the top journal in the field -- engineers at the University of California, Riverside describe a flexible film using a quasi-one-dimensional nanomaterial filler that combines excellent electromagnetic shielding with ease of manufacture.

"These novel films are promising for high-frequency communication technologies, which require electromagnetic interference shielding films that are flexible, lightweight, corrosion resistant, inexpensive, and electrically insulating," said senior author Alexander A. Balandin, a distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering at UC Riverside's Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering. "They couple strongly to high-frequency radiofrequency radiation while remaining electrically insulating in direct current measurements."

Electromagnetic interference, or EMI, occurs when signals from different electronic devices cross each other, affecting performance. The signal from a cell phone or laptop WiFi, or even a kitchen blender, might cause static to appear on a TV screen, for example. Likewise, airlines instruct passengers to turn off cellphones during landing and takeoff because their signals can disrupt navigation signals.

Engineers long ago learned that any electrical device could possibly influence the functioning of a nearby device and developed materials to shield electronics from interfering signals. But now that electronic devices have become ubiquitous, small, wirelessly connected, and critical to innumerable essential services, the opportunities for and risks of EMI-caused malfunctions have proliferated, and conventional EMI shielding materials are often insufficient. More electronic devices mean humans are also exposed to greater electromagnetic radiation than in the past. New shielding materials will be needed for the next generation of electronics.

Balandin led a team that developed the scalable synthesis of composites with unusual fillers -- chemically exfoliated bundles of quasi-one-dimensional van der Waals materials. The composites demonstrated exceptional EMI shielding materials in the gigahertz and sub-terahertz frequency ranges, important for current and future communication technologies, while remaining electrically insulating.

Graphene is the most famous van der Waals material. It is two-dimensional because it is a plane of strongly bound atoms. Many planes of graphene, weakly coupled by van der Waals forces, make up a bulk graphite crystal. For many years, research was focused specifically on two-dimensional layered van der Waals materials, which exfoliate into planes of atoms.

---- "In the end, I got them right, prepared a composite and measured the EMI properties. The results were amazing: no electric conductivity but more than 99.99% of EMI shielding for micrometer thick films," Barani added.

The quasi-1D van der Waals metallic fillers can be produced inexpensively and in large quantities. Balandin said that research on atomic bundles of quasi-1D van der Waals materials as individual conductors, and composites with such materials is just beginning.

"I am sure we will soon see a lot of progress with quasi-1D van der Waals materials, as happened with quasi-2D materials," he said.

More

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/02/210222164141.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fmatter_energy%2Fgraphene+%28Graphene+News+--+ScienceDaily%29

If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases observe it.

Julius Caesar.