Big Problems – Page 7

AI, Artificial Intelligence, Big Problems, Employment, IBM, Science & Technology News

120 million workers will need to be retrained due to AI, says IBM study

September 16, 2019

The skills gap is widening between people and AI.

But many CEOs tell IBM they don’t have the resources needed to close the skills gap brought on by emerging technologies.

Artificial Intelligence is apparently ready to get to work. Over the next three years, as many as 120 million workers from the world’s 12 largest economies may need to be retrained because of advances in artificial intelligence and intelligent automation, according to a study released Friday by IBM’s Institute for Business Value. However, less than half of CEOs surveyed by IBM said they had the resources needed to close the skills gap brought on by these new technologies.

“Organizations are facing mounting concerns over the widening skills gap and tightened labor markets with the potential to impact their futures as well as worldwide economies,” said Amy Wright, a managing partner for IBM Talent & Transformation, in a release. “Yet while executives recognize severity of the problem, half of those surveyed admit that they do not have any skills development strategies in place to address their largest gaps.”

Continue reading… “120 million workers will need to be retrained due to AI, says IBM study”

Automobiles, Big Problems, government, Science & Technology News

Major cities are introducing noise radars that automatically issue fines to loud vehicles to combat noise pollution

September 13, 2019

The measuring devices will be able to precisely measure and locate sounds from moving vehicles, as well as register their licence plates.

Noise pollution is one of the leading health problems in cities after environmental pollution.

In France, a noise radar has been installed to fine the noisiest vehicles, according to Reuters.

The radar isn’t actually the first of its kind in Europe; earlier this year, Switzerland also began installing the first of its own noise radars.

Continue reading… “Major cities are introducing noise radars that automatically issue fines to loud vehicles to combat noise pollution”

Big Problems, Energy, Environment, Science & Technology News

Fossil fuel drilling could be contributing to climate change by heating Earth from within

August 30, 2019

Fossil fuel drilling could be contributing to climate change by heating Earth from within

Almost all scientists agree that burning fossil fuels is contributing to climate change. But agreement is less clear cut on how exactly it’s influencing rising global temperatures.

The world is now 1°C warmer than it was in pre-industrial times. Is this solely down to emissions of greenhouse gases such as CO2? Meteorologist Hubert Lamb, regarded as the father of modern climatology, argued that CO2 levels alone couldn’t account for all of the global warming that’s been observed.

His attention turned instead to the role of thermal emissions. Burning fossil fuels doesn’t just produce greenhouse gases, it also generates a lot of heat, which leaks out to the atmosphere. Nuclear tests and volcanic eruptions are some examples of other large heat sources.

Continue reading… “Fossil fuel drilling could be contributing to climate change by heating Earth from within”

Alternative Transportation, Big Problems, City Planning, Science & Technology News, Transportation

For the struggling legacy transit systems, new mobility options present challenges and opportunities

August 27, 2019

Despite decades of ridership and revenue growth, the country’s busiest transit systems have struggled in recent years both at the turnstile and in the farebox, even as operating costs and unmet capital needs continue to grow. Metropolitan transit agencies serving New York, Chicago, Washington, DC, Boston and San Francisco, the country’s five largest systems, have all seen ridership declines in each of the last three years, and only the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) saw revenues increase, according to financial disclosures.

Some of the decline can be attributed to service quality. But these systems are also challenged by competition from ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft, bike-share programs and the ever-polarizing electric scooter phenomenon.

Continue reading… “For the struggling legacy transit systems, new mobility options present challenges and opportunities”

Big Problems, City Planning, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

The rural America death spiral

August 25, 2019

Many of the nation’s current pathologies are taking a heavy toll on the majority-white population living in rural America, which was severely impacted by the opioid crisis and has dealt with falling populations, job losses and rising suicide rates.

Why it matters: The malaise and discontent that President Trump has tapped into goes beyond the racism we’ve seen over the past few weeks and includes anger at a changing world and frustration at dwindling opportunities close to home. These trends are further entrenching the rural-urban schism that came to light in the 2016 election.

