First Evidence of Deep-Sea Animals Ingesting Microplastics
September 30th, 2016Via: Science Bulletin:
Scientists working in the mid-Atlantic and south-west Indian Ocean have found evidence of microfibers ingested by deep sea animals including hermit crabs, squat lobsters and sea cucumbers, revealing for the first time the environmental fallout of microplastic pollution.
The UK government recently announced that it is to ban plastic microbeads, commonly found in cosmetics and cleaning materials, by the end of 2017. This followed reports by the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee about the environmental damage caused microbeads. The Committee found that a single shower can result in 100,000 plastic particles entering the ocean.
Researchers from the universities of Bristol and Oxford, working on the Royal Research Ship (RRS) James Cook at two sites, have now found evidence of microbeads inside creatures at depths of between 300m and 1800m. This is the first time microplastics — which can enter the sea via the washing of clothes made from synthetic fabrics or from fishing line nets — have been shown to have been ingested by animals at such depth.
The results are published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Microsoft: 5000 Staff to AI Division
September 30th, 2016Via: Microsoft:
Microsoft Corp. announced on Thursday it has formed the Microsoft AI and Research Group, bringing together Microsoft’s world-class research organization with more than 5,000 computer scientists and engineers focused on the company’s AI product efforts. The new group will be led by computer vision luminary Harry Shum, a 20-year Microsoft veteran whose career has spanned leadership roles across Microsoft Research and Bing engineering.
My First Solar Customer to Ditch the Grid
September 29th, 2016Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand.
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I just sold my first off grid system to a customer with grid power available at his house. He’s going pretty small (2 kW array, 4x 230AH 12V AGM batteries, 4kW/48V pure sine wave inverter), but he said he’s fed up with dealing with electricity retailers here. His loads are a high efficiency fridge, two laptops, Internet/wi-fi router, LED lights, water kettle, water pressure pump. House hot water will be via on-demand/tankless gas system. He’s going to wait to eventually add an evacuated tube direct solar water heater, and then use the gas heater to boost the temp when necessary. 2kW petrol generator backup.
In a decade or so, when his AGM batteries are on their way out, future iterations of Aquion’s 48v stacks (usable depth of discharge: 100%!) will probably/finally be cheap here and he’ll be able to drop those right into his rig without any modifications.
Anyway, I tried to talk this guy down. I really did.
I offered much cheaper grid tie alternatives that wouldn’t restrict his load size or duration of use, etc.
Not interested.
Are you paying attention, NZ electricity retailers? Your high prices and hostility toward solar power just lost you 100% of this family’s money forever.
Have a nice day.
Russia: U.S. Controlling an “International Terrorist Alliance”
September 29th, 2016Via: CBS:
Senior Russian officials blasted the United States on Thursday for what they said were Washington’s “invitations to use terrorism as a weapon against Russia.”
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and others were reacting to comments made the previous day by Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, who suggested terrorists could use the chaotic battleground in Syria to plot and launch attacks “against Russian interests, perhaps even Russian cities.”
Kirby was explaining why the U.S. believes Moscow has an interest in halting the bloodshed in Syria’s more-than-five-year civil war, which has only escalated during the past week.
But Russian media quoted Ryabkov as saying his nation could not “interpret this as anything else apart from the current U.S. administration’s de facto support for terrorism,” according to the Reuters news agency.
“These thinly disguised invitations to use terrorism as a weapon against Russia show the political depths the current U.S. administration has stooped to in its approach to the Middle East and specifically to Syria,” Ryabkov said.
Defense Ministry spokeswoman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said later Thursday that Kirby’s statement amounted to “the most frank confession by the U.S. side so far that the whole ‘opposition’ ostensibly fighting a ‘civil war’ in Syria is a U.S.-controlled international terrorist alliance.”
“What makes Kirby’s statement particularly shocking is that the scale of direct U.S. influence on terrorists’ activity is global and reaches as far as Russia.”
China’s Passion for Foreign Property
September 29th, 2016Via: Guardian:
“I think it is just beginning,” says Li, of the amount of money pouring into property around the world from mainland China. “You do the figures: China has a population of 1.4 billion. If you target only 1% of China’s population, that’s 14 million people – so it’s already almost two Londons.”
AI Legion of Doom: Facebook, Amazon, Google, IBM and Microsoft Form AI Partnership
September 28th, 2016Via: Tech Crunch:
The world’s largest technology companies hold the keys to some of the largest databases on our planet. Much like goods and coins before it, data is becoming an important currency for the modern world. The data’s value is rooted in its applications to artificial intelligence. Whichever company owns the data, effectively owns AI. Right now that means companies like Facebook, Amazon, Alphabet, IBM and Microsoft have a ton of power.
In an act of self-governance, these five companies came together today to announce the launch the new Partnership on AI. The group is tasked with conducting research and promoting best practices. Practically, this means that the group of tech companies will come together frequently to discuss advancements in artificial intelligence. The group also opens up a formal structure for communication across company lines. It’s important to remember that on a day-to-day basis, these teams are in constant competition with each other to develop the best products and services powered by machine intelligence.
Luxury Bunkers for L.A.’s Superrich
September 28th, 2016Via: Hollywood Reporter:
Everyone I’ve talked to thinks we are doomed, no matter who is elected.
Power Outage Grips Entire State of South Australia
September 28th, 2016Via: Stuff:
The entire state of South Australia is currently without power, with the region in the grip of what could be one of the most extreme weather systems to hit in 50 years.
A mass blackout began on Wednesday afternoon, with the a “weather event” behind the unprecedented outage.
Premier Jay Weatherill said the storm took down three transmission lines and nine towers in the Port Augusta region, forcing the electricity connection between South Australia and Victoria – known as an “interconnector” – to be shut down.
Wind turbines, which make up an estimated 40 per cent of the state’s power generation, were unable to operate as winds were too high.
Weatherill told a media conference it was the “usual protocol” to isolate South Australia from the National Electricity Market in a situation where there is a “large frequency drop”.
Elon Musk: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species
September 28th, 2016Via: Space:
At a conference in Mexico today (Sept. 27), the SpaceX founder and CEO unveiled the company’s Interplanetary Transport System (ITS), which will combine the most powerful rocket ever built with a spaceship designed to carry at least 100 people to the Red Planet per flight.
If all goes according to plan, the reusable ITS will help humanity establish a permanent, self-sustaining colony on the Red Planet within the next 50 to 100 years, Musk said at the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara.
World’s First Baby Born with Controversial New ‘Three-Parent’ Technique
September 28th, 2016Via: Independent:
The world’s first child created using a controversial “three-parent” baby technique has been born in Mexico, it has been announced.
Limited details about the birth were revealed ahead of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine’s scientific congress in Salt Lake City next month, where it will be discussed more fully.
According to critics, the procedure is tantamount to genetic modification of humans or even “playing God”. But supporters say it allows women with a particular type of genetic disease to have healthy children who are related to them.
A report in the New Scientist magazine said the baby was now five months told. His parents are Jordanians and the work was carried out by a team of experts from the US.
The child’s mother has Leigh syndrome, a fatal disorder that affects the developing nervous system and would have been passed on in her mitochondrial DNA.
Although she is healthy, two of her children have died as a result of inheriting the disease: a girl who lived until she was six and an eight-month-old baby.
