Biodiesel: The afterlife of oil

How could you dispose of your cooking oil when you're done cooking? The easiest thing to do might be to pour it down your drain -- but if you save it up and send it to a processing plant, it can gain useful new life as biodiesel, a biodegradable energy source which can run in diesel engines instead of refined petroleum. Natascia Radice describes the process of turning goop into good.

ORIGINAL: Science Dump
by Jur on Thu,
01/30/2014

Global R&D spending. Graphic detail

ORIGINAL: The Economist

by Economist.com

Oct 30th 2012

TOYOTA spent more on research and development (R&D) than any other company in the world in 2011, according to "Global Innovation 1,000". This report compiled by Booz & Company, a consultancy, looks at the companies with the 1,000 biggest R&D budgets. Toyota increased its 2010 spending by 16.5%, and the car industry as a whole increased spending by $13.2 billion, largely to meet fuel economy standards and improve electronics. Two health-care companies, Roche and Pfizer, had topped the 2010 table, but dropped to third and fourth places after reducing spending in 2011. Yet the health-care industry still supplied three of the five biggest budgets, and accounted for 21% of the $603 billion spent on R&D by the 1,000 companies. It is not the most lavish-spending industry, though: that title goes to computing and electronics, whose firms spent 28% of the total R&D expenditure and also increased spending more than any other sector (by $13.4 billion). Overall R&D spending in 2011 grew for the second year running.

2011 R &D spending ($bn) , R&D as a % of Sales.