Latest news with #Hanke
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Seals playing a video game reveal how they find their way
The world's harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) are masters in seeing through the cloudy coastal waters they call home. Equipped with dexterous whiskers, these pinnipeds use a suite of senses to navigate their surroundings with ease. Harbor seals may also use an important part of their vision to determine which direction they are moving, even with such an opaque view of the world. Now, we might know a bit more about how they can tell which direction they are heading. New research involving a simulated swim finds that the particles in cloudy water moving across the retina at the back of the seal's eye can tell them which way they are moving. The findings are detailed in a study published May 29 in the Journal of Experimental Biology. Harbor seals are commonly found along the eastern and western coasts of the United States. Adult harbor seals are about five to six feet long and they 'haul out' (aka rest) on various rocks, reefs, beaches, and glacial ice when not at sea. This coastal lifestyle means they must navigate in some very busy and murky waters in order to survive. [ Related: Arctic seals have special noses. ] 'We wanted to know whether harbour seals can determine their heading from optic flow fields – the pattern of motion on the retina generated as a seal moves past visible objects, including particles in the water, in their surroundings,' Frederike Hanke, a study co-author and neuroethologist at the University of Rostock in Germany, said in a statement. To examine this, Hanke and the team essentially set up an arcade for seals with a gaming challenge. They designed three different computer simulations to show three captive seals. One simulated moving through the open sea, with dots streaming towards the viewer out of the screen. The second used a plane of dots rushing towards the viewer to simulate the seabed passing below. The third emulated the surface of the sea flowing above the viewer's head using another plane of dots. The team then trained three seals–Nick, Luca, and Miro–to shuffle into place in front of a large screen and showed them the simulations. They were encouraged to indicate which side they were moving towards while watching the simulations (left or right) by touching a red ball with either side of their heats. In return, they were given sprats as a reward. According to Hanke, Nick and Luca were gaming veterans and picked up this new task with ease. Miro was a novice, but he was reportedly a very open-minded seal, and 'coped with all new situations easily.' Once the seals were comfortable with the game, the team kept track of the animals' choices as they watched the dots in the simulations. The simulations appeared to show that the seal was heading in a direction that was 22, 18, 14, 10, 6 or 2 degrees to the left, or in similar positions to the right. The team then plotted the animals' successes and mistakes, as the seals indicated which direction they believed they were travelling in during the simulations. 'These are living animals, not robots,' said Hanke. 'Errors are most likely due to inattentiveness or sometimes a drop in motivation.' When the team plotted the seals' successes, it was clear the animals were capable of determining which direction they were travelling based on the dots streaming in their view, the way that particles would look while they were really swimming. Even in faint lights, the seals appear to be able to use their vision to take advantage of cloudy water to determine which direction they are travelling based on the motion of objects and particles in the water going past their eyes. In future research, the team is hoping to find out whether they use this same visual effect to determine how far they have travelled.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A new book makes the case for putting money supply at the center of the U.S. economy and re-empowering commercial banks
In the path-breaking book 'Making Money Work,' a pair of leading economists present a manifesto for fixing the financial regime that took America on a careening post-COVID ride through rampant inflation, ballooning values of homes and stocks, and spiking income inequality. In a rush to reverse course and tame prices, the pair argues, a clueless Fed clamped down much too hard, and doesn't even know it. To make matters worse, heavy-handed regulation has hamstrung the commercial banking system, slowing the flow of credit just as the central bank's throttling back. The upshot: These dual, wrongheaded policies are already saddling the U.S. with tepid growth, and could easily trigger an unnecessary, self-inflicted recession. Their solution: Putting the long-ignored 'money supply' at the center of U.S. economic policy. To make that happen, the authors say, Washington must recharge the weakened players that create the flow of dollars––the commercial banks––to move this nation back where we should and can be once again: on a path of stable prices and strong, sustained economic growth. The authors are Steve Hanke, founder and professor at the Johns Hopkins Institute of Applied Economics, Global Health and the Study of Business Enterprise, and Matt Sekerke, a fellow there. Hanke's renowned as a hardcore 'monetarist' who won the nickname 'the money doctor' by advising Estonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, and Bosnia-Herzegovina on establishing currency boards, and Montenegro and Ecuador on dollarization. Those reforms helped successfully smash inflation and establish stability. The book is an extremely intensive, data-rich work of economic analysis, and a must read for anyone interested in how our economic policy has gone rogue since the Global Financial Crisis. For this review, I conducted an in-depth interview with Hanke where he cuts through the details, and highlights the broad sweep of his and Sekerke's template for reform. I also refer specifically to passages in 'Making Money Work,' which I read carefully. But unless otherwise noted, the capsule summary of its themes come from my talk with Hanke. So what is this book all about? 