Baltic Dry Index. 4195 +02 Brent Crude 71.85
Spot Gold 1800
Coronavirus Cases 02/04/20 World 1,000,000
Deaths 53,100
Coronavirus Cases 27/08/21 World 215,495,617
Deaths 4,488,844
No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth!
President Reagan.
We open with the tragic bombings yesterday at Kabul airport. Our sympathy and prayers go out to all families deeply affected by this latest tragedy in Afghanistan.
Yesterday morning, the BBC World Service reported for the first time, the US, UK and Australian military warning for people to evacuate the area in front of the Kabul airport due to the threat of an imminent attack.
This morning, that same BBC World Service reported that the Taliban had been warning the US military for a week of such an attack. With hindsight, why was there a delay in calling for an evacuation?
In the countdown to August 31, its going to be a long, long weekend in Kabul.
13 U.S. service members killed, 18 wounded in attack near Kabul airport, Pentagon says
WASHINGTON — A thirteenth U.S. service member has died from his wounds and the number of injured has risen to 18 after two suicide bombers detonated explosives near Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Thursday.
The injured service members are being evacuated from Afghanistan on specially equipped C-17 aircraft with surgical units, a spokesperson for U.S. Central Command said Thursday evening.
U.S. Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, said in a briefing earlier Thursday that a number of Afghan civilians were also killed, but he was not able to provide a precise number.
The explosions took place near the airport’s Abbey Gate and the Baron Hotel immediately adjacent, McKenzie said. Several gunmen opened fire on civilians and military forces after the explosion at Abbey Gate, he said.
The general, who oversees the U.S. military’s operations in the region, said that the Pentagon is working to determine attribution for the attack but added that the current assessment is that the bombers are affiliated with ISIS.
ISIS later claimed responsibility for the attack.
McKenzie said that the U.S. is still monitoring “extremely active threats” to the airport that range from suicide bombers to rocket attacks. McKenzie said that despite the attack, the U.S. emergency evacuation mission continues.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin expressed his condolences in a statement Thursday and condemned the attack that “took their lives at the very moment these troops were trying to save the lives of others.”
----The president warned that staying longer in Afghanistan carries serious risks for foreign troops and civilians. Biden said ISIS-K, an Afghanistan-based affiliate of the terror group, presents a growing threat to the airport.
“Every day we’re on the ground is another day we know that ISIS-K is seeking to target the airport and attack both U.S. and allied forces and innocent civilians,” he said.
The Taliban said earlier Tuesday that the group will no longer allow Afghan nationals to leave the country on evacuation flights nor will they accept an extension of the withdrawal deadline beyond the end of the month.
“We are not in favor of allowing Afghans to leave,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told reporters during a news conference Tuesday.
“They [the Americans] have the opportunity, they have all the resources, they can take all the people that belong to them, but we are not going to allow Afghans to leave and we will not extend the deadline,” he said. Evacuations carried out by foreign forces after Aug. 31 would be a “violation” of a Biden administration promise to end the U.S. military’s mission in the country, Mujahid said.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/26/explosion-happened-outside-kabul-airport-pentagon-confirms.html
In other news, business news, it’s Fed Chairman Powell’s big day. Supposedly, he get’s to tell all the rest of us minions when interest rates go up, by how much and what it will mean for the US economy.
My guess is that he will largely pass on the opportunity to open up. Despite trillions upon trillions of new Magic Money Tree fiat money with trillions more still to come, the US economy is still to fragile and weak to try for normality.
The casino stock bubbles would burst, an Everest debt mountain would start to default, though on the upside, inflation would finally prove to be “transitory.”
The pressure is on for Powell and the Federal Reserve to manage the exit from ultra-easy policies
For the Federal Reserve, implementing the easiest monetary policy in the institution’s history was tough enough. Getting out will be no treat, either.
That is what the central bank faces on its road ahead.
Investors on Friday will hear more on what Fed Chairman Jerome Powell thinks about the economy. They’re also expecting to get at least a few more clues on how he will guide the central bank’s exit from the measures it took to rescue the nation’s economy from the Covid-19 pandemic. He will deliver a speech in conjunction with the Fed’s annual Jackson Hole conference, which again will be held virtually this year.
