discuss Science & Technology news & discussion

[CraigD]

Post and discuss interesting articles & videos about science and technology.

You don't need to be an expert - just interested in the wonders of modern science, technology, and the history of these fields.

Please keep it rational, and post articles from reputable sources.
Try not to editorialise headlines and keep the copy to just a paragraph with a link to the original source. When quoting excerpts from articles, I think the best method is to italicise the copy, and include a link to the source.

Have some fun with your comments and discussions... just keep the sources legitimate.

Other threads:
The Break Room has a number of other popular threads, so there is no need to post material here that is better suited to these other threads:

- Covid19-Coronavirus updates and news
- Conspiracy Thread Free For All
- The *religious* discussion thread

Please enjoy!

 

[Sutruk]

Artificial Intelligence Has Found an Unknown 'Ghost' Ancestor in The Human Genome​

https://www.sciencealert.com/artifi...an-unknown-ghost-ancestor-in-the-human-genome

"Nobody knows who she was, just that she was different: a teenage girl from over 50,000 years ago of such strange uniqueness she looked to be a 'hybrid' ancestor to modern humans that scientists had never seen before.

Only recently, researchers have uncovered evidence she wasn't alone. In a 2019 study analysing the complex mess of humanity's prehistory, scientists used artificial intelligence (AI) to identify an unknown human ancestor species that modern humans encountered – and shared dalliances with – on the long trek out of Africa millennia ago."

 

[Cal2]

I like that idea. Early in the pandemic, I thought about getting a 3D printer to make masks.

I didn't know you could use 3D printing to recycle materials; that's a promising development.

Glass, cardboard, paper, fabric, wood, food, metal, concrete - some of the things being recycled using 3d printing.

I think the potential for recycling using 3D printing is too important to climate change; overflowing landfills; people's debt load; people doing without necessities; to leave it to others without some involvement in trying to move 3D recycling forward. I'm looking to make a challenge project of it, which would tie into other things I'd like to do with 3d and 4d printing. It would be a project for my gamechangex and forhumanity initiatives. I'll bring it up again later for any possible input.

 

[Sutruk]

Calculations Suggest It'll Be Impossible to Control a Super-Intelligent AI​

https://www.sciencealert.com/calcul...-impossible-to-control-a-super-intelligent-ai

"The idea of artificial intelligence overthrowing humankind has been talked about for many decades, and in January 2021, scientists delivered their verdict on whether we'd be able to control a high-level computer super-intelligence. The answer? Almost definitely not.

Rules such as 'cause no harm to humans' can't be set if we don't understand the kind of scenarios that an AI is going to come up with, suggest the authors of the 2021 paper. Once a computer system is working on a level above the scope of our programmers, we can no longer set limits.

"A super-intelligence poses a fundamentally different problem than those typically studied under the banner of 'robot ethics'," wrote the researchers.

"This is because a superintelligence is multi-faceted, and therefore potentially capable of mobilizing a diversity of resources in order to achieve objectives that are potentially incomprehensible to humans, let alone controllable."

Any program written to stop AI harming humans and destroying the world, for example, may reach a conclusion (and halt) or not – it's mathematically impossible for us to be absolutely sure either way, which means it's not containable."

 

[Cal2]

This is how much exercise you need to get to see a benefit to your brain​

So, just how much exercise does one need to do for the brain benefits to kick in? A recent study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings from the German Center of Neurodegenerative Disease suggested that 150 minutes of “moderate and regular exercise” a week can slow down cognitive decline in the brain. A 2018 study published by The Lancet Psychiatry found that people who exercised for 45 minutes for three to five times a week saw the most significant benefits to their mental health. Adam Chekroud, one of the authors of the study and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale University, says that after one goes beyond that threshold, the improvements are minimal.

But it’s one thing to recommend what might work for most people, and another to determine the minimum (or optimum) exercise regimen for every individual to improve one’s brain function. Suzuki says that one of the most common questions she gets asked is, what’s the least amount of exercise that one has to do to see a benefit? When she realized that her research wasn’t geared up to answer that question, she decided to start BrainBody. The company is still in “very early stages,” Suzuki says, but has been testing how different types of exercise, from low-impact to high, generate different benefits for the brain. Naturally, Suzuki was the first guinea pig, and she reported that every kind of workout provided some sort of brain benefits—just in “different flavors.”

https://www.fastcompany.com/9045596...ass&utm_campaign=eem524:524:s00:11/07/2021_fc

 

[Cal2]

Coal could find new use in eco-friendly desalination tech​

"In a project led by Assoc. Prof. Andrea Fratalocchi, a team at Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) explored the use of a material known as carbonized compressed powder (CCP). It is created by grinding coal or charcoal into a powder, then compressing that powder back into a solid which is more porous than the original material – it can also be molded to a desired shape.