'It's about getting the money supply back into the game. The Fed does not adhere to the quantity theory of money,' says Hanke. The central bank, he charges, incorrectly focuses only on controlling interest rates. He insists that it's really growth in broad money that determines the levels of economic expansion and inflation, just as an altimeter regulates the altitude of an aircraft. 'The Fed's been using post-Keynesian models that ignore the money supply and hence put us on a rollercoaster,' he says. In our conversation and in his book, Hanke argues that the Fed's easy money policies post-COVID hugely inflated all asset prices including land, real estate, and stocks, and eventually created near-double digit inflation. Those policies penalized the middle class and made the wealthy far richer. 'In January of 2020, billionaires held 14% of the wealth in America as a share of GDP,' he says. 'Today, it's 21.1%.' He and Sekerke argue that to get the money supply growing at the correct, steady speed, policymakers need to render commercial banks once again the centerpiece of the financial ecosystem. They point out that these lenders, not the Fed, are the real elephant in the room. About 80% of broad money in the financial system has been produced by commercial banks via their lending to businesses and households. The book takes a new, holistic view of monetary policy as a three-legged stool. Traditionally, the field's narrowly focused on the Fed. But Hanke and Sekerke emphasize and integrate the roles of two key players that typically get left out of the picture: bank regulation and fiscal policy. 'Bank regulation and the Fed are the two most significant legs,' he adds, with fiscal policy still potentially playing an important role. Following the GFC, Hanke argues, the rules went haywire on banking. Two reforms hit the banks hard: Dodd-Frank legislation and the Basel III international regime both forced lenders to hold far higher reserves as a cushion. 'As a result, the banks became strangled and sharply cut back loans,' says Hanke. After going negative in the months following the GFC, loan growth only gradually recovered, but Hanke and Sekerke argue that it's still much too low. 'Banks are not creating enough money,' Hanke told me. 'The growth of their loan books remains relatively anemic, at rates lower than their levels prior to the GFC.' The authors propose two fixes to get the U.S. back on track for steady prices and steady robust growth. The first: dismantling the 'universal bank' model by 'divorcing' the lending business from investment banking. 'The rates of return are higher in investment banking than lending, so the capacity to make loans at the universal banks gets sucked away,' explains Hanke. Second, Hanke and Sekerke avow that Dodd-Frank and Basel III went much too far by imposing onerous 'risk weightings' that mandate excessive and discriminatory reserves, on different kinds of loans. 'The weightings are too high,' says Hanke. 'They're not fine-tuned. The banks should be given much more leeway in determining the reserves. They know much more about their business than the bureaucrats in Washington and Basel.' One such regulation that the book contends greatly increased the burden on banks is the 'Supplementary Leverage Ratio,' enacted in 2014 as part of the extensive post-GFC reforms. It mandates extra reserves on top of the Dodd-Frank and Basel III requirements that impose relatively high weights for holding even super-safe assets such as Treasuries. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent has called SLR reform 'a top priority,' and it's strongly favored by such banking titans as JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon. In 'Make Money Work,' Hanke and Sekerke assert that the SLR 'binds' loan growth, and that reforming it would fit their prescription for unshackling bank lending. By pursuing policies that undermine and distort lending, Hanke and Sekerke insist, the Fed and Congress are curtailing an overlooked gift embodied in the banking system. When folks invest in stocks, bonds or real estate, that 'savings' is channeled through investment banks and other non-bank financial institutions. Those savings are money the investors aren't spending on consumption––that's not going to groceries, cars or vacations. But when banks provide credit, as Hanke puts it, 'they create money out of thin air' in the form of loans. That money doesn't come out of new savings that forces investors to forego buying stuff. 'It's the magic no one understands,' says Hanke. Or as the book puts it: 'The ability of banks to create deposit money out of nothing is one of the great forgotten facts of monetary economics.' 'The banks act as a type of phantom savers that enable good bankable projects to be financed without having to forego consumption,' Hanke says. 'Making Money Work' writes a new chapter in money and banking, and mounts a compelling case for learning from the post-GFC mistakes, letting the money supply rule by putting the banks back in charge. Because to paraphrase the great bank robber Willie Sutton, 'that's where the money comes from.' This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How the U.S.-China trade war's 90-day pause was 70 years in the making
