LEDs are much better than normal incandescents in many ways. But there’s more improvement to be made, and Organic LEDs are leading the way. They may not be quite as energy efficient yet, but they’re flexible, can be ‘printed’ by an inkjet, are way more ecologically friendly, and switch faster than the vanilla non-organics, which makes for better display technology.

It’s not for the poor, I’m afraid. To be so much as considered for the Mars Citizenship Project, you’ll have to cough up at least $10,000. And there are no wine bars there yet, by the way.

The USPTO, demonstrating that beauracracies are not incapable of change, has announced plans to pilot a peer reviewed patent process.

The central Asian banks have been buying U.S. debt instruments in brobdignagian proportions because they’re using it as an unofficial index currency on which to peg their own currencies. That party may be ovre soon: they’re talking about establishing a new Asian Currency Unit index to serve that role. If they reduce their investment in dollars you can expect the dollar to go to hell in a hurry. Wonder if that has anything to do with the price of gold.

Scientists at the University of Texas have demonstrated that carbon nanotubes can carry electrical signals to neurons. Now they’re working on making that a two way communication.