A supercomputer is a machine designed to process billions, if not trillions, of calculations simultaneously. Each supercomputer actually consists of many individual computers (known as nodes) that work together in parallel.

Visualizing the power of the world’s supercomputers

A common metric for measuring the performance of these machines is flops , or floating-point operations per second .

In this visualization, we used TOP500 data from November 2021 to visualize the computing power of the top five supercomputers in the world. For additional context, a number of modern consumer devices were included in the comparison.

Ranking by teraflops.

Because supercomputers can reach more than one quadrillion flops, while consumer devices are much less powerful, we used teraflops as our comparison metric.

1 teraflop = 1,000,000,000,000 (1 trillion) flops.

The Fugaku supercomputer was completed in March 2021 and is officially the most powerful supercomputer in the world. It is used for various applications, including weather modeling and discovery of innovative drugs.

Sunway Taihulight is officially recognized as the best supercomputer in China and the fourth most powerful supercomputer in the world. That said, some experts believe there are already two much more powerful systems operating in the country, based on data from anonymous sources.

As you can see, the most advanced consumer devices don’t even come close to the power of supercomputers. For example, it would take the combined power of 4,000 Nvidia Titan RTX graphics cards (the most powerful consumer card available) to match Fugaku.

Future supercomputers

One of China’s undisclosed supercomputers is supposedly called Oceanlite and is the successor to Sunway Taihulight. It is believed to have reached 1.3 exaflops or 1.3 quintillion flops. The following table makes it easy to keep track of all these big numbers.

In the U.S., competing chip makers AMD and Intel received contracts from the U.S. Department of Energy to create exascale supercomputers. AMD has Frontier and El Capitan, and Intel has Aurora.

The EL Capitan project also involves Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) , which claims that the supercomputer will be able to reach speeds of up to 2 exaflops when it is completed in 2023. All this power will be used to support several interesting projects:

Incorporate advanced modeling and simulation to support the U.S. nuclear arsenal and ensure its reliability and safety.
Reduce anti-cancer drug development time from six years to one year through a partnership with pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline.
Understand the dynamics and mutations of RAS proteins that are associated with 30 percent of human cancers.
Overall, exascale computing allows complex analysis in seconds, not hours. This could open up an even faster pace of innovation.

#typesofsupercomputer
#frontiersupercomputer
#fastestsupercomputerofworld
#perlmuttersupercomputer
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After China’s decennial census already significantly adjusted the number of births in the country downward in 2020, the latest report from the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS) shows that even fewer children will be born in China in 2021.

China’s birth rate has plummeted due to slowing population growth

Statistics counted only 10.62 million births in 2021, down from twelve million in 2020 . Meanwhile, China’s population has stagnated at about 1.41 billion.

The country’s fertility rate in 2020 was 1.3 children per woman . Since the 1990s it has been below the threshold of 2.1 needed for a stable population. Despite early warning signs, China abandoned its long-standing one-child policy only in 2016, when fear of overpopulation was replaced by fear of an aging society.

Ning Jizhe, head of NBS, attributed China’s falling birth rate to economic and social development. Countries tend to experience lower fertility rates in line with economic development as greater access to education and a focus on careers become new priorities for the population. This is certainly the case in other Asian countries, especially Japan and South Korea, where fertility rates have fallen to new lows. The situation is particularly worrisome in South Korea, where last year there were more deaths than births.

#fallingbirthrate #decliningbirthratesworldwide #fertilitydecline #havebirthratesdeclined #globalbirthratedecline #Fertilitydeclineinchina
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The oil sector has been the focus of investor attention after an impressive recovery that has made the sector one of the best performers in 2021. However, it was natural gas bulls who had a real ball with natural gas trading at its highest level since 2014, outperforming oil and many other commodities.

3 Major Trends Determining Natural Gas Use in 2022

The natural gas sector is off to another good start, with natural gas prices (Henry Hub) up 20% to $4.19 a barrel since the beginning of the year thanks to steady demand.
Natural gas prices are up nearly 10 percent in the past few days after updated weather forecasts called for freezing temperatures in the Northeast during January. The forecast comes amid winter storms that hit the East Coast over the weekend, pushing natural gas prices in the city’s Algonquin Gateway up to $24 a barrel. Many New England states have switched to burning oil to keep the grid running during inclement weather because of limited access to domestic gas supplies.
“The heating demand forecast for the [eastern] third of the U.S. improved substantially this weekend and in the last week of January,” said John Kilduff of Capital.
Last week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Thursday that it withdrew 179 cubic meters of natural gas from underground reserves for the week ending Jan. 7, the largest inventory withdrawal this winter.
Low temperatures and high natural gas prices are a boon for major companies such as Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) and BP Plc. (NYSE:BP), which produce liquefied natural gas in Trinidad and sell it to the New England market. Meanwhile, domestic natural gas producer AnteroCorp. (NYSE:AR) was recently moved to buy in BMO as discounted valuations and rising natural gas prices are expected to drive the stock up 50%, while Chesapeake (NASDAQ:CHK) recently started buying in BAML with ~30% growth.
Wood Mackenzie published his 2022 global gas and LNG report. Here are some of his interesting predictions.

