Future of farming? Driverless tractors and drones attempt to grow crops without humans setting foot on the land in a world first…
Drones are also being used to monitor the crops so agronomists don’t have to enter the field to carry out their observations.
The team from the Harper Adams University in Shropshire believe their research will revolutionise farming and free up the time of farmers.
Technology has the power to improve people’s lives — and not just by supplying flying cars to millionaires. The computer networks that brought us Bitcoins are advancing in ways that will make humanitarian giving simpler and more secure than ever.
A win win, assuming it can be manufactured en mass and at a reasonable price.
A University of Central Florida (UCF) chemistry professor has invented a revolutionary way to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from air by triggering artificial photosynthesis in a synthetic material — breaking down carbon dioxide while also producing fuel for energy.
UCF Assistant Professor Fernando Uribe-Romo and his students used a synthetic material called a metal–organic framework (MOF), which converts carbon dioxide into harmless organic materials — similar to how plants convert CO2 and sunlight into food.
Vomit.
It might be wise to look away now if you are eating or have a weak stomach, but scientists have discovered that ingesting bogies is good for teeth, and overall health.
Scientists at a number of universities including Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) say parents should not discourage their children from picking their noses because they contain ‘a rich reservoir of good bacteria.’
Eating snot can also prevent bacteria from sticking to teeth, according to the article published in the journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
Orchard owners say they need automation because seasonal farm labor is getting harder to come by.
Tom Simonite
Ontario will provide residents in Hamilton, Thunder Bay and Lindsay with free income, part of the government’s plan to test whether the extra funds will help improve their job prospects and quality of life.
The idea is to give the province’s working poor, unemployed and homeless residents an income to pay for their basic needs of food and housing.
About 4,000 recipients will be randomly chosen from the three regions. One group will start receiving the so-called basic income as soon as this summer, and the remainder will be part of the control group, which will not receive any payments, according to a provincial spokesman. A single person could receive up to $16,989 per year. A couple could get up to $24,027 annually.
For the first time, researchers have found a functional link between the bacteria in the gut and the onset of Parkinson’s disease, one of the world’s most common debilitating brain disorders.
A team of scientists from several institutions in the United States and Europe showed how changing the bacteria in the guts of mice affected the manifestation of Parkinson’s symptoms — even including bacteria taken from the guts of humans with the disease.
The findings suggest a new way of treating the disease: The best target for treatment may be the gut, rather than the brain. The researchers hope the new information can be used to develop “next generation” probiotics, more sophisticated than the sort of probiotics found on the shelves of health food stores today.
The “reverse climate change machine” is an honorable mention in the Evolo Skyscraper Design Competition.
A one-stop skyscraping shop for urbane living and fighting climate change called the HEAL-BERG is among the selected entries in eVolo’s annual Skyscraper Competition, which invites the world’s designers to “challenge the way we understand vertical architecture.” The mammoth pearlescent structure would simultaneously cool Antarctic ocean water, scrub carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and generate electricity with saltwater and wind turbines, creating what the designers call, a “reverse climate change machine.”
Luca Beltrame and Saba Nabavi Tafreshi created HEAL-BERG as a response to a potential future in which, “climate was changing at a rate exceeding most scientific forecasts; oceans warming, air pollution and climate change were caught in a discernible self-boosting loop. In the speculative world they’ve created, it’s 2039, 21.5 million people are being displaced annually due to climate change and, “the complex patterns representing the world were doomed to collapse.”
NASA is all about solving challenges, and the goal of having a prolonged presence in space, or a colony on Mars or some other world, is full of challenges, including the necessity of growing food. Scientists at Kennedy Advanced Life Support Research are working on the Prototype Lunar/Mars Greenhouse Project to try and meet that challenge.
The Prototype Lunar/Mars Greenhouse Project (PLMGP) is all about growing vegetables for astronauts during extended stays on the moon, on Mars, or anywhere they can’t be resupplied from Earth. Beyond growing food, the Project aims to understand how food-growing systems can also be a part of life-support systems.
We’re working with a team of scientists, engineers and small businesses at the University of Arizona to develop a closed-loop system. The approach uses plants to scrub carbon dioxide, while providing food and oxygen,” said Dr. Ray Wheeler, lead scientist in Kennedy Advanced Life Support Research.
