Lifeboat Foundation

Although African countries appreciate research grants from donor countries, they often chafe at the condition that they bring in their own money in order to be eligible. Some research projects fall by the wayside because African granting agencies simply have no way to provide their share of the money, sometimes called counterfunding, the heads of 15 national science councils in Africa said at a meeting held here on 4 and 5 April.

“Counterfunding,” desired by donor countries, can be 50% of a project’s cost.

Indeed, Schindler stressed that Google would generate personalized Maps recommendations in “privacy-sensitive, opt-in ways.”

The company is betting that adding more data about places and businesses to Maps will lead people to spend more time on the service. As users expect more from Maps, Google has extra space to introduce more ads.

“We want to be able to highlight things that are around you and surface them nearby to you in a way that’s not disrupting your experience,’’ said Rajas Moonka, director of product management for Google Maps. Because so much of what users are looking for in Google Maps is commercial in nature, ads can be a helpful addition to the experience, he said.

Continue reading “Google’s Next Big Money Maker Could Be the Maps on Your Phone” »

Following recent trends in state-of-the-art developments, from cryptocurrencies and universal basic income to biohacking and the surveillance state, transhumanism has been moved into the limelight of political discourse to reshape humanity’s future.

Andrew Vladimirov, Information security specialist, biohacker and one of the original members of the Transhumanist Party UK, spoke in-depth with Sputnik about the rise of transhumanism and its implications.

In fact, according to IRENA’s new report, the most cost-effective strategy to achieve a “climate-safe future” — keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) — is an accelerated energy transition to renewables and energy efficiency coupled with electrification of key sectors like transportation.

This Renewable Energy Roadmap (REmap) scenario “would also save the global economy up to USD 160 trillion cumulatively over the next 30 years in avoided health costs, energy subsidies and climate damages.”

At the same time, IRENA reports, “every dollar spent on energy transition would pay off up to seven times.”

Continue reading “Global economy would save up to $160 trillion” »

A biodegradable replacement for petroleum-based products has to meet all sorts of standards and, so far, attempts at viable replacements from renewable sources have faced limited success due to processing and economic constraints. Among the obstacles, products to date have been too brittle for food packaging.

But new research from The Ohio State University has shown that combining natural rubber with bioplastic in a novel way results in a much stronger replacement for plastic, one that is already capturing the interest of companies looking to shrink their environmental footprints.

Almost all plastics — about 90 percent — are petroleum-based and are not biodegradable, a major environmental concern.

Continue reading “Potential for Earth-friendly plastic replacement” »

Plastic pollution is something everyone should not be aware of. In the news, a lot of focus has been on the plastic pollution created by the fashion and food industry, but sometimes it seems like the toy industry is getting a pass. If you think about it, the majority of children’s toys are made of plastic. According to Plastics, 90 per cent of all toys on the market are made of plastic, which is a ridiculous amount of plastic. So where do the discarded toys, that do not end up charity shops, end up? Plastic toys are becoming a substantial environmental problem, especially as quite a few can be found living in their new home, the rubbish dump.

Raising sustainability-conscious kids is not easy, so why are companies not making it easier for parents? Well, a few small startups have been leading the movement by embracing circular economy principles. They are focusing on locally making toys from recycled straw, sawdust and plastic milk bottles, but I do wonder whether their efforts to create a sustainable toy market will lead to large mass producers like Hasbro. I am optimistic and believe it is possible. My optimism strengthened when I heard that Danish toy company Lego has begun the production of a new line of sustainable Lego accessories made from plant-based polyethene derived from sugarcane ethanol, as opposed to the polyethene from oil.

“The investment announced is a testament to our continued ambition to leave a positive impact on the planet, which future generations will inherit.”

Continue reading “Lego Makes A ‘Breakthrough’ In Producing Plant-based Bioplastics Toys Available Next Month” »

Andrew Yang gives a dynamite interview on automation, UBI, and economic solutions to transitioning to the future.

Andrew Yang, award winning entrepreneur, Democratic Presidential candidate, and author of “The War on Normal People,” joins Ben to discuss the Industrial Revolution, Universal Basic Income, climate change, circumcision, and much more.

Continue reading “Andrew Yang | The Ben Shapiro Show Sunday Special Ep. 45” »

Galor says the study results, published on Monday, April 1, in Nature Ecology & Evolution, lend credence to what he and a colleague had surmised in a highly influential 2002 paper — that during the pre-industrial era, the natural selection of those who were genetically predisposed toward having fewer children was instrumental in spurring industrialization and sustained economic growth.

In a study of 200 years of pre-industrial Quebecois genealogical history, researchers at Brown found that fertility-related changes in natural selection during the pre-industrial era paved the way for economic and technological progress.

It’s the kind of diverse, multidisciplinary community, Chinese scientists say, that is crucial to doing great research but is often lacking in labs. “The goals of the Materials Genome Initiative in the States and in China are the same: to produce better materials more quickly that cost less. It’s very important we collaborate with overseas scientists because the materials genome is a new topic. We need to figure out the best path together,” says Zhang.

Researchers are reaping the benefits of carefully built programmes and a surge in funding.