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by Glenn Chapman Agence France-Presse LAGUNA BEACH, United States (AFP) — Baidu chief executive Robin Li on Tuesday said the Chinese internet giant will have a self-driving bus on the road soon as it races for a lead in autonomous vehicles. Baidu is collaborating with an array of companies on autonomous cars, and is working with a large bus maker in China to have a self-driving bus running a route by next year, Li said […]
SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — A robot masseuse named Emma is offering Singaporeans high-tech back rubs with a gigantic metal arm and warm silicone tips which its creators say perfectly mimic the human touch. The robot, the brainchild of local startup AiTreat, began work at a clinic in the city-state this week and performs “tui na,” a type of massage practised in traditional Chinese medicine. Emma, which stands for Expert Manipulative Massage Automation, consists of a white metal arm […]
HENGILL, Iceland (Reuters) — A Swiss company will start to extract carbon dioxide from thin air in Iceland on Thursday (October 12), seeking to transform the gas into rock far below ground in a first test of a costly technology meant to slow climate change. The engineering experiment, by Swiss firm Climeworks with Reykjavik Energy, will cost hundreds of dollars to extract each ton of greenhouse gases from nature and entomb it permanently underground. Climeworks plans […]
by Paula Ramon Agence France-Presse ITUXI Extractive Reserve, Brazil (AFP) — In the darkest reaches of Brazil’s Amazon, solar panels are bringing light — and could help save the rainforest. Aurelio Souza is working to install solar panels in villages along the remote Purus and Ituxi rivers in the western Amazonas state. “The Amazon is the last big frontier for electricity in the country,” says the consultant for a joint program of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) […]
LONDON, England (Reuters) — A new one-step process that turns spent coffee grounds into biofuel could help in the fight to reduce our reliance on diesel made from fossil fuels, say researchers at Lancaster University. Using feedstocks, such as soybean, rapeseed, or corn, grown specifically to extract oils to make biodiesel is controversial because of their cost and because they divert crops from food production. Lead researcher Dr Vesna Najdanovic-Visak told Reuters: “These kind of […]
MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Wind farms in the open ocean can generate far more renewable energy than those on land, possibly enough to power the whole world, said a US study on Monday. Researchers at the Carnegie Institution for Science found that higher wind speeds over the open seas could produce five times as much energy as wind turbines over land. While no commercial-scale deep water wind farms exist at present, the findings suggest […]
TEXAS, United States (Reuters) — A team of US researchers have developed a way of accurately spotting cancer within seconds, allowing surgeons to make sure they remove all and only cancerous tissue. The device, called a MassSpec Pen, takes only 10 seconds to distinguish between healthy and cancerous tissue with 96 percent accuracy, according to the team at the University of Texas at Austin. “A ‘MassSpec Pen’ is a non-destructive hand-held device which can be […]
SEATTLE, USA (Reuters) — In a laboratory in the Computer Sciences building at the University of Washington a photograph is being taken. The blue box was produced by 3D printing and the phone being slid into it is just a standard smartphone. Its camera is going to take a ‘selfie’ of the subject’s eyes. The photograph is analyzed using an app called BiliScreen being developed in the lab. It evaluates the color of the white […]
by Jean-Baptiste OUBRIER Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — James Dyson announced Tuesday he was investing £2.0 billion ($2.7 billion, 2.3 billion euro) into developing an electric car by 2020, a new venture for the British inventor of the bagless vacuum cleaner. The 70-year-old British entrepreneur said work began two and a half years ago on a project which he hopes will help tackle the scourge of air pollution. “Dyson has begun work […]
HONG KONG, China (Reuters) — In what looks like a typical office setting, a woman takes apart the central processing unit of a computer and uses it as a hot pan to make Chinese pancakes. That’s just one of many innovative videos from Youtube star, an “office chef” who calls herself “Ms Yeah.” Chinese hotpot, pancakes and flame-grilled fish are all cooked using everyday objects found in an office. The 23-year-old, who doesn’t want to […]
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — Dubai has edged closer to its goal of launching a pioneering hover-taxi service, with the authorities announcing a successful “concept” flight was made on Monday without passengers. Safety features for the two-seater air taxi include emergency parachutes and nine independent battery systems, according to Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority (RTA). It said the prototype, supplied by Germany-based Volocopter, can fly for 30 minutes at a maximum speed of 100 […]
by Joshua Melvin and Charlene Pele Agence France-Presse MILAN, Italy (AFP) — Dutch designer Anouk Wipprecht has a vision for a world in which people stop telling themselves little lies about their emotions — and she believes high-tech fashion is the key. Her creations, which combine digital technology with haute couture, play with social norms and aim to engineer a cold-turkey solution to our dearest deceptions, she told AFP on the sidelines of Milan Fashion Week. […]
