Milestone in Cellulosic Ethanol Production

A milestone appears to have been reached in cellulosic ethanol production  when INEOS Bio announced that its Indian River gasification and fermentation plant is now producing cellulosic ethanol at commercial scale from waste matter.  Maybe this is the needed commercial breakthrough?

USA neutron scattering - behind Asia?

I just got back from the International Conference on Neutron Scattering in Edinburgh. The conference went very well and had, I believe, a record attendance. Arguably, the provenance of the invited talks gives some indication of the relative worldwide influence of the various continents on the field worldwide. Ignoring the Europeans, whose numbers are likely to have been inflated by the geographic proximity of Scotland, it is perhaps reasonable to compare Asia in this regard with the USA. Of the 175 lectures 25 were from the USA compared to 41 from Asia.  It would appear, then, that the USA still has some catching up to do?