Last month, the Trump administration launched a trade war of unprecedented magnitude against China by announcing a staggering 145% tariff on Chinese imports. China responded by playing hardball. It imposed a 125% reciprocal tariff on U.S. goods. While previous escalations had seen China urging for dialogue and cooperation, this time Beijing's response was defiant. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce declared it was "prepared to fight till the end." Last weekend, the optics changed dramatically. The U.S. and China agreed to a 90-day pause on their trade war in which the punitive, reciprocal tariffs were rolled back to 30% by the U.S. and 10% by China. This outcome did not surprise us. As it turns out, Beijing has an ace up its sleeve. The ace is China's global dominance in critical materials. China's strategic ace wasn't built overnight. It began with a heavy investment in human capital, which is underscored by China's emergence as a global leader in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Just two decades ago, China led in only three of 64 critical technology fields, while the United States dominated in 60, according to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's (ASPI) Critical Technology Tracker. Since then, the tables have turned. Today, China has taken the lead in 57 of these fields, with the U.S. now leading in just seven. China's newfound STEM supremacy is fueled not only by state-driven policies but also by China's economic elites, a young and dynamic group often rural-born and globally educated. According to the World Elite Database, 34% of China's economic elites studied engineering, gaining expertise in fields like material science, robotics, and aerospace. While China has only recently become dominant in the STEM fields, it has long dominated in what one of us (Hanke) has dubbed the Three Ms: Mining and Mineral Engineering, Metallurgical Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering. China's dominance in the Three Ms is crucial because it underpins the extraction, processing, and application of critical minerals that power modern technology and national security. China's commitment to STEM and, more specifically, to the Three Ms allows it to exercise near-monopoly power over rare earth elements and critical materials. Today, China controls approximately 70% of rare earth mining and more than 90% of the processing capacity worldwide. This matters because rare earth elements (REEs), a group of 17 minerals, are essential to many technologies, from consumer electronics to military technology. Neodymium magnets drive offshore wind turbines and electric vehicles, while europium and terbium illuminate LED displays and smartphone screens. When it comes to defense, the stakes are even higher. Indeed, an F-35 fighter jet requires over 900 pounds of rare earths, an Arleigh Burke DDG-51 destroyer needs 5,200 pounds, and a Virginia-class submarine consumes more than 9,200 pounds. It is not surprising that 23 retired four-star U.S. generals and admirals have lobbied the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee to protect tax breaks for critical mineral projects. If the U.S. and the West's vulnerability to China's dominance of rare earths isn't bad enough, the U.S. Geological Survey said in March that of the 44 critical minerals, such as antimony, chromium, graphite, lithium, titanium, and vanadium, China led in the production of 30. China's rise has been more than 70 years in the making. It traces back to 1950, when Chinese geologists discovered the Bayan Obo deposit in Inner Mongolia, one of the world's largest light rare earth reserves. In 1972, Peking University professor Xu Guangxian, a Columbia University trained chemist, made a major breakthrough when he developed the "cascade extraction theory." This was dubbed the 'China shock' by Western observers. It allowed China to extract rare earths at a quarter the cost of the West. In 1975, China institutionalized its ambitions by establishing the National Rare Earth Development and Application Leading Group, laying the groundwork for long-term strategic planning. By 1991, four rare earth elements were designated as protected minerals, restricting foreign ownership and investments. In 2001, China's Tenth Five-Year Plan solidified this approach by listing rare earths as a national development goal. This strategic focus was further sharpened on Oct. 1, 2024, when the State Council implemented sweeping 'Rare Earth Management Regulations.' These new rules consolidated government control over the exploration, mining, processing, and export of rare earth minerals. This delivered yet another signal that China views rare earths not just as economic assets, but as geopolitical tools. China's critical material advantage is a one-two punch that extends far beyond its borders. For one thing, nearly anyone who wants to process rare earth materials must send them to China. In addition, over the past two decades, Beijing has strategically invested in critical material projects worldwide. For example, in Brazil, Chinese firms have secured offtake agreements for nearly all of the