Science & Technology News – Page 276

Big Problems, People Making a Difference, Science & Technology News, Solar Energy

Inspiring woman invents refugee tents that collect rainwater and store solar energy

June 12, 2019

Since 2011, the Syrian Civil War created one of the most devastating humanitarian disasters in the world, with an estimated number of 13.5 million Syrians internally displaced or are refugees outside Syria, according to the United Nations.

Facing the difficulty of finding basic shelter and a home to live in, award-winning Jordanian-Canadian architect Abeer Seikaly was inspired to come up with a solution to help transform the lives of these refugees.

Named ‘Weaving a Home’, this design uses a unique structural fabric composed of high-strength plastic tubing molded into sine-wave curves that can expand and enclose during different weather conditions, and also be broken down to allow an ease in mobility and transport.

Continue reading… “Inspiring woman invents refugee tents that collect rainwater and store solar energy”

Engineering, Global Warming, Green Friendly, Science & Technology News

Scientists have found an easy way to remove CO2 from air & reduce global warming

June 11, 2019

A number of research teams around the world are currently working towards scrubbing all the excess carbon dioxide from the air. It’s one of the prime reasons we are seeing record breaking rise in temperature across India this summer.

Not only could this do wonders to push back global warming, but we can also put all of that CO2 to good use in other applications.

Continue reading… “Scientists have found an easy way to remove CO2 from air & reduce global warming”

Electric Automobile, Electric Vehicles, Energy, Science & Technology News, Transportation

COBE debuts ‘green oasis’ charging station to power electric vehicles in 15 minutes

June 11, 2019

COBE presents the first of 48 ultra-fast charging stations in scandinavia, marking the inception of a new way of recharging vehicles on the road. the station, situated in the danish city of fredericia, is part of a larger network along the highways of denmark, sweden, and norway. german-based energy giant E.ON and danish e-mobility service provider clever embarked on the joint venture to build and operate this network with the aim of ultimately transitioning entirely to electrically powered vehicles, replacing the conventional method of burning fuel internally.

Continue reading… “COBE debuts ‘green oasis’ charging station to power electric vehicles in 15 minutes”

Bitcoin, Blockchain, Crypto-Technology, government, Science & Technology News

Bitcoin regulation : South Korea is making progress

June 11, 2019

On June 8th, the South Korean Advisory Committee met to develop a legal framework for national crypto exchanges. Following the Coinrail Market’s recent hack, the South Korean government is enforcing stricter investor protection guidelines: Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML).

Continue reading… “Bitcoin regulation : South Korea is making progress”

Analysis, Human Behavior, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

Gen Z, Millennials and Gen X outvoted older generations in 2018 midterms

June 10, 2019

Gen Z, Millennials and Gen X outvoted older generations in 2018 midterms

Voters in Missouri take part in November’s elections. Turnout reached a record high for the 2018 midterms. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Midterm voter turnout reached a modern high in 2018, and Generation Z, Millennials and Generation X accounted for a narrow majority of those voters, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly available Census Bureau data.

Continue reading… “Gen Z, Millennials and Gen X outvoted older generations in 2018 midterms”

Latest Trend, Science & Technology News, Transportation, Uber

Uber is now kicking low-rated passengers out of its cars

June 10, 2019

Things that can lower your rating: being rude, leaving trash, drinking beer and vomiting.

Drivers and passengers now have to agree to Uber’s updated community guidelines before using the app.

Uber has long deactivated drivers who get low ratings. Now the ride-hailing company is turning the tables.

Uber announced Wednesday that those passengers who receive bad marks from drivers will be booted from the platform. But, Uber said, they’ll have to “develop a significantly below average rating.”

Continue reading… “Uber is now kicking low-rated passengers out of its cars”

Big Problems, Internet, New Viewpoints, Science & Technology News, Science Fiction

In a world awash in information, the curator is king

June 11, 2019

A sci-fi novelist on what he learned writing a trilogy of speculative novels that extrapolate how feeds shape our lives, politics, and future

Feeds shape our world. Google uses hundreds of variables to determine the search results you see. A complex statistical engine produces your personalized Netflix queue. Facebook uses everything it knows about you and your friends to build your timeline. Your credit score is compiled from third-party data brokers. Taylor Swift uses facial recognition software to identify stalkers at concerts. Even these Herculean efforts are dwarfed in scale by the Chinese social credit system that will integrate data from many disparate public and private sources.