The KAUST team combined CCP with natural cotton fibers, producing a 20 x 20-cm (7.8-in) block which was then placed within a 34 x 34-cm (13.4-in) seawater-containing container, with the bottom of the block touching the surface of the water.

While sunlight heated the black surface of the block, the absorbent fibers drew water in from the sides. When that liquid water reached the hot surface of the block, it turned to steam which rose and condensed on the inside of a transparent pyramid-shaped cover. That condensation then trickled down the sloped cover and was collected as fresh, drinkable water within a trough.

"CCP is abundant in nature and low-cost, as well as lightweight, versatile and highly scalable from a fabrication point of view," says postdoctoral student Marcella Bonifazi, who is part of the research team. "The device produced fresh water for around one-third the cost of current state-of-the-art solar desalination technologies."

https://newatlas.com/good-thinking/...ail&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-660eb8ac3d-90628689

 

[J Sokol]

About 26,000 tonnes of plastic Covid waste pollutes world’s oceans – study​

Plastic waste from the Covid-19 pandemic weighing 25,900 tonnes, equivalent to more than 2,000 double decker buses, has leaked into the ocean, research has revealed.

The mismanaged plastic waste, consisting of personal protective equipment such as masks and gloves, vastly exceeded the capability of countries to process it properly, researchers said.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, an estimated 8.4m tonnes of plastic waste has been generated from 193 countries, according to the report, published on Monday.

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...stic-covid-waste-pollutes-worlds-oceans-study

 

[Cal2]

Robots 3D print park benches, flower beds and sculptures in world first​

"A large percentage of construction costs is rising labor costs due to a shortage of skilled labor," posits the firm. "Robotics-based technology empowers the labor force to be more productive, resulting in more efficient job sites, less building time, and overall cost savings. Using 3D printing, AICT can produce a modestly sized house in weeks rather than months. Builders using this technology finished a park consisting of more than 2,000 concrete pieces in just two and a half months, at a fraction of the cost of conventional construction methods."

https://newatlas.com/3d-printing/wo...ail&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-b4779c9559-90628689

 

[Cal2]

Robots 3D print park benches, flower beds and sculptures in world first​

"A large percentage of construction costs is rising labor costs due to a shortage of skilled labor," posits the firm. "Robotics-based technology empowers the labor force to be more productive, resulting in more efficient job sites, less building time, and overall cost savings. Using 3D printing, AICT can produce a modestly sized house in weeks rather than months. Builders using this technology finished a park consisting of more than 2,000 concrete pieces in just two and a half months, at a fraction of the cost of conventional construction methods."

https://newatlas.com/3d-printing/wo...ail&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-b4779c9559-90628689

What I thought was a nice idea - what a friend had to say about moving this project from 3D printing to 4D printing:

"A cool application could be 4D P - could allow the kid’s “play sculptures” to be dynamic …"

-------

"4D printing is the process through which a 3D printed object transforms itself into another structure over the influence of external energy input as temperature, light or other environmental stimuli."

 

[Cannuck]

CARBON INEQUALITY 2030

 

[J Sokol]

CARBON INEQUALITY 2030

A striking visual -- and very distressing.

 

[J Sokol]

‘What if we just gave up cars?’: Cop26 leaders urged to dream big​

Governments and car manufacturers have coalesced at the Glasgow climate talks around new targets to drastically ramp up the use of electric vehicles. But activists at the summit have urged a more fundamental question – what if we just gave up all types of cars?

With the new goal of phasing out new sales of gasoline and diesel cars within 20 years, dozens of countries and car companies have used Cop26 to extol the rise of electric vehicles as a way to slash planet-heating emissions.