The big picture: Political and economic power is shifting to the cities, and 20% of the population — 46 million people — is being left behind in the middle of America. These communities face increasingly difficult barriers to education, wealth and health.

Continue reading… “The rural America death spiral”

Big Problems, Environment, Global Warming, Science & Technology News

Acclaimed Israeli astrophysicist suggests the sun drives Earth’s climate, not CO2

August 23, 2019

Nir Shaviv is an Israeli astrophysicist and chairman of Jerusalem’s Hebrew University’s physics department. He says that his research, and that of colleagues, suggests that rising CO2 levels play only a minor role in earth’s climate compared to the influence of the sun and cosmic radiation.

“Global warming clearly is a problem, though not in the catastrophic terms of Al Gore’s movies or environmental alarmists,” said Shaviv. “Climate change has existed forever and is unlikely to go away. But CO2 emissions don’t play the major role. Periodic solar activity does.”

But I thought that 97% of climate scientists agreed that human activity is the main driver of climate change?

“Only people who don’t understand science take the 97% statistic seriously,” said Shaviv. “Survey results depend on who you ask, who answers and how the questions are worded. In any case, science is not a democracy. Even if 100% of scientists believe something, one person with good evidence can still be right.”

Continue reading… “Acclaimed Israeli astrophysicist suggests the sun drives Earth’s climate, not CO2”

Big Problems, Breakthrough Thinking, Housing, Science & Technology News

This startup wants to put a free tiny house in your backyard

August 23, 2019

Rent the Backyard will get a tiny house into your backyard in a matter of weeks—and hopes it can add some cheaper apartments in cities to help alleviate the housing crisis.

In cities with housing shortages, little room to build, and opposition to new construction, building small cottages in backyards can be one way to add new apartments quickly. One new startup wants to help it happen even faster: The company handles the cost and construction process for homeowners in exchange for a cut of the rent when a tenant moves in.

“Right now, to build an accessory dwelling unit is a huge process,” says Spencer Burleigh, cofounder of Rent the Backyard, a Bay Area-based startup in the current cohort at the tech accelerator Y Combinator. “You have to talk with the city and deal with the permits. And even if you can find a great builder that is able to do a lot of those steps for you, you’re still fronting a whole lot of money.”

Continue reading… “This startup wants to put a free tiny house in your backyard”

2019 Predictions, Big Problems, Business, Science & Technology News

“This may be the single biggest business opportunity in human history”

August 22, 2019

Dr. Jonathan Foley, 50, executive director for Project Drawdown, joined me for a discussion about climate change (watch in the video player above). His statement, “This may be the single biggest business opportunity in human history,” sounds like hyperbole but there may be no one better qualified to make that statement correctly.

With a PhD in atmospheric sciences from the University of Wisconsin and having spent three decades doing and managing research into climate change, he is certainly qualified on the science. His case that the business opportunity is there hinges on this key premise:

We literally have to reinvent our energy systems, our food systems, our manufacturing, our cities. Everything! You can look at that is like, ‘Crap, that’s a really big problem.’ I think we have to look at as “Wow, what a great opportunity!” especially if we do it right. We can improve lives. We can reduce inequity. We could solve some of our other social ills if we do it wisely. And we could build a better world for future generations and for ourselves.

If we’re going to have to reinvent so much of our modern world, the investment opportunity does begin to be interesting. Clearly, the need for investment capital is there. What about getting a return on that capital?

Continue reading… ““This may be the single biggest business opportunity in human history””

Big Problems, Climate Change, new technology, Science & Technology News

Scientists cook up new recipes for taking salt out of seawater

August 16, 2019

As populations boom and chronic droughts persist, coastal cities like Carlsbad in Southern California have increasingly turned to ocean desalination to supplement a dwindling fresh water supply. Now scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) investigating how to make desalination less expensive have hit on promising design rules for making so-called “thermally responsive” ionic liquids to separate water from salt.

Ionic liquids are a liquid salt that binds to water, making them useful in forward osmosis to separate contaminants from water. (See Berkeley Lab Q&A, “Moving Forward on Desalination”) Even better are thermally responsive ionic liquids as they use thermal energy rather than electricity, which is required by conventional reverse osmosis (RO) desalination for the separation. The new Berkeley Lab study, published recently in the journal Nature Communications Chemistry, studied the chemical structures of several types of ionic liquid/water to determine what “recipe” would work best.