Feeds are inevitable to the extent that they are useful. Every minute of every day, 156 million emails are sent, 400 hours of video are uploaded to Youtube, and there are 600 new page edits to Wikipedia. There is so much more information than we can possibly digest, and feeds are the imperfect filters that we use to try to distill what we want from all that’s out there. But their imperfections generate horrendous side effects, like unjust parole decisions made on the basis of racially biased data. And even more fundamentally, the sheer scale of feeds, and their incomprehensibility to most users, give their masters enormous hidden power.

Continue reading… “In a world awash in information, the curator is king”

China, Science & Technology News, Space, Space Flight

China is now assembling its 2020 Mars Rover

June 9, 2019

Chinese space scientists are currently outfitting their Mars Rover with scientific instruments in preparation for a launch next year.

The “Mars 2020 mission spacecraft is undergoing integration,” Wang Chi, director of China’s National Space Science Center, told Space News.

Continue reading… “China is now assembling its 2020 Mars Rover”

Automobiles, Engineering, new technology, Science & Technology News

The Reinvention of steel could make car bodies 30% lighter

June 10, 2019

To keep clients, Nippon Steel is developing super-strong metal

Cars must get lighter to meet new emissions rules or electrify.

Imagine the weight of 24 elephants bearing down on a tiny spot the size a postage stamp.

That’s how much pressure Nippon Steel Corp.’s strongest metal can withstand. The Japanese company is pushing the envelope in order to stay relevant as the auto industry, its most important customer, goes through major changes.

Continue reading… “The Reinvention of steel could make car bodies 30% lighter”

Children, Health & Fitness, Science & Technology News, Stem cells

Dentists are asking parents not to throw their kids’ baby teeth, here’s why

June 10, 2019

Do you remember the strange thrill of losing a tooth when you were a child? On the one hand, you had the distressing feeling of seeing blood and feeling it pop out. At the same time, you knew something exciting was going to happen when you put it under your pillow. If you were lucky, by the next morning, the tooth was gone and some money had magically appeared.

Continue reading… “Dentists are asking parents not to throw their kids’ baby teeth, here’s why”

Big Problems, People Making a Difference, Science & Technology News, Software Development

Tech giant brings software to a gun fight

June 8, 2019

Business-software giant Salesforce instituted a new policy barring retail customers from using its technology to sell semiautomatic weapons and some other firearms.

SAN FRANCISCO — On its website, Salesforce.com touts retailer Camping World as a leading customer of its business software, highlighting its use of products to help sales staff move product. A Camping World executive is even quoted calling Salesforce’s software “magic.”

But behind the scenes in recent weeks, the Silicon Valley tech giant has delivered a different message to gun-selling retailers such as Camping World: Stop selling military-style rifles, or stop using our software.

The pressure Salesforce is exerting on those retailers — barring them from using its technology to market products, manage customer service operations and fulfill orders — puts them in a difficult position. Camping World, for example, spends more than $1 million a year on Salesforce’s e-commerce software, according to one analyst estimate. Switching to another provider now could cost the company double that to migrate data, reconfigure systems and retrain employees.

Continue reading… “Tech giant brings software to a gun fight”

Energy, Food, New Inventions, Science & Technology News

Energy researchers break the catalytic speed limit

June 8, 2019

A new discovery by University of Minnesota and University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers could increase the speed and lower the cost of thousands of chemical processes used in developing fertilizers, foods, fuels, plastics, and more.

A team of researchers from the University of Minnesota and University of Massachusetts Amherst has discovered new technology that can speed up chemical reactions 10,000 times faster than the current reaction rate limit. These findings could increase the speed and lower the cost of thousands of chemical processes used in developing fertilizers, foods, fuels, plastics, and more.

Continue reading… “Energy researchers break the catalytic speed limit”