1 Prices will fall if Nord Stream 2 comes online

Severe natural gas shortages, declining wind power generation, nuclear power plant outages and cold weather have left Europe facing one of the worst energy crises in history. Nevertheless, Europe’s energy problems continue to worsen at every turn.
European natural gas prices hit a new record high Tuesday after a pipeline carrying Russian gas to Germany shifted flows eastward, while U.S. ships carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) destined for the European market headed for Asia, where prices are even higher.
Gas flows to the West through the 2,607-mile Yamal-Europe pipeline, one of the main routes for Russian gas supplies to Europe, have since gradually declined, but have recently changed direction, which the Kremlin says has no political implications.
Some Western politicians argue that Russia is using its natural gas as a weapon in political struggles related to Ukraine and over delays in certifying another controversial pipeline, Nord Stream 2. Russia, of course, denies any connection.
“There is absolutely no connection (to Nord Stream 2), it is a purely commercial situation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a conference call Tuesday.
The Nord Stream project aims to ensure a reliable supply of Russian natural gas to Central Europe. To do so, Gazprom-owned Nord Stream will connect Russia with Germany through pipelines running through the Baltic Sea. Several EU countries have objected to the construction of the pipeline, believing it to be contrary to the organization’s interests.
Woodmac says that at current levels of Russian exports and given normal weather conditions, European storage inventories will fall below 15 billion cubic meters (bcm) by the end of March, a record low. Prices will eventually drop with the end of winter, but storage replenishment requirements will be high, about 20 to 25 billion cubic meters more than last year. The commissioning of Nord Stream 2 may well be the only option for restocking and preventing a repeat of last year’s winter crisis.
“Normal winter weather, including in Asia, and the visibility of Nord Stream 2 commissioning will drive prices down, although storage demand (and high carbon prices) will keep prices above $15 per metric million British thermal units (mmbtu). But cold winters in Europe and Asia, along with continued uncertainty over the commissioning of Nord Stream 2, could lead to further price increases during 2022-be prepared for another bumpy year ahead.

2 Global gas demand will remain resilient

Woodmack says natural gas demand is likely to remain resilient in the short term, with limited signs of demand disruption so far.
Asian LNG demand continues to rise as much of the supply is priced under old oil-indexed contracts and is currently trading at half the price of Asian LNG spot prices. The outlook for the European market is less rosy, as industrial and energy gas demand is down 4% since the summer compared to the past five years.
But Woodmac vice president Massimo Di Odoardo says higher prices will eventually put pressure on demand. In Asia, for example, the rationale for switching from coal to gas will diminish as higher spot prices for LNG will lead to higher contract prices indexed to oil. Meanwhile, investment in renewables and batteries is likely to continue to grow, limiting opportunities for gas demand growth. Policy makers in Europe will seek to accelerate the transition away from natural gas, as the EU’s recent proposal to support biomethane and hydrogen suggests.

3 More natural gas liquefaction projects

Wood Mackenzie predicted that LNG projects will continue to gain momentum as LNG prices are expected to be structurally higher and oil indexation will rise.
The analyst expects a final investment decision (FID) of 79 million tons per year (mtpa) of additional LNG over the next two years, including 33 mtpa in North America, 16 mtpa in Qatar and 20 mtpa in Russia.
Woodmack notes that the big oil companies have so far stayed on the sidelines, but some action is likely in 2022, and some are expected to complete negotiations with QatarEnergy to secure a portion of the Northeast field development.
TotalEnergies (NYSE:TTE) may well acquire a stake in Novatek’s Arctic LNG-1 project, similar to what it did in Arctic 2 and Yamal. And it is also possible that big companies will continue to make takeover deals with third-party projects in North America, both on the East Coast and the West Coast.
Woodmack says natural gas will continue to be the backbone of oil companies’ energy transition strategies, but their ability to invest in upstream and downstream projects is still limited.

