Australian student invents affordable electric car conversion kit
Australian design student Alexander Burton has developed a prototype kit for cheaply converting petrol or diesel cars to hybrid electric.
Signals
Living in privately rented homes linked to faster biological ageing, study finds
Researchers’ analysis of DNA suggests housing circumstances ‘get under the skin’ and are associated with significant health consequences
Deepfake audio of Sir Keir Starmer released on first day of Labour conference
The posting of the audio on the first day of Labour conference comes amid stark warnings of the threat AI poses to democracy.
‘Imagine Westminster under water’: stricter tests needed to see how City copes with climate disasters
Sam Woods, head of the Bank’s financial stability watchdog, says lenders have only shown they can survive ‘slow burn’ changes to temperatures
The living things that feast on plastic
Scientists are scouring garbage sites around the world for bacteria, fungi and even insects that harbor enzymes that could be harnessed for breaking down various polymers. It’s early days, but if the efforts can be efficiently scaled-up, such biological recycling could put a dent in the plastic waste problem.
Volvo is finally phasing out diesel cars next year in favor of an all-electric future
Volvo’s last diesel-powered car will roll out next year as the Swedish automaker looks toward an all-electric future. As one...
Lithium discovery in US volcano could be biggest deposit ever found
Find could point to new ways to prospect for material in high demand for batteries.
A.I. tools fueled a 34% spike in Microsoft’s water consumption, and one city with its data centers is concerned about the effect on residential supply
“They were pretty secretive on what they’re doing out there,” says a former mayor about Microsoft’s data center projects.
Microsoft disclosed that its global water consumption spiked 34% from 2021 to 2022 (to nearly 1.7 billion gallons, or more than 2,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools)
ChatGPT gulps up 500 milliliters of water (close to what’s in a 16-ounce water bottle) every time you ask it a series of between 5 to 50 prompts or questions
Google reported a 20% growth in water use
“was literally made next to cornfields west of Des Moines.”
Microsoft’s Remarkably Big Bet on Carbon-Absorbing Rocks
Why the tech giant is so high on Heirloom Carbon
Heirloom Carbon
Heirloom Carbon,
315,000 metric tons of carbon from the atmosphere over 10 years. For a sense of scale, that’s equivalent to about 75% of the carbon Microsoft emitted in 2022
$200 million, “based on market prices,” or $635 per ton
The process starts with limestone, which is formed from the detritus of corals, clams, and other sea creatures that use the dissolved carbon and calcium in the ocean to build their shells. Heirloom grinds up limestone and does something that humans have been doing for thousands of years — heats it in a kiln. This loosens carbon dioxide from the rock, leaving behind calcium oxide
It's not just you — no one is posting on social media anymore
Social media is on the decline. Instagram is all ads. No one's posting on BeReal. TikTok is for influencers. The new place for sharing: group chats.
social media has become less social and more media — a constellation of entertainment platforms where users consume content but rarely, if ever, create their own
*Privacy Not Included: A Buyer’s Guide for Connected Products
All 25 car brands we researched earned our *Privacy Not Included warning label – making cars the worst category of products that we have ever reviewed
AI chatbot
‘Don’t Put Your Head in the Sand’: Stars Are Quietly Inking Deals to License Their AI Doubles
In 2008, while working with Will Smith on the set of a film that never ended up getting made, Remington Scott had an epiphany. The visual effects director was watching Smith stand in a photogrammetry booth, with dozens of cameras capturing the actor’s facial features from every possible angle. “ ...
It's Getting Too Hot for Tropical Trees to Photosynthesize, Scientists Warn
A small fraction of tropical tree leaves already pass the threshold, scientists estimate, and that number could grow under worst-case climate models.
Driverless Tesla Crashes Into $3 Million Private Jet
A video of a driverless Tesla Model Y slowly crashing into a private jet worth around $3 million is going viral. Shared on Reddit, the user said that the car...
Federal judge rules that AI art can't be copyrighted
Stop trying to make AI copyrights happen. It is not going to happen.
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A key feature of NFTs has completely broken
Artists were supposed to keep getting paid. OpenSea is done with that.
Buyers of Bored Ape NFTs sue after digital apes turn out to be bad investment
Lawsuit: Sotheby's $24M sale to FTX gave Bored Ape NFTs "an air of legitimacy."
collector
Inside CounterCloud: A Fully Autonomous AI Disinformation System - The Debrief
CounterCloud, a totally autonomous AI disinformation system, gives a glimpse into how AI and disinformation will work together in the future.
Opinion | Kids getting burned on swings and slides? Here’s how to fix it.
In our warming world, kids are running out of places to play safely.
UK cyclist fatalities lowest in 30 years in 2022
The charity Cycling UK has released new analysis showing that the number of people killed while cycling, per billion miles, on British roads fell by nearly a quarter compared with pre-pandemic years.
Rules to keep AI in check: nations carve different paths for tech regulation
A guide to how China, the EU and the US are reining in artificial intelligence.
The Carbon Emissions of Writing and Illustrating Are Lower for AI than for Humans
As AI systems proliferate, their greenhouse gas emissions are an increasingly important concern for human societies. In this article, we present a comparative a
AI breakthrough could dramatically reduce planes’ global warming impact
Contrails currently account for a third of global warming from aviation
Nvidia H100 GPUs: Supply and Demand
This post is an exploration of the supply and demand of GPUs, particularly Nvidia H100s.
Meet Britain’s first AI-powered candidate
Andrew Gray is running for office in Selby and Ainsty on a manifesto generated by an artificial intelligence tool.
Google And Universal Music Group Negotiating AI-Generated Music Tool, Report Says
Users would be able to create deepfakes legitimately, sources told the Financial Times.
Supermarket AI meal planner app suggests recipe that would create chlorine gas
Pak ‘n’ Save’s Savey Meal-bot cheerfully created unappealing recipes when customers experimented with non-grocery household items
Two authors are suing OpenAI for training ChatGPT with their books. Could they win?
Mona Awad and Paul Tremblay’s lawsuit claims their books were used without their consent. But copyright protection doesn’t apply to ideas – they’ll need to demonstrate the likelihood of economic loss.
Zoom's Updated Terms of Service Permit Training AI on User Content Without Opt-Out
Zoom Video Communications, Inc. recently updated its Terms of Service to encompass what some critics are calling a significant invasion of user privacy.
One of Europe’s Hottest Cities Harnesses a 1,000-Year-Old Cooling Technique
Cities are the first line of defense in humanity’s battle against deadly heat. Bloomberg Green’s Hot Cities series looks at changes some of the world’s hottest cities are making to protect their people from extreme temperatures.