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...rs-activists-press-cop26-leaders-to-dream-big

 

[J Sokol]

Make extreme wealth extinct: it’s the only way to avoid climate breakdown​

Most of our dysfunctions are caused by pandering to the rich. The way governments have allowed democracy to be eroded by lobbyists (including politicians with lucrative private interests); the deregulation that lets corporations, oligarchs and landlords squeeze their workers and tenants, then dump their costs on society; the permissive environment for profiteering during the pandemic; the degradation of health, education and other public services by the constant drive towards privatisation: all these are symptoms of the same condition.

The same applies to the worst of our predicaments: the destruction of our life-support systems. The very rich arrogate to themselves the lion’s share of the planetary space on which we all depend. It is hard to understand why we tolerate this attack on our common interests.

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...treme-wealth-polluting-climate-breakdown-rich

 

[Cannuck]

A striking visual -- and very distressing.

The Report: Carbon Inequality 2030 is equally disturbing:

https://ieep.eu/uploads/articles/attachments/b34fecc3-2000-46dd-a30f-dc17089e746e/Carbon inequality in 2030_IEEP_2021.pdf?v=63803326716

‘What if we just gave up cars?’: Cop26 leaders urged to dream big​

Governments and car manufacturers have coalesced at the Glasgow climate talks around new targets to drastically ramp up the use of electric vehicles. But activists at the summit have urged a more fundamental question – what if we just gave up all types of cars?

With the new goal of phasing out new sales of gasoline and diesel cars within 20 years, dozens of countries and car companies have used Cop26 to extol the rise of electric vehicles as a way to slash planet-heating emissions.

Mass transport and truckers perhaps, but I am not convinced electric cars are answer to a sustainable future. The problem is with clean resource extraction for batteries, wiring, frame, body parts and the recycling or disposal of. Also, current storage ability and recharging are a serious limitation and lithium batteries don't like to be charged cold.

People don't realize how much power can be put to a cold battery with low return. I'm currently using two solar banks: the main batteries (gel), and an aux battery bank (deep cycle) which powers a heatpad for the main batteries in winter. There is adequate power for refrigeration and fans in summer, but A/C is another matter. I also have a diesel generator that helps to maintain a charge (especially in low light).

 

[Cal2]

The Report: Carbon Inequality 2030 is equally disturbing:

https://ieep.eu/uploads/articles/attachments/b34fecc3-2000-46dd-a30f-dc17089e746e/Carbon inequality in 2030_IEEP_2021.pdf?v=63803326716


Mass transport and truckers perhaps, but I am not convinced electric cars are answer to a sustainable future. The problem is with clean resource extraction for batteries, wiring, frame, body parts and the recycling or disposal of. Also, current storage ability and recharging are a serious limitation and lithium batteries don't like to be charged cold.

People don't realize how much power can be put to a cold battery with low return. I'm currently using two solar banks: the main batteries (gel), and an aux battery bank (deep cycle) which powers a heatpad for the main batteries in winter. There is adequate power for refrigeration and fans in summer, but A/C is another matter. I also have a diesel generator that helps to maintain a charge (especially in low light).

A couple latest things I've come across on attempts to improve battery issues:

To Make an Eco-Friendly EV Battery, Think From the Inside Out​

Battery packs are designed to stuff a lot of energy into a small amount of space. Some think they should be built for recycling too.

https://www.wired.com/story/make-eco-friendly-ev-battery-think-inside-out/

Sodium Batteries May Power Your New Electric Car​

As EV sales increase, supplies of lithium may get tight. So some companies are incorporating cells with sodium, which provides almost as big a charge.

https://www.wired.com/story/sodium-...822ded-c605-4c62-819f-a77d3881374d_popular4-1

 

[Cal2]

Uncovering China's Battery Breakthrough​

 

[J Sokol]

Near-Earth asteroid is a fragment from the moon, say scientists​

Scientists have identified what appears to be a small chunk of the moon that is tracking the Earth’s orbit around the Sun.

The asteroid, named Kamo`oalewa, was discovered in 2016 but until now relatively little has been known about it. New observations suggest it could be a fragment from the moon that was thrown into space by an ancient lunar collision.

Kamo`oalewa is one of Earth’s quasi-satellites, a category of asteroid that orbits the Sun, but remains relatively close to the planet – in this case about 9m miles away.

https://www.theguardian.com/science...id-is-a-fragment-from-the-moon-say-scientists

 

[J Sokol]

World’s militaries avoiding scrutiny over emissions, scientists say​

Armed forces are among the biggest polluters on the planet but are avoiding scrutiny because countries do not have to include their emissions in their targets, scientists say.