First on the Fed’s docket is pulling back on the money printing – the $120 billion or so of bonds it buys each month to stimulate demand and drive down long-term interest rates.
After that, the road gets rougher.
At some point, the Fed will look to raise short-term interest rates off the near-zero anchor where they’ve sat since March 2020. Getting rates back to normal didn’t end well for the Fed the last time it attempted to do so from 2015-18, as it had to stop in mid-cycle amid a slumping economy.
Hence, markets could be excused for being at least a little nervous this time around. The Fed not only has to turn around its most-aggressive easing policies ever, it must do so with precision and hopes that it doesn’t break anything in the process.
“Every Fed change in monetary policy is important,” TD Securities global head of rates strategy Priya Misra said. “But I think it’s particularly more meaningful today because we know growth is slowing and the Fed is trying to exit.”
Indeed, the economy is still well within a strong recovery from the depths of the pandemic, which yielded the steepest but shortest recession in U.S. history. But the rebound has seemed to at least be stalling. The Citi Economic Surprise Index, which measures actual data against Wall Street estimates, was at a record high in mid-July. But the index has now slumped to levels last seen in June 2020.
Fed officials themselves expect noticeably slower growth in the years ahead at a time when both monetary and fiscal policy will be tighter. That raises more questions about whether Powell and his cohorts can get the exit right.
Misgivings in the market
“Are they exiting at the right place? Are they exiting at the right time, at the right magnitude? Given the slowing of the economy, we have questions around both,” Misra said. “The market is pricing in a policy mistake.”
What Misra means by a policy mistake is that the current pricing in fed funds futures — the market that trades around the Fed’s rate moves — is indicating the Fed central bank will only be able to raise its rate a few times to maybe 1.25%. Then, it will have to stop as growth stalls.
More
Asia-Pacific markets trade mixed ahead of Fed’s Jackson Hole
SINGAPORE — Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed on Friday as investors remained cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve’s annual Jackson Hole symposium where Fed Chair Jerome Powell is due to speak.
In Australia, the benchmark ASX 200 retraced early losses of almost 0.3% to trade near flat. The heavily weighted financials subindex reversed course from a 0.4% loss to trade up 0.21%. Energy and materials sectors were down 0.18% and 0.28%, respectively.
The Nikkei 225 erased some of its earlier declines, but the Japanese index was still down 0.33% while the Topix index fell 0.36%. South Korea’s Kospi turned positive and traded up 0.32% and the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong rose 0.55%.
Chinese mainland shares also rose: The Shanghai composite was up 0.53% while the Shenzhen component added 0.45%.
The highly anticipated Jackson Hole symposium from the Fed will be held virtually on Friday. Investors are expecting to hear what Powell thinks about the state of the U.S. economy and how he might guide the central bank’s exit from the measures it took to rescue the economy from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Fed chairs have a track record of foreshadowing major policy announcements at Jackson Hole, and some investors think Powell will provide further clues around the timing of a tapering announcement, which could come as soon as the FOMC meeting next month,” Tapas Strickland, director of economics and markets at the National Australia Bank, wrote in a Friday morning note.
Strickland pointed out that an announcement on tapering is “highly likely” to come before the end of the year.
In overnight trade, the three major U.S. indexes finished lower during Thursday’s regular trading session. The Dow snapped a four-day win streak while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite both broke five-day win streaks.
More
Finally, it never rains but it pours. The US Gulf coast looks set to get another hurricane. And a category three hurricane at that. Keep a close watch on the oil price.
Tropical Storm Ida forms, could hit US Gulf Coast as major hurricane
By AccuWeather senior meteorologist
Published Aug. 26, 2021 3:52 PM BST | Updated Aug. 27, 2021 4:09 AM BST
TRopical Storm Ida formed on Thursday afternoon, and AccuWeather forecasters said it was becoming much more likely that parts of the central Gulf Coast would need to prepare for a strike from a major hurricane late Sunday or early Monday.
