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http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/3dbad5ca-6431-11df-8618-00144feab49a.html

Scientists have turned inanimate chemicals into a living organism in an experiment that raises profound questions about the essence of life.

Craig Venter, the US genomics pioneer, announced on Thursday that scientists at his laboratories in Maryland and California had succeeded in their 15-year project to make the world’s first “synthetic cells” – bacteria called Mycoplasma mycoides.

This article introduces you to the basics of hedging fixed income derivatives trades.  It is meant to be a practical guide to understanding basic hedging.  Three common trade examples are presented with examples of different potential hedges.  Volatility smiles are touched on, as are the Greeks (delta, gamma, theta, vega, rho) and other risk measures (PV01/DV01, duration, convexity).   The language is written in layman’s terms as much as possible to facilitate understanding of hedging concepts without getting too deeply into complex mathematics.

Every once in a while, says New York magazine, there appears a character who floats above “the wretched, amoral, meatheads” of Wall Street. Andrew J Hall is such a man.

Scott Langmack has given more than US$600,000 in unsecured loans to strangers.

"I can reliably get 12 per cent, worst case 9 per cent," said Mr Langmack, 50, a former Microsoft marketing executive who began investing in so-called peer-to-peer lending last year. "I can't find anything that gives me this kind of confidence."