Hot Issues – Page 2

Food, Green Friendly, Hot Issues, Science & Technology News

Maine passes the U.S.’s first state ban on foam food packaging

May 9, 2019

The state joins several U.S. cities and counties in restricting the containers in an effort to reduce waste.

This article was created in partnership with the National Geographic Society.

Maine has joined a growing list of states, cities, and counties, including 14 towns in Maine, to ban foam food containers in an effort to reduce plastic waste.

The bill bans bowls, plates, cups, trays, cartons, and other containers designed to hold prepared food and beverages. Signed by Governor Janet Mills Tuesday, it takes effect January 1, 2021.

Continue reading… “Maine passes the U.S.’s first state ban on foam food packaging”

AI, Artificial Intelligence, Hot Issues, Machine Learning, Science & Technology News

The new digital divide is between people who opt out of algorithms and people who don’t

May 8, 2019

Every aspect of life can be guided by artificial intelligence algorithms—from choosing what route to take for your morning commute, to deciding whom to take on a date, to complex legal and judicial matters such as predictive policing.

Big tech companies like Google and Facebook use AI to obtain insights on their gargantuan trove of detailed customer data. This allows them to monetize users’ collective preferences through practices such as micro-targeting, a strategy used by advertisers to narrowly target specific sets of users.

In parallel, many people now trust platforms and algorithms more than their own governments and civic society. An October 2018 study suggested that people demonstrate “algorithm appreciation,” to the extent that they would rely on advice more when they think it is from an algorithm than from a human.

Continue reading… “The new digital divide is between people who opt out of algorithms and people who don’t”

Amazon.com, Employment, Hot Issues, Science & Technology News

Amazon’s system for tracking its warehouse workers can automatically fire them

April 26, 2019

A world where people are monitored and supervised by machines isn’t confined to the realms of sci-fi. It’s here now.

Tough conditions: There have been many reports over recent years about unpleasant conditions workers face at Amazon warehouses. Employees are under pressure to pack hundreds of boxes per hour, and face being fired if they aren’t fast enough.

What’s new: Documents obtained by The Verge show that it’s far more common for people to be fired due to lack of productivity than outsiders realize. Roughly 300 people were fired at a single facility between August 2017 and September 2018 for that reason. And crucially, the documents show that much of the firing process is automated.

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DNA, Engineering, Genetics, Hot Issues

The CRISPR machines that can wipe out entire species

February 14, 2019

The genetic-engineering tool could help combat malaria and invasive species. But should we use it?

Charles Darwin had no idea what a gene was. If we dropped the father of evolution into 2019, the idea that humans can willfully alter the genes of an entire species would surely seem like wizardry to him.

But CRISPR gene drives — a new, inconceivably powerful technique that forces genes to spread through a population — have the ability to do just that. Gene drives allow us to hone the blunt edges of natural selection for our own purposes, potentially preventing the spread of disease or eradicating invasive pests.

Yet as with any science performed at the frontier of our knowledge, we are still coming to terms with how powerful CRISPR gene drives might be. Playing the game of genomes means we may, in the future, choose which species live and which die — a near-unbelievable capability that scientists and ethicists agree presents us with unique moral, social and ethical challenges.

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Analysis, Hot Issues, Internet, security, Social Media

Your digital identity has three layers, and you can only protect one of them

February 5, 2019

Your online profile is less a reflection of you than a caricature.

Whether you like it or not, commercial and public actors tend to trust the string of 1s and 0s that represent you more than the story you tell them. When filing a credit application at a bank or being recruited for a job, your social network, credit-card history, and postal address can be viewed as immutable facts more credible than your opinion.

But your online profile is not always built on facts. It is shaped by technology companies and advertisers who make key decisions based on their interpretation of seemingly benign data points: what movies you choose to watch, the time of day you tweet, or how long you take to click on a cat video.

Continue reading… “Your digital identity has three layers, and you can only protect one of them”

Biotech, Business, Employment, Hot Issues, Science & Technology News

Alarm over talks to implant UK employees with microchips

November 20, 2018

Trades Union Congress concerned over tech being used to control and micromanage.

Britain’s biggest employer organisation and main trade union body have sounded the alarm over the prospect of British companies implanting staff with microchips to improve security.

UK firm BioTeq, which offers the implants to businesses and individuals, has already fitted 150 implants in the UK.

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Big Problems, Cancer, Healthcare, Hot Issues

Study: Almost half of new cancer patients lose their entire life savings

October 31, 2018

According to a new study published in the American Journal of Medicine, 42% of new cancer patients lose their entire life savings in two years because of treatment.

The same study found that 62% of cancer patients are in debt because of their treatment.

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Environment, Hot Issues, Inventions, Science & Technology News, Sealife

FinalStraw on’Shark Tank’: A look inside the first reusable straw

October 15, 2018

FinalStraw is the world’s first collapsible, reusable straw. The product’s website boasts a mission to “reduce plastic straws use by giving you a convenient, collapsible, reusable alternative.”

The product comes in a small and keychain-friendly container that allows you to bring FinalStraw with you wherever you go. It is also available in five different colors: suck-ulent green, shark-butt grey, healthy coral, artic-melt blue, and sea tur-teal.

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China, Computer Security, government, Hackers, Hot Issues, Science & Technology News

The big hack: How China used a tiny chip to infiltrate U.S. companies

October 11, 2018

The attack by Chinese spies reached almost 30 U.S. companies, including Amazon and Apple, by compromising America’s technology supply chain, according to extensive interviews with government and corporate sources.

In 2015, Amazon.com Inc. began quietly evaluating a startup called Elemental Technologies, a potential acquisition to help with a major expansion of its streaming video service, known today as Amazon Prime Video. Based in Portland, Ore., Elemental made software for compressing massive video files and formatting them for different devices. Its technology had helped stream the Olympic Games online, communicate with the International Space Station, and funnel droone footage to the Central Intelligence Agency. Elemental’s national security contracts weren’t the main reason for the proposed acquisition, but they fit nicely with Amazon’s government businesses, such as the highly secure cloud that Amazon Web Services (AWS) was building for the CIA.

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Energy, Hot Issues, Science & Technology News, Solar Energy, Wind Power

Utilities have a problem: the public wants 100% renewable energy, and quick

September 18, 2018

The industry is groping for ways to talk the public down.

Renewable energy is hot. It has incredible momentum, not only in terms of deployment and costs but in terms of public opinion and cultural cachet. To put it simply: Everyone loves renewable energy. It’s cleaner, it’s high-tech, it’s new jobs, it’s the future.

And so more and more big energy customers are demanding the full meal deal: 100 percent renewable energy.

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AI, Future, Futurist, Hot Issues

Humanity confronts a defining question: How will AI change us?

August 11, 2018

What will happen when we’ve built machines as intelligent as us? According to the experts this incredible feat will be achieved in the year 2062 – a mere 44 years away – which certainly begs the question: what will the world, our jobs, the economy, politics, war, and everyday life and death, look like then?

Fortunately, Toby Walsh, Scientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence (AI) at UNSW has done the research for us.

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App, Big Problems, Children, Hot Issues, Human Behavior

Interesting parental control app requires kids to exercise to earn screen time

July 26, 2018

One of the iOS 12 features to generate a lot of buzz has been Screen Time – a way to monitor app usage and set limits to reduce the amount of time spent staring at your phone.

You can use it yourself, of course, but parents can also use it to limit the time their kids spend using particular apps, like games or YouTube. One company, though, thinks it has an even better idea: require kids to exercise to earn app time …

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