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Google-Funded Startup Merlin Labs Will Soon Fly 55 Autonomous Planes

Google-Funded Startup Merlin Labs Will Soon Fly 55 Autonomous Planes

Self-driving cars are taking longer to come to market than initially predicted by industry insiders, as a New York Times article highlighted this week. Indeed, it turns out that having a complex, interconnected set of cameras, sensors, lidar, and software safely navigate a vehicle through busy streets is a lot harder than we thought it would be. What may not be as hard, though, is navigating the friendly—and relatively empty—skies. Google Ventures is betting on it, anyway: the venture capital investment arm of the search giant just co-led a $25 million funding round for Merlin Labs, a developer of autonomous flight technology that’s aiming to create a “truly autonomous digital pilot.”  ...

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food, plastic waste -

Scientists Develop 'Food Generator' That Turns Plastic Into Edible Protein

Scientists Develop 'Food Generator' That Turns Plastic Into Edible Protein

The duo won a $1.18 million prize for their plastics-to-protein project Humanity has a plastic problem, but who said the problem couldn't also be tasty? Scientists are trying to come up with creative solutions to address the ever-growing issue every day, with some even converting plastic bottles into vanillin using bacteria. Most recently, two scientists have echoed this sentiment and won the $1.18 million (1 million euro) 2021 Future Insight Prize in the process by creating a food 'generator' concept that turns plastics into protein. The names behind the project, which was initially funded by a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) cooperative agreement...

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greece, green buildings -

Greece's newest tall building is covered in greenery

Greece's newest tall building is covered in greenery

Marina Tower is Greece's first green high-rise building and its tallest. It brings a sustainable design approach to the region. (Credit: Foster + Partners) Most people prefer to spend their time surrounded by nature, and it is good for your health after all. That’s why we see more and more buildings covered in greenery. Foster + Partners’ Marina Tower is among them. It’s also Greece’s first green high-rise building and its tallest, reaching 200 m (656 ft) in height. Lamda Development will be the developer of Marina Tower, which will be located in Agios Kosmas, near Athens. The building will bring an innovative design...

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climate change -

U.N. climate panel confronts implausibly hot forecasts of future warming

U.N. climate panel confronts implausibly hot forecasts of future warming

Next month, after a yearlong delay because of the pandemic, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will begin to release its first major assessment of human-caused global warming since 2013.   The report, the first part of which will appear on 9 August, will drop on a world that has starkly changed in 8 years, warming by more than 0.3°C to nearly 1.3°C above preindustrial levels.   Weather has grown more severe, seas are measurably higher, and mountain glaciers and polar ice have shrunk sharply. And after years of limited action, many countries, pushed by a concerned public and...

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desalination -

Nanofiber membrane makes seawater drinkable in minutes

Nanofiber membrane makes seawater drinkable in minutes

Safe and readily available water is important for public health, whether it is used for drinking, domestic use, food production, or recreational purposes. Despite the vast quantity of water on Earth, just 2.5% of it is freshwater, and an estimated 785 million people lack a clean source of drinking water. Desalination of seawater could be a vital technology to meet the world’s drinking water needs. Now, Korean engineers have developed a new desalination technique that takes just minutes to make seawater drinkable.   They used a new nanofiber membrane distillation process that could desalinate water with 99.99% efficiency. Engineers believe that commercializing such technology could...

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