Telescope #87

“Let us permit nature to have her way. She understands her business better than we do.” — Michel de Montaigne

SUSTAINABILITY

• Unilever sets new climate goals to reduce agriculture emissions. The consumer goods company said it plans to completely eliminate direct emissions and reduce indirect emissions by 42%, compared to a 2021 baseline, by the end of the decade. DETAIL
• Conventional toilets account for 25% of a household's water use. Harvest Moon's Luna is a design-savvy alternative that brings waterless sanitation into modern homes. DETAIL

• According to a new study, the survival rate of rainforest seedlings is higher in natural forests than those that have been logged — even three decades following tree restoration projects. DETAIL
• One of the most visible indicators of ocean surface temperature warming due to climate change is the bleaching of coral reefs. Environmental changes like warming waters can cause corals to expel the algae that live on them and provide them with nutrients, turning the corals white. A new study has found that, while most of the world’s coral reefs are currently damaged or under threat, efforts to restore them can revitalize important ecosystem functions remarkably quickly. “We found that restored coral reefs can grow at the same speed as healthy coral reefs just four years after coral transplantation,” lead author of the study Ines Lange, an associate professor of marine conservation and management at University of Exeter, said in a press release from Cell Press. DETAIL

HEALTH

• A chemical found naturally in broccoli could one day prevent and treat the blood clots that can lead to strokes – currently the second leading cause of death worldwide. Researchers, led by a team from the University of Sydney in Australia, conducted a series of laboratory tests on 23 compounds commonly found in plants to determine their fondness for bonding with our blood's platelets. DETAIL
• Leprosy is beginning to occur regularly within parts of the southeastern United States. Most recently, Florida has seen a heightened incidence of leprosy, accounting for many of the newly diagnosed cases in the US. DETAIL
• A team from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Stanford University applied machine learning methods to more than 5 million health records, training the AI to spot patterns that connect Alzheimer's to other conditions. The resulting system isn't perfect, but when tested against records for people known to have developed Alzheimer's later, the AI was able to accurately predict its development 72 percent of the time – up to seven years prior, in some cases. DETAIL

DIGITAL / TECHNOLOGY / SCIENCE / AI

• Google is restricting AI chatbot Gemini from answering questions about the global elections set to happen this year, the Alphabet-owned firm said on Tuesday, as it looks to avoid potential missteps in the deployment of the technology. DETAIL
• China remains an important growth market for French-Italian semiconductor STMicroelectronics, despite increasing tensions with the U.S. over semiconductors, the company's chief executive said on Tuesday. DETAIL
• UK Minister for Science and Technology Michelle Donelan, in a speech he gave announced that more than ￡1.1 billion will be allocated to support students to receive education in future technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum. DETAIL
• Generative AI startup Cognition introduced its new AI software engineer, Devin. Beyond completing all software engineering tasks autonomously, Devin can also train his own AI models.videoyu izlemek i?in t?klay?n...

• The European Parliament approved the European Artificial Intelligence Law, the first legal regulation in the world that sets rules on the use of artificial intelligence.? The new law bans artificial intelligence applications that threaten human rights, including systems that create databases for facial recognition. DETAIL
• Thanks to a collaboration between Figure and OpenAI, the Figure 01 humanoid robot can now converse with people in real-time, and act on requests to do stuff.videoyu izlemek i?in t?klay?n...

• Oracle on Thursday said it is adding generative artificial intelligence features across its corporate software lineup, intensifying competition with Microsoft and other technology firms to sell the technology to businesses customers. DETAIL
• A major internet disruption hit West and Central Africa on Thursday, the internet observatory Netblocks said, citing reports from operators of multiple subsea cable failures. DETAIL

ENERGY / TRANSPORTATION

• An Italian company has conducted what it says is the first test of magnetic levitation (maglev) transport on an existing railway track, a technology that has the potential to reduce costs and energy use as the industry seeks more efficient systems. DETAIL
• Researchers at the Technical University of Denmark may have found a simple solution to cracking the puzzle regarding solar cell efficiency. By mixing older solar technology with the new one, the team produced a tandem solar cell that would be easy to produce and help breach the limits of what solar cells can currently do. When ready, the solar cell could match or even beat the energy conversion efficiencies delivered by technologies today while being cost-effective. The research findings were published in the journal PRX Energy 3. DETAIL

• Scientists at the US’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have successfully demonstrated wireless charging of a passenger electric vehicle (EV) with a 100 kW charger. The charging was completed with a five-inch gap between the charger and the vehicle, similar to what is achieved in small consumer devices with this ability. DETAIL

• Researchers at Sweden’s Chalmers University of Technology have made a breakthrough in road safety by developing a new truck front designed to mitigate the deadly severity of car-truck collisions. This innovation comes after revisions to European Union regulations loosened restrictions on truck length, creating space for potentially life-saving design changes. The new design shows promise in crash tests conducted by the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket): better truck fronts could reduce passenger car compartment deformations by 30-60%, significantly reducing the risk of injury or death for car occupants. DETAIL

CYBERSECURITY

• Privacy in a countryside getaway is no longer a guarantee. Escapada Rural, a local Spanish short-term rental service akin to Airbnb, left large amounts of private customer data exposed for half a year. Hackers got hold of the data and posted it on BreachForums, an illicit marketplace. DETAIL
• The French governmental employment agency has announced a cyberattack during which hackers were likely to extract information about 43 million people – more than two-thirds of the total population. DETAIL

HUMAN

• A polio survivor known as the "man in the iron lung" has died aged 78, according to his family and a fundraising website. Paul Alexander of Dallas, Texas contracted polio at the age of six, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down and reliant on a mechanical respirator to breathe for much of the time. DETAIL

• Aesop is handing out thousands of female-centric books in its Shanghai and Guangzhou stores. After registering as a member, visitors can pick a title free of charge, no purchase required. DETAIL