In anticipation of this, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) issued several watches on Thursday evening. A storm surge watch was hoisted from the Texas/Louisiana to the Alabama/Florida border, with a tropical storm watch from the Mississippi/Alabama to the Alabama/Florida border. Meanwhile, a hurricane watch was in effect from Cameron, Louisiana to the Mississippi/Alabama border. This includes Lake Pontchartrain and New Orleans.
Ida, the ninth-named storm of the 2021 Atlantic season, which meteorologists have been monitoring since early this week when it was a disorganized cluster of showers and thunderstorms, strengthened quickly on Thursday after it was designated Tropical Depression Nine by the NHC just before noon.
As the depression was gathering strength over the Caribbean Sea south of Jamaica on Thursday, hurricane hunters from the United States Air Force were sent to investigate the growing storm, though poor weather briefly caused the mission to be delayed. Tropical storm warnings were issued for the Cayman Islands as well as parts of Cuba.
On Thursday evening, the tropical storm was moving to the northwest at a speed of 12 mph and had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph. It was 65 miles southeast of Grand Cayman Island and 365 miles southeast of the western tip of Cuba
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Global Inflation Watch.
Given our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians, inflation now needs an entire section of its own.
Education Department will cancel student debt for 115,000 borrowers
The U.S. Department of Education announced Thursday it will cancel $1.1 billion in student debt for 115,000 borrowers.
The relief will go to those who attended ITT Technical Institute, a for-profit school that is now defunct. The school is accused of misrepresenting itself and steering students into pricey private loans. These borrowers didn’t finish their degrees and left the school after March 31, 2008.
“Today’s action continues the Department’s efforts to improve and use its targeted loan relief authorities to deliver meaningful help to student borrowers,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, in a statement.
The Education Department under the Biden administration has now canceled student debt for 563,000 borrowers, totaling $9.5 billion.
Still, President Joe Biden remains under pressure from Democrats, advocates and borrowers to go further and cancel $50,000 per borrower in student debt for all.
Biden has asked the Education Department and the U.S. Department of Justice to review his legal authority to forgive student debt through executive action. The findings of those reports are not yet public.
“You don’t need Congress,” Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has said. “All you need is the flick of a pen.”
The World Economy’s Supply Chain Problem Keeps Getting Worse
By Cindy Wang and Enda Curran25 August 2021, 22:00 BST
· Shipping shortages spark bidding wars by factory owners
· Rising costs push exporters to raise prices, stoking inflation
A supply chain crunch that was meant to be temporary now looks like it will last well into next year as the surging delta variant upends factory production in Asia and disrupts shipping, posing more shocks to the world economy.
More
Higher food prices loom due to gigantic pay rises for drivers as shortfall swells to 100,000
Thursday 26 August 2021 1:47 pm
Shoppers could face long-term higher prices for food as result of systemic changes to the supply chain, supermarkets chiefs and hauliers warned today.
Bosses at the Road Haulage Association said the “substantial” pay rises offered by firms in need of new drivers could force supermarket bosses to pass the costs on to customers.
Hauliers have warned that there is a shortfall of around 100,000 drivers. This has been driven by thousands of European drivers leaving during the pandemic and not returning, as well as “high numbers” of workers retiring. The average age of an HGV driver in the UK is 55.
Retailers and restaurants chains, including Nando’s and McDonald’s, have been hit by product shortages as meat packers and other manufacturers have also faced significant worker shortages.
The Government introduced a seasonal worker visa scheme in December for 30,000 workers, primarily for the summer fruit picking season, but meat processors were excluded.
Rod McKenzie, managing director of policy and public affairs at the Road Haulage Association, said today that the shortage of drivers needs urgent Government action and firms have offered better incentives and pay deals to secure potential recruits.
“Certainly drivers’ pay is increasing, often by quite substantial amounts,” he said.
“This in turn is a cost that will need to be passed on, and given the tight profit margins of most haulage operators that means their rates to customers will have to go up.
“In turn, this may mean more of us paying higher prices for goods, services and shopping – including food prices – going forward.”