Serra Verde project's output, which includes neodymium, praseodymium, terbium, and dysprosium. In Greenland, China's partially state-owned Shenghe Resources holds a minority stake in the Kvanefjeld mine, which contains 1.5 million metric tons of rare earth oxides. In Africa, Chinese companies control 70% of mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo and have offtake agreements for the Ngualla rare earths project in Tanzania. Even in the U.S., Shenghe Resources owns a 7.7% stake in MP Materials' Mountain Pass mine, a mine which has ironically been advertised as the U.S.'s best hope for overcoming China's stranglehold on rare earths. China is well aware of its strategic ace in the Trump administration's trade war. For example, in 1992, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping famously declared, 'The Middle East has oil; China has rare earth.' Moreover, China knows how to wield its dominance. In 2010, amid a dispute over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, China abruptly cut off rare earth exports to Japan for two months. The impact was profound: Japan, which relied on China for over 80% of its rare earth imports, faced severe disruptions. The price of cerium oxide, a key rare earth compound, surged by 660%. Japan's electronics sector, including companies like Sony and Panasonic, reported up to a 30% increase in component costs due to the embargo. Then, in 2023, Beijing restricted exports of gallium and germanium—critical for semiconductors and missile systems—in response to U.S. restrictions on Chinese access to advanced chip technology. In 2024, China escalated further, imposing export controls on seven additional rare earth elements. This tightened the screws on global supply chains. Most recently, in December 2024, China implemented a complete ban on antimony exports, driving up its price by over 134%. Just last month, in response to President Trump, China used its rare earths lever to go after U.S. automakers. China did this by restricting exports of rare earths such as dysprosium, which is used in electric vehicle magnets, and by requiring U.S. companies to apply for export licenses in a months-long process. This action sparked panic among automakers. Indeed, as Elon Musk noted last month, China's export halt on magnets containing heavy rare earths disrupted Tesla's plans to manufacture Optimus robots, highlighting the strategic importance of these magnets in cutting-edge technology. These moves demonstrate China's willingness to weaponize its near monopoly to counter U.S. trade aggression, with the potential to disrupt American industries from electric vehicles to defense manufacturing. China's dominance in critical materials has rendered them no longer just commodities. They are a strategic lever. It is clear that President Trump and the United States are playing with fire. The opinions expressed in commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune. Read more: China has stopped exporting rare earths to everyone, not just the U.S., cutting off critical materials for tech, autos, aerospace, and defense Critical minerals processing will be the equivalent of 19th-century oil refineries—at a Rockefeller moment How China's critical minerals could become a tipping point in its trade conflict with the U.S. Mining hasn't evolved in decades. The U.S. must reinvent it as China tightens its grip on critical minerals This story was originally featured on
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
AMG Announces Results of its 2025 Annual General Meeting
--- AMG Critical Materials N.V. ('AMG', EURONEXT AMSTERDAM: 'AMG') is pleased to announce that during its Annual General Meeting held on May 8, 2025, shareholders approved all agenda items presented. During the meeting, Dr. Heinz Schimmelbusch was reappointed as Chief Executive Officer for an additional term of two years, beginning May 8, 2025. At this Annual General Meeting, the term of AMG's Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Eric Jackson, has ended and he has indicated his plan to retire. Mr. Jackson has served on AMG's Management Board since its formation in 2006. Following his retirement, Mr. Jackson will act as a senior advisor to the Company. The Supervisory Board and the Management Board are deeply grateful to Mr. Jackson for the value he has created for the Company and for his innovative leadership of AMG over the past two decades. There were also changes made to AMG's Supervisory Board composition during today's Annual General Meeting. Professor Steve Hanke, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, and Mr. Herb Depp, Chairman of the Remuneration Committee, have both served twelve years on the Supervisory Board. Given the term limits for Supervisory Directors under the Dutch Corporate Governance Code, they have therefore retired from their positions on AMG's Supervisory Board. The Supervisory Board is deeply grateful for the long service and dedication to AMG by both Professor Hanke and Mr. Depp. Mr. Willem van Hassel and Mr. Warmolt Prins were reappointed as members of the Supervisory Board for terms of two and four years, respectively, with effect from May 8, 2025. And due to the vacancies created by the retirements of Professor Hanke and Mr. Depp, the Supervisory Board welcomes its newest member, Mr. Robert Jeffries, who was appointed during today's Annual General Meeting as an independent member for a term of four years, beginning May 8, 2025. Given the retirement of Professor Hanke from his position as Chairman of