June 2019 – Impact Lab

Crypto-Technology, facebook, Money Talk, Science & Technology News, Social Media

Facebook’s Calibra is a secret weapon for monetizing its new cryptocurrency

June 30, 2019

The newly formed subsidiary will build Facebook’s digital wallet

Facebook’s announcement this morning of a new cryptocurrency, Libra, and the nonprofit association that will oversee it raises questions about the future of global banking and Facebook’s role in it. But behind Facebook’s ambitions to create a quasi-nation state ruled by mostly corporate interests is a secret weapon, one the company hopes it can use to create another platform used by billions of people — and generate enormous new revenue streams along the way.

It’s called Calibra, and it’s a new subsidiary of Facebook the company is launching to build financial services and software on top of the Libra blockchain. At first blush, Calibra resembles a fairly standard payments company — but its tight integration with Facebook’s enormous user base could give it a significant advantage over any rivals. Thanks to its proximity to the technical development of Libra, and its ability to leverage WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram, Calibra could very well become Facebook’s next big thing.

Continue reading… “Facebook’s Calibra is a secret weapon for monetizing its new cryptocurrency”

Analysis, Big Problems, Environment, Report, Science & Technology News

Special report: Our plastic planet

June 30, 2019

We have sipped, packaged and played our way into a global plastics crisis.

Why it matters: Activist consumer groups are pushing for less use, and to some extent, less production, while industry aims for increased recycling.

The big picture: Plastics demand is projected to only increase — and the footprint of plastic pollution with it.

Continue reading… “Special report: Our plastic planet”

AI, Artificial Intelligence, Google, Science & Technology News

Google’s chief decision scientist: Humans can fix AI’s shortcomings

June 30, 2019

Cassie Kozyrkov, “chief decision scientist” at Google, speaking at AI Summit (London) 2019

Google’s chief decision scientist: Humans can fix AI’s shortcomings

Cassie Kozyrkov has served in various technical roles at Google over the past five years, but she now holds the somewhat curious position of “chief decision scientist.” Decision science sits at the intersection of data and behavioral science and involves statistics, machine learning, psychology, economics, and more.

In effect, this means Kozyrkov helps Google push a positive AI agenda — or, at the very least, convince people that AI isn’t as bad as the headlines claim.

Continue reading… “Google’s chief decision scientist: Humans can fix AI’s shortcomings”

AI, Artificial Intelligence, Breakthrough Thinking, Science & Technology News

Artificial intelligence sees construction site accidents before they happen

June 29, 2019

Construction companies are developing an AI system that predicts worksite injuries—an example of the growing use of workplace surveillance.

A construction site is a dangerous place to work, with a fatal accident rate five times higher than that of any other industry.

Now a number of big construction companies are testing technology that could save lives, and money, by predicting when accidents will happen.

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AI, Artificial Intelligence, new technology, Science & Technology News, Social Media

Adobe’s prototype AI tool automatically spots Photoshopped faces

June 29, 2019

An example of a manipulated photo, the defects spotted by the algorithm, and the original image. Credit: Adobe

Though it’s just a research project for the moment.

The world is becoming increasingly anxious about the spread of fake videos and pictures, and Adobe — a name synonymous with edited imagery — says it shares those concerns. Today, it’s sharing new research in collaboration with scientists from UC Berkeley that uses machine learning to automatically detect when images of faces have been manipulated.

It’s the latest sign the company is committing more resources to this problem. Last year its engineers created an AI tool that detects edited media created by splicing, cloning, and removing objects.

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Breakthrough Thinking, Ecological Products, Global Warming, Science & Technology News

This cool artificial reef was just deployed in Sydney Harbor

June 29, 2019

Earth’s oceans have seen better days. They’re inundated with plastic waste, both whole single-use plastics and tons of plastic microparticles that find their way back into our food and drinking water. Their water temperatures are rising due to climate change, causing coral bleaching and other harmful phenomena. Overfishing has depleted multiple marine species.

Organizations and individuals around the world have leaped to action to try to reverse some of the damage human activity has caused the oceans. The Ocean Cleanup is using a two-kilometer-long screen to collect plastic waste. Origin Materials aims to make a new type of plastic that’s sustainable and renewable. The 5 Gyres Institute’s mission is to end plastic pollution, which it calls a global health crisis

Last week another effort joined the ranks: a purpose-built artificial reef in Sydney Harbor. The result of a three-year partnership between the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), the Sydney Opera House, and the government of New South Wales, the reef was made by Reef Design Lab and consists of eight one-meter-tall pods, each containing three steel and concrete hexagonal structures. Half the units also have triangular tiles extending from the hexagons’ cores.