More
U.K. Carmakers Beset by Shortages in Worst July Since 1956
By Siddharth Vikram Philip26 August 2021, 00:01 BST Updated on 26 August 2021, 09:15 BST
· Production plunged 38% from a year ago to lowest in 65 years
U.K. car production plummeted in July to levels last seen 65 years ago as shortages of semiconductors and staff continued to wreak havoc on the auto industry.
Carmakers made only 53,438 vehicles, down 38% from a year ago and the lowest for the month of July since 1956, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said Thursday. Similar issues plagued auto manufacturers in June, when they had their second-worst showing for that month since 1953.
U.K. car production fell 38% to lowest July total in 65 years
In addition to the chip shortage that has idled assembly lines around the globe, U.K. carmakers struggled with a wave of workers being “pinged” by the National Health Service’s Covid-19 contact-tracing app. This month, the U.K. lifted the requirement for fully vaccinated adults to isolate after coming into contact with an infected person.
“While the impact of the ‘pingdemic’ will lessen as self-isolation rules change, the worldwide shortage of semiconductors shows little sign of abating,” Mike Hawes, the chief executive officer of SMMT, said in a statement. Hawes called for the government to reduce energy levies and business taxes for the sector.
Supply-chain issues derailed a short-lived run of positive earnings for Jaguar Land Rover owner Tata Motors Ltd., which posted a bigger net loss for the quarter ended in June than any analyst expected. JLR warned last month that deliveries in the current quarter will be about 50% lower than planned.
U.K. carmakers aren’t alone. In Germany, Volkswagen AG’s Wolfsburg plant -- the world’s largest car factory, employing some 60,000 people -- restarted following its usual summer break on only one shift. Audi, the group’s biggest profit contributor, also extended the summer recess at its two factories in the country by a week.
Stellantis NV, Europe’s second-largest automaker, also has extended annual factory downtime at several sites due to the Covid-19 outbreak in Malaysia that is crimping chip supplies further. Plants in Rennes and Sochaux, France, and Eisenach, Germany, are shut this week.
McDonald’s runs out of milkshakes as supply chain woes grip the UK
Published Wed, Aug 25 2021 9:13 AM EDT
LONDON — Supply constraints are weighing on Britain’s economy with several big-name firms announcing they have run out of stock on particular items.
McDonald’s on Tuesday said it had ran out of milkshakes across the country. The U.S. fast food giant has also been deprived of some bottled beverages throughout its 1,250 British outlets this week.
Last week, popular chicken chain Nando’s was forced to close around 50 restaurants across Britain due to poultry shortages, while KFC has also been unable to provide some menu items in recent weeks.
The supply chain struggles are being widely attributed to a lack of truck drivers, caused by a confluence of new post-Brexit EU immigration rules, Covid-19 measures and self-isolation guidance.
Willem Sels, chief investment officer for private banking and wealth management at HSBC, said Monday that while the surge of self-isolation recommendations seen in July appeared to be moderating, there are some signs that the consumer spending boost from reopening the economy is also fading. However, he suggested that the underlying data remains hopeful.
“Businesses that are facing shortages in either goods or workers often have to react by paying more, increasing cost pressures,” he said.
---- The Confederation of British Industry revealed on Tuesday that retail inventories fell to their lowest levels on record in August.
The British Poultry Council this week accused the government of overlooking a worker shortage in the sector, particularly in farming and processing jobs.
---- Meanwhile, lobby groups the British Retail Consortium and Logistics UK have jointly demanded further action to address a driver shortfall of around 90,000. The groups have called for the government to review plans not to grant temporary work visas to drivers from EU countries.
Gaps in supermarket and grocery store shelves have been observed across the U.K., and some supermarket chains have begun offering bonuses to increase recruitment.
More
Everything is funny, as long as it's happening to somebody else.
Will
Rogers.
Covid-19 Corner
This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
Lisa Shaw: Presenter's death due to complications of Covid vaccine
26 August, 2021
A radio presenter died due to complications from the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, a coroner has found.