the Supervisory Board after this Annual General Meeting, AMG is pleased to confirm, as announced earlier, that the Supervisory Board has unanimously resolved during its meeting on February 26, 2025, to appoint Ms. Dagmar Bottenbruch, a member of the Supervisory Board since 2019, as Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board with effect from May 8, 2025. This press release contains inside information within the meaning of Article 7(1) of the EU Market Abuse Regulation. This press release contains regulated information as defined in the Dutch Financial Markets Supervision Act (Wet op het financieel toezicht). About AMG AMG's mission is to provide critical materials and related process technologies to advance a less carbon-intensive world. To this end, AMG is focused on the production and development of energy storage materials such as lithium, vanadium, and tantalum. In addition, AMG's products include highly engineered systems to reduce CO2 in aerospace engines, as well as critical materials addressing CO2 reduction in a variety of other end use markets. AMG's Lithium segment spans the lithium value chain, reducing the CO2 footprint of both suppliers and customers. AMG's Vanadium segment is the world's market leader in recycling vanadium from oil refining residues, spanning the Company's vanadium, titanium, and chrome businesses. AMG's Technologies segment is the established world market leader in advanced metallurgy and provides equipment engineering to the aerospace engine sector globally. It serves as the engineering home for the Company's fast-growing LIVA batteries, NewMOX SAS formed to span the nuclear fuel market, and spans AMG's mineral processing operations in graphite, antimony, and silicon metal. With approximately 3,600 employees, AMG operates globally with production facilities in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, the United States, China, Mexico, Brazil, India, and Sri Lanka, and has sales and customer service offices in Japan ( For further information, please contact:AMG Critical Materials N.V. +1 610 975 4979Michele Fischermfischer@ Disclaimer Certain statements in this press release are not historical facts and are 'forward looking.' Forward looking statements include statements concerning AMG's plans, expectations, projections, objectives, targets, goals, strategies, future events, future revenues or performance, capital expenditures, financing needs, plans and intentions relating to acquisitions, AMG's competitive strengths and weaknesses, plans or goals relating to forecasted production, reserves, financial position and future operations and development, AMG's business strategy and the trends AMG anticipates in the industries and the political and legal environment in which it operates and other information that is not historical information. When used in this press release, the words 'expects,' 'believes,' 'anticipates,' 'plans,' 'may,' 'will,' 'should,' and similar expressions, and the negatives thereof, are intended to identify forward looking statements. By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and risks exist that the predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not be achieved. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. AMG expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement contained herein to reflect any change in AMG's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any forward-looking statement is based. Attachment Results of the 2025 AGMSign in to access your portfolio
Gulf Insider
14-03-2025
- Business
- Gulf Insider
‘Pokémon Go' Games Unit Sold to Saudi Group for $3.5 Billion
Saudi sovereign wealth fund-backed Scopely Inc. has agreed to buy Niantic Inc.'s gaming business, including the mobile hit Pokémon Go, for $3.5 billion. Scopely, which is owned by a unit of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, will also acquire Pikmin Bloom and Monster Hunter Now from Niantic, along with the teams working on them, the Saudi company said in a statement on Wednesday, confirming an earlier Bloomberg News report. Niantic's games encourage players to go outside and explore their neighborhoods to receive in-game rewards. The Niantic games business generated more than $1 billion in revenue from 30 million monthly active users last year, Scopely said. Beyond the runaway success of Pokémon Go, many of Niantic's other games have struggled to gain traction or have shut down entirely. Scopely will not acquire Niantic's mapping technology business, which the company's Chief Executive Officer John Hanke will helm under the new name, Niantic Spatial. Using players' data, the company said in a press release, it will build mapping technology that 'captures the content of the world at a level of fidelity never before achieved' with applications in manufacturing, education, warehousing, logistics, tourism and more. Niantic Spatial is funded with $200 million from Niantic and $50 million from Scopely. Niantic's augmented-reality games, including Ingress Prime and Peridot, will stay with Niantic Spatial. Niantic was spun out of Alphabet Inc.'s Google in 2015. Hanke worked in satellite mapping before leading Google's Geo product division. Savvy Games Group, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's PIF, bought mobile gamemaker Scopely for $4.9 billion two years ago. Savvy was launched with $38 billion of funding to help transform Saudi Arabia into a video-games hub. Also read: Kuwait Bans New 'Call Of Duty' Game Featuring Saddam Hussein Source Gulf News
