A recent paper proposes a new way to put together a message for alien intelligent beings. It comes up with an elaborate mechanism to convey information in notably constrained bitmaps, but one can’t help but wonder whether it is too elaborate. For example, for 1+1 = 2, the article proposes Read more…
Walgreens Boots Alliance is opening robot-powered micro-fulfillment centers across the U.S. to fill customers’ prescriptions as the role of stores and pharmacists change. Inside of a large facility in the Dallas area, they fill thousands of prescriptions for customers who take medications to manage or treat high blood pressure, diabetes Read more…
Canada is joining the ranks of countries and states planning to ban sales of combustion engine cars. Canada has outlined an Emissions Reduction Plan that will require all new passenger car sales to be zero-emissions models by 2035. The government will gradually ramp up pressure on automakers, requiring “at least” Read more…
The Airbus A380 has completed a trial flight powered on cooking oil. CNN reports: The test airplane completed a three-hour flight from Blagnac Airport in Toulouse — Airbus’ French headquarters — on 25 March. It was powered by Sustainable Aviation Fuel, or SAF — predominantly made of used cooking oil Read more…
The official broadcast of the final rounds of the FIDE Grand Prix Series, an important part of the World Chess Championship cycle, will feature players’ heart rate indicator, according to World Chess, the Series organizer. This is the first time when the players’ heart rate is measured and displayed in Read more…
Google is adding a new “highly cited” label to search results frequently sourced by other publications, the company is announcing today. Anything from local news stories, to interviews, announcements, and even press releases will be eligible for the new label being added to the search result’s preview image, so long Read more…
The Hubble Space Telescope has glimpsed the most distant single star it’s ever observed, glimmering 28 billion light-years away. And the star could be between 50 to 500 times more massive than our sun, and millions of times brighter. It’s the farthest detection of a star yet, from 900 million Read more…