Lisa Shaw, who worked for BBC Radio Newcastle, died at the age of 44 in May after developing headaches a week after getting her first dose of the vaccine.
Newcastle coroner Karen Dilks heard Ms Shaw suffered blood clots in the brain which ultimately led to her death.
The inquest heard the condition linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine was very rare.
The coroner said: "Lisa died due to complications of an AstraZeneca Covid vaccination."
Ms Dilks said Ms Shaw was previously fit and well but concluded that it was "clearly established" that her death was due to a very rare "vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia", a condition which leads to swelling and bleeding of the brain.
Ms Shaw, a mother of one from Consett, received her first dose of the vaccine on 29 April.
On 13 May she was taken by ambulance to University Hospital of North Durham after having a headache for several days.
In a statement, Dr John Holmes who treated her said she complained of having a "severe headache shooting and stabbing" across her forehead and behind her eyes.
Tests were carried out and blood clots were found in her brain, prompting her to be moved to the neurology specialist unit at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI).
According to the UK medical regulator, there have been 332 reported cases and 58 reported deaths - after nearly 35 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the UK.
More
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-58330796
Japan suspends 1.63M doses of Moderna over contamination
TOKYO (AP) — Japan suspended use of about 1.63 million doses of Moderna vaccine Thursday after contamination was found in unused vials, raising concern of a supply shortage as the country tries to accelerate vaccinations amid a COVID-19 surge.
The health ministry said contamination was reported from multiple vaccination sites. Some doses might have been administered, but no adverse health effects have been reported so far, officials said.
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., a Japanese drugmaker in charge of sales and distribution of the vaccine in Japan, said it decided to suspend use of doses manufactured in the same production line as a safety precaution.
It asked Moderna to conduct an emergency investigation and told medical institutions and organizers to stop using the vaccine produced in Spain and shared the production numbers that may be affected.
The health ministry and Takeda did not give details on the type of contamination or if the doses in question may have been distributed outside Japan.
The Moderna vaccine problem came just as Japan struggles with surging infections, with daily new cases hitting new highs in many parts of the country and severely straining the health care system.
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J&J says COVID-19 vaccine booster after 6 months adds 'robust' protection
Aug. 25, 2021 / 9:31 AM
Aug. 25 (UPI) -- Pharma company Johnson & Johnson announced Wednesday that new studies show that people who received its one-shot COVID-19 vaccine can build up more protection against the coronavirus with a booster shot after six months.
The company said the research showed that those who received the booster after six months had significantly more antibodies than they did just a month after they had the first shot.
Johnson & Johnson said the early-stage trials indicated the booster delivered a "rapid and robust" increase in spike-binding antibodies and appears to offer more protection if the effectiveness of the initial shot begins to wane over time.
Earlier this month, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention recommended that Americans who received the vaccine from Pfizer or Moderna receive a booster eight months after the second dose.
More studies are being done on the existing vaccines to see how they perform over time and whether they offer adequate protection against known variants like the Delta coronavirus strain.
Johnson & Johnson submitted its new data to the journal medRxiv for publication and peer review.
"A booster dose of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine further increases antibody responses among study participants who had previously received our vaccine," Dr. Mathai Mammen, research and development head of Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen, said in a statement.
---- Janssen produces the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which is the only one of the three authorized in the United States that is adenovirus-based and requires only one dose for full protection. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are based on messenger RNA, or mRNA.
The company said in its update on Wednesday that it will work with the CDC, Food and Drug Administration, European Medicines Agency and other health authorities regarding a booster protocol.
More
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2021/08/25/johnson-covid-vaccine-booster/4181629893705/
The Vaccinated Are Worried and Scientists Don’t Have Answers
By Kristen V Brown and Rebecca Torrence21 August 2021, 10:00 BST Updated on 22 August 2021, 15:31 BST
· Anecdotes signal surprising number of infections in vaccinated
· Officials must formulate plans despite a dearth of hard data
Anecdotes tell us what the data can’t: Vaccinated people appear to be getting the coronavirus at a surprisingly high rate. But exactly how often isn’t clear, nor is it certain how likely they are to spread the virus to others.
