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Jan 19, 2020
Bongo the robot dog: Like a real dog but quieter, cleaner and cheaper
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: robotics/AI
Japan is the only country in the world in which pets outnumber children. Kids and pets are closely linked in Japan: as the number of newborns shrinks, the number of cats and dogs is rising.
Not that you’d know it walking the streets of Tokyo. Despite the rising number of cats, it’s rare to see them out and about. Dogs are a more common sight (and often to be seen tucked up in prams, swaddled in coats and blankets like substitute babies).
The near invisibility of the city’s pets is probably down to their owners’ reluctance to let them out. Generally speaking, cats aren’t allowed out because their crap is considered antisocial. As for the city’s dogs, most of them are ‘toy’ breeds rather than working dogs, which is to say they’re bred to loll around the house not doing much but looking pretty. They don’t get walked much and many are what might be called involuntary hikikomori (hikikomori are people who refuse to leave their rooms for fear of interaction with others).
Jan 19, 2020
Cash, Plastic or Hand? Amazon Envisions Paying With a Wave
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: mobile phones
Amazon.com Inc. wants to make your hand your credit card.
The tech giant is creating checkout terminals that could be placed in bricks-and-mortar stores and allow shoppers to link their card information to their hands, according to people familiar with the matter. They could then pay for purchases with their palms, without having to pull out a card or phone.
The Times
Jan 19, 2020
ESA opens plant that turns moondust into oxygen
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: energy, space
If humans are going to have a long-term presence on the Moon, they’re going to need breathable air and rocket fuel — and the ESA might just have a way to create both using the Moon itself. The agency is running a prototype plant that converts moondust (currently simulated, of course) into oxygen that could be used for air and fuel. The technique unlocks the high amounts of oxygen in regolith using molten salt electrolysis that superheats the dust and migrates the oxygen along the salt until it’s collected at an anode. The basic process has already been used for metal and alloy production, but the ESA tweaked it to ensure oxygen was available to measure.
Jan 19, 2020
Liquid Biopsies: A Lung Cancer Game-Changer?
Posted by Paul Battista in category: biotech/medical
Newer, less invasive tests are helping scientists isolate genomic alterations.
BY HEATHER MILLAR
Jan 19, 2020
Mycorrhizal fungi: all you need to know about the Internet of Plants
Posted by Quinn Sena in category: internet
Symbiotic fungi have a key role in soil ecosystems and inoculating plants with them has been claimed to benefit their growth. But scientific evidence shows a very complex picture; which might surprise you.
Jan 19, 2020
US Officials Will Screen Travelers from China for New Virus
Posted by Quinn Sena in category: biotech/medical
As an outbreak of a new virus in China spreads, U.S. officials will start screening passengers arriving at select U.S. airports.
Jan 19, 2020
Sugar alters brain chemistry after only 12 days
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: chemistry, neuroscience
New research in pigs examines how sugar intake affects the brain’s reward circuits and finds that changes are noticeable after just 12 days.
Jan 19, 2020
How Quartz used AI to sort through the Luanda Leaks
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: robotics/AI
Reporters had a problem: 350 GB of documents is a lot of documents. Enter machine learning.
Jan 19, 2020
FBI Takes Down Site With 12 Billion Stolen Records
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: security
Turkey gets Wikipedia back, Mayor Pete loses his cyberguy, and more of the week’s top security news.