Continue reading… “Scientists cook up new recipes for taking salt out of seawater”

Analysis, Big Problems, Corporate Manipulation, Healthcare, Science & Technology News

76 billion opioid pills: Newly released federal data unmasks the epidemic

August 8, 2019

The data in the DEA database tracks the path of every single pain pill sold in the United States, including oxycodone, above.

America’s largest drug companies saturated the country with 76 billion oxycodone and hydrocodone pain pills from 2006 through 2012 as the nation’s deadliest drug epidemic spun out of control, according to previously undisclosed company data released as part of the largest civil action in U.S. history.

The information comes from a database maintained by the Drug Enforcement Administration that tracks the path of every single pain pill sold in the United States — from manufacturers and distributors to pharmacies in every town and city. The data provides an unprecedented look at the surge of legal pain pills that fueled the prescription opioid epidemic, which has resulted in nearly 100,000 deaths from 2006 through 2012.

Just six companies distributed 75 percent of the pills during this period: McKesson Corp., Walgreens, Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen, CVS and Walmart, according to an analysis of the database by The Washington Post. Three companies manufactured 88 percent of the opioids: SpecGx, a subsidiary of Mallinckrodt; Actavis Pharma; and Par Pharmaceutical, a subsidiary of Endo Pharmaceuticals.

Continue reading… “76 billion opioid pills: Newly released federal data unmasks the epidemic”

AI, Artificial Intelligence, Big Problems, Housing, Science & Technology News

Could A.I. help get homeless youth off the streets?

August 1, 2019

By identifying patterns in successful rehousing, a research team in L.A. is working to make the housing system more efficient

In Hollywood, nestled between a strip mall and a recording studio where bands like the Rolling Stones have recorded, the residents of a small homeless encampment greet passers by with a friendly “Hi, hello, how are you doing?”

Some people respond in kind; others seem nervous and terse. But according to one of the most outgoing people here, Cedric — who didn’t want to give his last name — they simply hope that if their neighbors see them as friendly and nonthreatening, they won’t call the cops and have their tents removed. L.A. police and the Bureau of Sanitation have become increasingly strict about the “cleanup” of homeless encampments, even though most residents here have nowhere to move to.

Los Angeles has the second largest homeless population in the U.S. after New York, with an estimated 52,765 homeless individuals in 2018. The numbers are compiled by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), a city agency that helps get people off the streets — and LAHSA says the number of people experiencing homelessness for the first time is increasing.

In an initiative started in January 2018, LAHSA is now sharing data from the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) with researchers at the Center for Artificial Intelligence in Society (CAIS) at the University of Southern California. The researchers are using the data to build a system that can identify behaviors and outcomes, and allocate the type of housing with the greatest statistical chance of long-term success, while also reducing racial discrimination in the system. The project — Housing Allocation for Homeless Persons: Fairness, Transparency, and Efficiency in Algorithmic Design — brings together researchers from both the engineering and social work schools.

Continue reading… “Could A.I. help get homeless youth off the streets?”

Big Problems, Science & Technology News, Tourism, Transportation, Travel

Global tourism hits record highs – but who goes where on holiday?

July 30, 2019

As the holiday season approaches, we look at the rise and rise of tourism and find out where the world’s 1.4bn international travellers go on vacation

How many people travel abroad on holiday?

Tourism is on the rise. In 2018 there were a record 1.4bn international tourist arrivals, according to the World Tourism Organization (UNTWO), a rise of 6% over 2017. That doesn’t mean 1.4 billion people travel abroad for their holidays, as many people will clock up more than one trip.

But it does mean tourism is playing an increasingly important role in the global economy. In 2018, it was worth about $1.7tn (£1.3tn), or about 2% of total global GDP. Even the UNWTO is struggling to keep up, with current figures vastly exceeding expectations.

Continue reading… “Global tourism hits record highs – but who goes where on holiday?”