Courtesy of the author: Alex Kimani

#naturalgas #northernstream #spg #gas #naturalgas #naturalgas #gasprices

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On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization officially classified the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic. As a result, travel bans have decimated the tourism industry, and international air travel initially declined by as much as 98% .

10 Tourist Destinations for Post-Pandemic Life

Nearly two years later, travel is finally back on the table, although there are many limitations to consider. Nevertheless, a September 2021 survey shows that as things return to normal, 82% of Americans look forward to international travel more than anything else.

To inspire you for your next vacation (whatever it may be), this infographic lists the 10 most visited countries in 2019, along with their top three attractions according to Google Maps.

Have a safe trip

Here are the 10 most popular tourist destinations in 2019 in terms of international arrivals.

France has been the most popular tourist destination by a considerable margin, and it’s easy to see why. The country is home to many of the world’s most famous landmarks, including the Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre .

The Arc de Triomphe was built in the early 1800s to honor those who died during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. In 1944, Allied soldiers marched through the monument after the liberation of Paris from the Nazis.

On the other hand, the Louvre is often recognized by its giant glass pyramid . The museum houses more than 480,000 works of art, including Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

Art is not the only thing France has to offer. The country is famous for its culinary prowess, with 632 Michelin-starred restaurants, more than any other country. Japan is in second place with 413.

While you’re there…

After sightseeing in Paris, you might consider a trip to Spain. The country is the southern neighbor of France and is known for its beautiful villages and beaches.

One of its most impressive sights is the Sagrada Familia , a massive 440,000 square foot church whose construction began in 1882 and is still ongoing (139 years in the making). The video below shows the striking evolution of the structure.

The Sagrada Familia is 172 meters tall and has about 52 stories.

Another popular spot is Ibiza, an island off the coast of Spain that is famous for its wild nightlife. The island is often mentioned in pop culture: Netflix released an adventure/romance film called “Ibiza” in 2018, and a remix of Mike Posner’s song “I took a pill in Ibiza” garnered more than 1.4 billion views on YouTube.

Beaches in Abundance.
If you’re looking for something outside of Europe, consider Mexico or Thailand, which rank 7th and 8th among the most popular tourist destinations. Both offer hot weather and an abundance of white sand beaches.

If you need even more convincing, check out these links:

13 Best Beaches in Mexico
Mexico’s best resorts: readers’ picks for 2021
Best night markets in Bangkok, Thailand
Best rooftop bars in Bangkok

Expect turbulence

Under normal circumstances, international travelers spend hundreds of billions of dollars annually . According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTCC), this spending accounted for an impressive 10.4 percent of global GDP in 2019.

Travel restrictions imposed in 2020 have dealt the industry a serious blow, reducing its share of global GDP to 5.5 percent and destroying an estimated 62 million jobs. While the WTCC believes those jobs could return by 2022, the new Omicron option has already prompted many countries to tighten restrictions again.

To avoid future headaches, make sure you fully understand the rules and restrictions of where you’re going.

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#france #island #mexico # usa #turkey #china #china #tailand #germany #greatbritain

Bill Gates, founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is one of the richest people in the world with a combined fortune of more than $136 billion. His success has inspired many to pursue careers in technology. In addition to his exploits with tech giant Microsoft, Gates has been almost as successful in his stock market investments, though they seem to often slip under the radar because of the focus on the billionaire’s other achievements. Michael Larson, who oversees the trust, also manages Gates’ personal fortune.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was founded nearly three decades ago, and its portfolio has now grown to more than $23 billion.