Though it is evident vaccination still provides powerful protection against the virus, there’s growing concern that vaccinated people may be more vulnerable to serious illness than previously thought.
There’s a dearth of scientific studies with concrete answers, leaving public policy makers and corporate executives to formulate plans based on fragmented information. While some are renewing mask mandates or delaying office reopenings, others cite the lack of clarity to justify staying the course. It can all feel like a mess.
“We have to be humble about what we do know and what we don’t know,” said Tom Frieden, a former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the head of the nonprofit Resolve to Save Lives. “There are a few things we can say definitively. One is that this is a hard question to address.”
Absent clear public health messaging, vaccinated people are left confused about how to protect themselves. Just how vulnerable they are is a key variable not just for public health officials trying to figure out, say, when booster shots might be needed, but also to inform decisions about whether to roll back reopenings amid a new wave of the virus.
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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
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.
Layered graphene with a twist displays unique quantum confinement in 2-D
Date: August 23, 2021
Source: DOE/Brookhaven National Laboratory
Summary: Bilayer graphene with one of the two layers twisted displayed unique resonant electronic behavior. Understanding how electrons move in such 2-D materials could shed light on how to manipulate them for quantum computing and communication.
Scientists studying two different configurations of bilayer graphene -- the two-dimensional (2-D), atom-thin form of carbon -- have detected electronic and optical interlayer resonances. In these resonant states, electrons bounce back and forth between the two atomic planes in the 2-D interface at the same frequency. By characterizing these states, they found that twisting one of the graphene layers by 30 degrees relative to the other, instead of stacking the layers directly on top of each other, shifts the resonance to a lower energy. From this result, just published in Physical Review Letters, they deduced that the distance between the two layers increased significantly in the twisted configuration, compared to the stacked one. When this distance changes, so do the interlayer interactions, influencing how electrons move in the bilayer system. An understanding of this electron motion could inform the design of future quantum technologies for more powerful computing and more secure communication.
"Today's computer chips are based on our knowledge of how electrons move in semiconductors, specifically silicon," said first and co-corresponding author Zhongwei Dai, a postdoc in the Interface Science and Catalysis Group at the Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN) at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Brookhaven National Laboratory. "But the physical properties of silicon are reaching a physical limit in terms of how small transistors can be made and how many can fit on a chip. If we can understand how electrons move at the small scale of a few nanometers in the reduced dimensions of 2-D materials, we may be able to unlock another way to utilize electrons for quantum information science."
At a few nanometers, or billionths of a meter, the size of a material system is comparable to that of the wavelength of electrons. When electrons are confined in a space with dimensions of their wavelength, the material's electronic and optical properties change. These quantum confinement effects are the result of quantum mechanical wave-like motion rather than classical mechanical motion, in which electrons move through a material and are scattered by random defects.
For this research, the team selected a simple material model -- graphene -- to investigate quantum confinement effects, applying two different probes: electrons and photons (particles of light). To probe both electronic and optical resonances, they used a special substrate onto which the graphene could be transferred. Co-corresponding author and CFN Interface Science and Catalysis Group scientist Jurek Sadowski had previously designed this substrate for the Quantum Material Press (QPress). The QPress is an automated tool under development in the CFN Materials Synthesis and Characterization Facility for the synthesis, processing, and characterization of layered 2-D materials. Conventionally, scientists exfoliate 2-D material "flakes" from 3-D parent crystals (e.g., graphene from graphite) on a silicon dioxide substrate several hundred nanometers thick. However, this substrate is insulating, and thus electron-based interrogation techniques don't work. So, Sadowski and CFN scientist Chang-Yong Nam and Stony Brook University graduate student Ashwanth Subramanian deposited a conductive layer of titanium oxide only three nanometers thick on the silicon dioxide substrate.
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Another weekend, and a long, long, weekend for 78 year old President Biden. In addition to events in Afghanistan, he needs to keep an eye on events in the Gulf of Mexico. Who would volunteer to be US President?
Have a great weekend everyone. A long weekend here in the UK too, but then most weekends are long here.
The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it.
George Orwell.
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