Telescope #65
SUSTAINABILITY
~ According to the latest report of the United Nations (UN) Children's Fund (UNICEF), unusual and extreme weather events such as storms, floods and fires led to the displacement of more than 43 million children between 2016 and 2021. DETAIL
~ Waterise produces fresh water from seawater. The method it uses is different from classical reverse osmosis, which consumes high levels of energy. It lowers its units 400 meters below the sea. By taking advantage of the high pressure here, it reduces energy need by 40%. Additionally, the space required for production is 90% smaller. A single Waterise unit can produce fifty million liters of fresh water per day. This amount is enough to meet the water needs of a small city with 300-400 thousand people.
~ Energy companies, hedge funds and commodity traders are stepping up their use of financial products that let them bet on the weather, as they seek to protect themselves against - or profit from - the increasingly extreme global climate. DETAIL
~ Amid the sixth mass extinction, frogs, salamanders, and caecilians remain the most threatened group of vertebrates on Earth. Over 40 percent of amphibian species are now threatened, the latest global assessment has found. DETAIL
~ Montreal is accelerating its efforts to adapt to the climate crisis. At the Adaptation Futures event the city hosted last week, mayor Valérie Plante announced Montreal will create around 30 sponge parks and 400 sponge sidewalks in 2024 and 2025. Sponge sidewalks are sections of sidewalk where pavement is removed to make way for earth and vegetation that absorb and retain rainwater. Similarly, sponge parks are designed to manage excess surface water runoff and prevent sewers from overflowing. Since 2022, the City of Montreal has developed seven sponge parks and 800 sponge sidewalks. DETAIL
HEALTH
~ Millions of people now live with the debilitating disorder, which can be triggered by viral illnesses like COVID-19. And many say the recommended treatment—exercise—has backfired. DETAIL
~ Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning tools are becoming increasingly common in healthcare and beyond. A new study compared AI tools to human radiologists and found that radiologists were superior to machines at identifying conditions from X-rays. The researchers reported that the more complicated the diagnosis, the more strongly human experts performed compared to AI tools. DETAIL
~ Gene editing could help prevent chickens from catching and spreading bird flu, new research suggests. Researchers used the gene-editing tool CRISPR to alter the DNA of 10 chickens to resist the bird flu virus and then exposed all of them to a low dose of it. Only one of the 10 chickens caught the virus, and that chicken did not pass it on to any others. DETAIL
DIGITAL / TECHNOLOGY / SCIENCE / AI
~ NASA’s next spacesuits might arrive runway-ready. Axiom Space has joined forces with the Italian luxury fashion house Prada for the lunar spacesuits that will be worn on NASA’s Artemis III mission. "Prada's technical expertise with raw materials, manufacturing techniques, and innovative design concepts will bring advanced technologies instrumental in ensuring not only the comfort of astronauts on the lunar surface but also the much-needed human factors considerations absent from legacy spacesuits,” Michael Suffredini, CEO of Axiom Space, said in a statement. DETAIL
~ The Carrington Event was a major reality check for a rapidly industrializing humanity. In September 1859, the Sun unleashed an eruption so powerful it sent electrical currents sweeping across Earth's surface, wiping out telegraph systems around the world, with fires and mayhem. We've not seen its like since, but ancient evidence suggests that our Sun is capable of more – so very much more. In the rings of ancient, partially fossilized trees, scientists have found evidence of a solar storm at least an order of magnitude more powerful than the Carrington Event. It took place, they say, some 14,300 years ago, well before there was a technology grid to disrupt. Such events, more powerful than Carrington, appear periodically in the fossil record. But this one is the most powerful ever seen. DETAIL
ENERGY / TRANSPORTATION
~ Picture a smartphone clad in a casing that's not just for protection but also doubles as a reservoir of electricity, or an electric car where the doors and floorboard store energy to propel it forward. Such technologies may one day be a reality, thanks to recent work by engineers at the University of California San Diego. The researchers have developed what's called a structural supercapacitor—a device that provides both structural support and energy storage capabilities. Such a device could add more power to electronic gadgets and vehicles without adding extra weight, allowing them to last longer on a single charge. DETAIL
~ Commonwealth Fusion System’s approach to fusion builds on decades of research—and comes after decades of disappointment within the industry. Yes, the company’s first commercial reactor is still nearly 10 years away, but if it works, the climate benefits will be profound. DETAIL
~ Kenya plans to build Africa's largest wind energy field. The field will be able to meet the energy needs of 700 thousand homes when it becomes operational in 2028. 92% of the energy the country currently produces is met by renewable sources. DETAIL
~ The two mining companies Atlantic Lithium and Piedmont Lithium are preparing to implement the Ewoyaa project in Mankesim in the central region of Ghana. The lithium mine is expected to be operational in the second quarter of 2025 and reach its full production capacity of 365,000 tonnes of lithium per year in 2026. Piedmont Lithium's customers include Tesla and LG Chem, among others. As it is known, lithium is one of the main components for electric vehicle batteries. DETAIL
CYBERSECURITY
~ European companies sold powerful spyware to authoritarian regimes which have used it against dissenters, a group of investigative media said Thursday. DETAIL
~ TikTok's legal battles in the United States continue. On Tuesday, the state of Utah's Division of Consumer Protection (UDCP) announced it's suing the app, claiming its harmful effects on children. Utah's lawsuit compared TikTok's "highly powerful algorithms and manipulative design features" to "features of slot machines", likening the app to addiction associated with gambling. DETAIL