1. Grupo Televisa, SAB (NYSE: TV ) is a Mexican media company. Morgan Stanley analyst Cesar Medina recently upgraded the stock from Equal Weight to Overweight with a $13 target price, supporting the firm in achieving operational improvements through a new content asset joint venture.
2. FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) provides transportation, e-commerce and business services. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust had more than 1.4 million shares of the company’s stock worth $327 million as of the end of September. The foundation first bought a stake in the firm in the third quarter of 2012.
3. United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS). The fund stated in its third quarter filing that it owns more than 2.2 million shares of United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) for $415 million, representing 1.79% of its portfolio. United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) provides parcel delivery, shipping, logistics and financial services. United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) has been present in Gates’ portfolio for nearly seven years.
4. Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE:CCI) is a real estate investment trust headquartered in Texas. Deutsche Bank analyst Matthew Nicknam recommends buying the stock with a $175 target price. In a recent note to investors, the analyst stressed that the firm remains a “big beneficiary” of robust early 5G assemblies in the U.S. Recent documents show that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has a long position in more than 4.5 million shares of Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE:CCI) for more than $791 million, representing 3.41% of the portfolio. The holding is one of the oldest funds, appearing in the portfolio for the first time in fourth-quarter 2014 filings.
5. Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) offers water, hygiene and infection prevention solutions. According to the latest 13F filing, the fund owns a stake in the firm worth more than $910 million, consisting of 4.3 million shares. It first bought a stake in the company in the third quarter of 2012.
6. Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) owns and operates retail, wholesale and other divisions. Brett Biggs, the company’s CFO, said recently that the retail giant is open to the idea of accepting cryptocurrencies as payment, but there was no “overwhelming desire” to move quickly in that direction. Bill Gates’ hedge fund entered the fourth quarter of 2021 with 6.9 million shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in a portfolio worth about $964 million. The company has been in Gates’ portfolio since the third quarter of 2012.
7. Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI ) provides rail and related transportation services. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust had more than 13 million shares of the company’s stock worth $1.5 billion as of the end of September. The foundation first bought a stake in the firm in the third quarter of 2012.
8. Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT ) In third-quarter filings, the Bill Gates Foundation indicated that it owns more than 9.6 million shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) for $1.8 billion, representing 8.01% of the portfolio. The firm makes and sells construction and mining equipment. It has been present in Gates’ portfolio for nearly nine years. Washington-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust is a leading shareholder in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) with 9.6 million shares worth more than $1.8 billion.
9. Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM ) Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) provides environmental waste management services. In late October, the company released its third-quarter earnings report, reporting revenues of $4.6 billion, up 21% from the same period last year and exceeding estimates by $120 million. The latest documents show that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust owns more than 18.6 million shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) for more than $2.7 billion, representing 12.00% of the portfolio. The holding is one of the oldest funds, appearing in the portfolio for the first time in the third quarter of 2012 filings.
10. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A )Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) is a conglomerate that owns insurance companies, consumer products, transportation and other businesses. According to the latest 13F, the fund owns a stake in the firm worth more than $10.5 billion, consisting of 38 million shares. It first bought a stake in the company in the third quarter of 2012.

Friends! If you found this interesting, don’t forget to give it a like, so we know you’re “getting it.” And we can carry out a more detailed analysis of each of the shares in terms of technical and fundamental analysis specifically for you. We will post the results here as well.

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#tv #brk-a #wm #cat #cni #wmt #ecl #cci #ups

Vaxzevria, the coronavirus vaccine developed by international pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, is currently approved in 134 countries, three more than the U.S.-German Pfizer-BioNTech joint venture. As our chart shows, the most widely available and proven vaccines are produced in Western countries such as the United Kingdom, the aforementioned Germany and the United States.

Rounding out the top three, according to data accumulated by COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker, is a Johnson & Johnson vaccine that successfully protects against all strains up to Delta, but is suspected to be less effective against Omicron. This variant, first discovered in South Africa but not necessarily originating there, is quickly becoming the predominant iteration of the coronavirus in many countries of the world because of its high transmissibility – and is also a concern for Chinese and Russian vaccine manufacturers.

Sputnik V, approved in 74 countries but not yet tested by the WHO and the European Medicines Agency, was the subject of conflicting reports in December: one Russian study claimed a sustained reaction to the newest version of the vaccine, while an international study conducted on samples from various sources in the United States, Italy, Pakistan and Buenos Aires reported virtually no antibody response after a third vaccination with the Russian vaccine. The same study questioned the effectiveness of the Covilo vaccine, produced by the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm and available in 85 countries, in the face of Omicron. Another major Chinese vaccine, Sinovac, also appears to be less effective against the newest variant. According to a Yale University study, a combination of two shots of the original vaccine and a booster from Pfizer-BioNTech produced the same antibody response as two shots of the mRNA vaccine.

Overall, China has vaccinated its population the most, 2.9 billion for 1.4 billion people, compared with 1.5 billion in India, 1.1 billion in Europe and 521 million in the United States, according to Our World in Data. Although the People’s Republic’s previous measures have been largely successful in curbing the spread of Alpha, Beta and Delta variants, the problems caused by the Omicron variant and the apparent decline in effectiveness of domestic vaccines are likely to change the situation in the future.

#vaccine

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Periodic Table of Commodity Returns (2022 Edition)
For investors, 2021 was a year in which almost all asset classes ended in the plus, with commodities providing some of the highest returns.

The S&P Goldman Sachs Commodity Index (GSCI) was the third best-performing asset class in 2021, yielding 37.1% and outperforming real estate and all major equity indices.

This chart from U.S. Global Investors tracks individual commodity returns over the past decade, ranking them by individual performance for each year.