Continue reading… “This cool artificial reef was just deployed in Sydney Harbor”

Healthcare, Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News, Stem cells

This Lab-grown patch could repair your heart after a heart attack

June 28, 2019

Patches could help repair damaged hearts.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the US for both men and women. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 735,00 Americans have a heart attack each year, and 610,000 die of heart disease.

Those who survive heart attacks remain at serious risk for heart failure. During a heart attack, the network of blood vessels that delivers blood to the heart, called the coronary arteries, experiences a blockage due to buildup of cholesterol and fatty deposits. Blood can’t flow through to the heart, which means it doesn’t get the oxygen and nutrients it needs, causing tissue to die.

Heart attack survivors are thus left with a heart that’s weaker, making everyday tasks like lifting objects or climbing stairs exhausting or even dangerous. Restoring damaged heart tissue has proved difficult if not impossible, but a research team from Imperial College London has a new tool they hope will be able to heal wounded hearts.

Continue reading… “This Lab-grown patch could repair your heart after a heart attack”

Amazon.com, drones, Science & Technology News, Shopping

Watch Amazon’s all-new delivery drone zipping through the sky

June 28, 2019

Amazon has taken the wraps off the latest iteration of its Prime Air delivery drone that it says could be delivering online orders to customers’ doors “in the coming months.”

Considering the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) cautious approach to commercial drone deliveries, it’s a bold claim, but more on that later.

First, the drone. Amazon unveiled its new-look flying machine at its re:MARS Conference (Machine learning, Automation, Robotics, and Space) event in Las Vegas on Wednesday, June 5.

Continue reading… “Watch Amazon’s all-new delivery drone zipping through the sky”

Analysis, Big Problems, Housing, Science & Technology News

Soaring second home ownership hitting young people

June 28, 2019

The number of British people who own a second home, buy-to-let or overseas property has doubled since 2001, says think tank the Resolution Foundation.

While the number of millennials who own a home continues to fall, one in 10 people now own an additional property.
Just 37% of people born in the 1980s managed to buy a home at the age of 29, compared with half of those born in the 1960s.
Wealth from owning a second home has risen since 2001 to almost £1 trillion.
Buy-to-let property is now the most common form of property wealth, having grown by 58% since 2006-08, the report found.

Continue reading… “Soaring second home ownership hitting young people”

Elon Musk, Science & Technology News, Space, Space Flight, SpaceX

LightSail 2 gets ready to make its debut in space

June 26, 2019

Artist’s concept of LightSail 2 above Earth. Image: The Planetary Society

Yesterday, a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket successfully launched NASA’s STP-2 mission from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying with it a whole raft of technology demonstrations that will one day aid in smarter spacecraft design and help the agency’s efforts in getting to Mars.

Some of the more high profile projects included a Deep Space Atomic Clock that could change the way deep-space navigation is conducted, and a new propulsion system that runs on a high-performance and non-toxic spacecraft fuel called the Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM).

However, also stashed amongst NASA’s payloads was a small satellite built by Georgia Tech students, called Prox-1 and packed safely within that like a Russian nesting doll, is a citizen-funded project that originally sprang from the mind of Carl Sagan.

Continue reading… “LightSail 2 gets ready to make its debut in space”

Energy, Science & Technology News, Solar Energy, Solar Power

After 40 years of searching, scientists identify the key flaw in solar panel efficiency

June 26, 2019

Solar panels are fantastic pieces of technology, but we need to work out how to make them even more efficient – and scientists just solved a 40-year-old mystery around one of the key obstacles to increased efficiency.

A new study outlines a material defect in silicon used to produce solar cells that has previously gone undetected. It could be responsible for the 2 percent efficiency drop that solar cells can see in the first hours of use: Light Induced Degradation (LID).

Multiplied by the increasing number of panels installed at solar farms around the world, that drop equals a significant cost in gigawatts that non-renewable energy sources have to make up for.

In fact, the estimated loss in efficiency worldwide from LID is estimated to equate to more energy than can be generated by the UK’s 15 nuclear power plants. The new discovery could help scientists make up some of that shortfall.

Continue reading… “After 40 years of searching, scientists identify the key flaw in solar panel efficiency”

Energy, Record Breaker, Science & Technology News, Space

The Crab Nebula just blasted Earth with the highest-energy photons ever recorded

June 26, 2019

One measured photon has roughly the energy of a falling ping-pong ball.

The Tibetan Plateau is a vast elevated plain almost five kilometers above sea level, sometimes called the Roof of the World. It is bordered to the south by the world’s highest mountain range and to the north by desert lands. It is one of the most isolated places on Earth.

But the extreme altitude makes it a useful place for scientists. In 1990, they built an observatory here to study the showers of subatomic particles that rain down from the upper atmosphere whenever it is hit by a high-energy cosmic ray. This work is better done at high altitude because there is less atmosphere to absorb the particles.

Continue reading… “The Crab Nebula just blasted Earth with the highest-energy photons ever recorded”