Hunter-gatherer populations with a strong seasonal dependence on meat in their diets had fewer people per square kilometer than those that had abundant plant foods throughout the year. This new result is clear from a study carried out by researchers from the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB),...
Science & Technology
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How ‘Sissy Men’ Became the Latest Front in China’s Campaign Against Big Tech
The Chinese government has recently taken action against what it calls “sissy men” – males, often celebrities, deemed too effeminate. On Sept. 2，2021, government regulators banned their appearance on both television and video streaming sites. Using the Chinese derogatory slur “niang pao” – literally, “girlie guns” – Chinese cultural authorities explained that they were rolling...
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SpaceX Inspiration4 Mission Will Send 4 People with Minimal Training into Orbit – and Bring Space Tourism Closer to Reality
On Sept. 15, 2021, the next batch of space tourists are set to lift off aboard a SpaceX rocket. Organized and funded by entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, the Inspiration4 mission touts itself as “the first all-civilian mission to orbit” and represents a new type of space tourism. The four crew members will not be the first...
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Researchers Develop Real-Time Lyric Generation Technology to Inspire Song Writing
Music artists can find inspiration and new creative directions for their song writing with technology developed by Waterloo researchers. LyricJam, a real-time system that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to generate lyric lines for live instrumental music, was created by members of the University’s Natural Language Processing Lab. The lab, led by Olga Vechtomova, a Waterloo Engineering...
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‘Digging’ into Early Medieval Europe with Big Data
During the middle of the sixth century CE a dramatic transformation began in how the people of western Europe buried their dead. The transition from ‘furnished’ inhumation (those with grave goods to include jewellery, dress accessories, tools and personal items etc) to ‘unfurnished’ (those without grave goods) was widespread and by the early eighth century...
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Scientists Come Up with New Method for Simultaneous Processing of Different Types of Waste
An international research team has come up with an innovative method for metal recovery from industrial waste. The new method allows the simultaneous recovery of multiple metals from waste oxides in a single process. This novel route will lower the burden on waste storage facilities with significant contributions to the economic and environmental sustainability of...
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The U.S. Army Tried Portable Nuclear Power at Remote Bases 60 Years Ago – It Didn’t Go Well
In a tunnel 40 feet beneath the surface of the Greenland ice sheet, a Geiger counter screamed. It was 1964, the height of the Cold War. U.S. soldiers in the tunnel, 800 miles from the North Pole, were dismantling the Army’s first portable nuclear reactor. Commanding Officer Joseph Franklin grabbed the radiation detector, ordered his...
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Making Citizen Science Inclusive Will Require More Than Rebranding
Scientists need to focus on tangible efforts to boost equity, diversity and inclusion in citizen science, researchers from North Carolina State University argued in a new perspective. Published in the journal Science, the perspective is a response to a debate about rebranding “citizen science,” the movement to use crowdsourced data collection, analysis or design in research. Researchers...
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With Ford’s Electric F-150 Pickup, the EV Transition Shifts into High Gear
When President Joe Biden took Ford’s electric F-150 Lightning pickup for a test drive in Dearborn, Michigan, in May 2021, the event was more than a White House photo op. It marked a new phase in an accelerating shift from gas-powered cars and trucks to electric vehicles, or EVs. In recent months, global auto manufacturers...
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‘PrivacyMic’: for a Smart Speaker That Doesn’t Eavesdrop
Microphones are perhaps the most common electronic sensor in the world, with an estimated 320 million listening for our commands in the world’s smart speakers. The trouble is that they’re capable of hearing everything else, too. But now, a team of University of Michigan researchers has developed a system that can inform a smart...