A surge in commodity prices in 2021

After the strong performance of commodities (especially metals) in the previous year, 2021 was all about energy commodities.

Energy fuels made up the top three for 2021, with coal providing the highest annual return of any commodity in the past 10 years at 160.6%. According to U.S. Global Investors, coal was also the least volatile commodity of 2021, meaning investors could ride easy as fossil fuel prices rose.

The only commodities that were in the negative this year were precious metals, which failed to maintain positive momentum despite rising inflation across all commodities and asset prices. Gold and silver yielded -3.6% and -11.7% respectively, platinum -9.6%, and palladium, the lowest-yielding commodity of 2021, -22.2%.

In addition to precious metals, all other commodities posted double-digit positive returns, and four commodities (crude oil, coal, aluminum, and wheat) had their best performance in a decade.

Energy commodities are thriving as the world reopens

The partial reopening of travel and the reopening of businesses in 2021 have been powerful catalysts for energy commodity prices.

After crude oil prices plunged to negative levels in April 2020, black gold showed a strong comeback in 2021 as it returned 55.01%, even though it was the most volatile commodity of the year.

Natural gas prices also rose significantly (46.91%), with natural gas prices in the U.K. and Europe rising even more as supply constraints faced a winter surge in demand.

Although coal was the second worst performer of 2020, with the transition to clean energy looming on the horizon, it was the best commodity of 2021.

The strong demand for electricity has made coal popular again, especially in China, which accounts for one-third of global coal consumption.

Base metals beat precious metals

The year 2021 was a tale of two metals, as precious and base metals had opposite returns.

Copper, nickel, zinc, aluminum and lead, essential to the transition to clean energy, maintained last year’s positive returns as electric car batteries and renewable energy technologies caught investors’ attention.

Demand for these energy metals looks set to continue into 2022, as Tesla has already signed a deal with Talon Metals for 75,000 tons of nickel worth $1.5 billion.

On the other hand, precious metals just sank like a rock last year.

Investors turned to stocks, real estate, and even cryptocurrencies to save and grow their investments, rather than the traditionally favorable gold (-3.64%) and silver (-11.72%). Platinum and palladium also lagged behind other commodities with returns of -9.64% and -22.21% respectively.

Cereals are making steady gains

In a year that saw both over- and under-performance in the market, grains maintained their steady momentum and posted positive returns for the fifth consecutive year.

Both corn and wheat delivered double-digit returns, with corn reaching eight-year highs and wheat reaching prices not seen in more than nine years. Overall, these two grains followed a trend of rising food prices in 2021 as the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food Price Index hit a 10-year high, up 17.8 percent for the year.

As inflation for commodities, assets and consumer goods rose sharply in 2021, investors will now be watching closely for a pullback in 2022. We will have to wait and see if the Fed’s plans to raise rates and cut asset purchases succeed in keeping commodity prices stable.
#commodities #grain #metals
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In terms of results in U.S. stock markets, the big tech, semiconductor and asset management sectors were among the best performers in 2021, according to Visual Capitalist’s analysis of S&P 500 stocks using data from finviz.com . While the reasons for their successes, such as lack of resources and a greater focus on e-commerce and online solutions during the pandemic, are obvious, as our chart shows, there are losers in unexpected areas.

For a long time, Chinese e-commerce companies such as Alibaba, Meituan or Pinduoduo have been relatively safe investment bets, with the Republic of China leading the segment in total revenue. The reasons for making it one of the worst sectors in 2021 are varied, but mostly have to do with stricter regulations for tech companies and the Chinese government’s proposed amendments to the e-commerce law in an effort to improve data security and prevent further monopolization. Precious metals miners are another unlikely candidate for a bad year. Because of the stability of gold and silver prices, this sector is usually able to withstand inflation and uncertain price dynamics in more volatile areas. Both precious metals have had negative year-to-date returns this year, which in turn has caused share prices of companies such as Silvercorp, the largest primary silver producer in China with four mining operations in the People’s Republic of China, to plummet.

While the stock market is known for its volatility, especially in fast-growing sectors such as technology and e-commerce, there have still been some unexpected turns last year. After the first year of the pandemic, the beginning of the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine, the emergence of new dominant variants of the virus and the ongoing shortage of semiconductors played an important role in affecting the stock market, for better or worse. With supply chain disruptions and shortages not going away anytime soon, and the rise in COVID-19 cases being an additional cause for concern, these factors will likely continue to affect the U.S. stock market in the coming year.
#stockmarkets #usa #2021
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