The world’s militaries combined, and the industries that provide their equipment, are estimated to create 6% of all global emissions, according to Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR).

Owing to what they describe as a “large loophole” in the Paris agreement, governments are not required to provide full data on greenhouse gases being emitted by armed forces. Previously, under the Kyoto protocol, militaries were given an automatic exemption from CO2 targets, after lobbying from the US government.

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...s-militaries-avoiding-scrutiny-over-emissions

 

[J Sokol]

The shipping industry faces a climate crisis reckoning – will it decarbonize?​

In August, Maersk, the world’s largest shipping company, announcedthat it would add eight new container ships to its fleet that would be unlike any merchant vessels operating on the high seas today. Instead of running on “bunker” fuel – the gunky, tar-like substance left behind after oil is refined – Maersk plans to power these ships on carbon-neutral methanol, a colorless liquid made from biomass such as agricultural waste or by combining renewably generated hydrogen with carbon dioxide.

Globally, very little of this “green” methanol is produced today and compared with the oil industry waste product most ships run on, the cost is high. Maersk hasn’t yet announced a fuel supply for its new fleet but the company hopes that standing up the world’s first green methanol-powered fleet will spur the energy sector to significantly ramp up production of clean fuels.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/12/shipping-industry-climate-crisis-reckoning

 

[Cal2]

How Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Already Lost The Metaverse

 

[J Sokol]

How Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Already Lost The Metaverse

It seems that Zuck neglected to do his market research. Maybe he couldn't afford it?

 

[Cal2]

It seems that Zuck neglected to do his market research. Maybe he couldn't afford it?

It'll be interesting to see how things play out. Maybe he's got a secret weapon for dominating the metaverse, but right now I'm not seeing it. Although I've checked little into it, the situation doesn't seem to allow for him to have one - too many established big players in key areas.

He does seem to be breaking a few important marketing laws that apply to even the biggest companies, which should work against him.
But if some of the strong competition makes some moves that undermine themselves too much and Zucker can take advantage enough to make some inroads, that would at least help.
If he could create and establish a powerful new meta category that he could be #1 in.... But what that could be that would give him meta dominance.....
jmo

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing Summary

https://www.samuelthomasdavies.com/book-summaries/business/the-22-immutable-laws-marketing

 

[J Sokol]

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing Summary

https://www.samuelthomasdavies.com/book-summaries/business/the-22-immutable-laws-marketing/#1

Here's my favorite:

Chapter 4: The Law of Perception
Summary: Marketing is not a battle of products, it’s a battle of perception.

All that exists in the world of marketing are perceptions in the minds of the customer or prospect. The perception is reality. Everything else is an illusion.

 

[Cal2]

Here's my favorite:

Chapter 4: The Law of Perception
Summary: Marketing is not a battle of products, it’s a battle of perception.

All that exists in the world of marketing are perceptions in the minds of the customer or prospect. The perception is reality. Everything else is an illusion.

My favourite might be law of the category. It gives 'hope' that you stand a chance at 'owning' a category within a category like 'metaverse' - if you don't try to go beyond what other people's existing perceptions will allow you to.

Chapter 2: The Law of Category​

Summary: If you can’t be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in.

If you didn’t get into the prospect’s mind first, don’t give up hope. Find a new category you can be first in. It’s not as difficult as you might think.

When you launch a new product, the first question to ask yourself is not “How is this product better than the competition?” but “First what?” In other words, what category is this new product first in?

Everyone is interested in what’s new. Few people are interested in what’s better.

When you’re the first in a new category, promote the category. In essence, you have no competition.

 

[Cal2]

For anyone wanting to build a brand in any category, another 22 laws, on branding:

https://www.samuelthomasdavies.com/book-summaries/business/the-22-immutable-laws-of-branding/

 

[Cal2]

lol

"Move over SNL. Alex Moffat’s superb rendition of Mark Zuckerberg has some stiff competition, and it’s coming from a very unlikely place. Iceland is now calling itself the “Icelandverse.”

A smart new video published yesterday to promote Icelandic tourism parodies the one released last month in which Zuckerberg announced Facebook’s much-hyped name change to Meta. In that video, the often-maligned CEO introduced the so-called “metaverse,” a transcendent alternate-reality utopia where “you’re going to be able to do almost anything you can imagine.”