In The News

New York Times: Three Internets and America’s May Not Be Best

October 16, 2018
As nations apply regulations that limit the internet, some protecting and others invading privacy, the information highway may fragment. “All signs point to a future with three internets,” notes an opinion essay written by the New York Times editorial board. “But all three spheres — Europe, America and China — are generating sets of rules, regulations and norms that are beginning to rub up...

National Review: Robot Overlords

Kevin D. Williamson October 7, 2018
People, nervous about robots taking away jobs for humans, also expect immediate and affordable information, service and comforts. Kevin Williamson, writing for National Review, describes how regulation can quickly devolve into protectionism, designed to contain rapid change and preserve traditions. He notes that an individual’s views can swing wildly between Libertarianism or fascism depending on...

Asia Sentinel: Japan’s Small, Beautiful Spacecraft

Todd Crowell October 5, 2018
Japan’s Hayabusa2 probe took a 3½-year voyage, landing on the asteroid Ryugu, believed to be 6 billion years old. The space probe – about 1 x 1.6 meters in size – dropped two robotic rovers on the asteroid to collect and return samples to Earth. “Japan … is developing its own niche in exploring the smaller objects in the solar system,” reports Todd Crowell for the Asia Sentinel. “While others...

ScienceAlert: Why the Earth Wobbles

Mike McRae September 25, 2018
About 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is water and the planet also has a molten core melted core, so the planet wobbles as it spins. The wobbling increased over the 20th century and changed direction with the start of the 21st century, and NASA researchers suggest that melting sea ice is a contributing factor. “NASA piled up a century's worth of data on planetary rotation, sea level...

TechCrunch: Google Argues Against Global “Right to Be Forgotten”

Natasha Lomas September 11, 2018
Google contends that Europe’s internet privacy rules should not extend to global domains. In 2014, the European Court of Justice “ruled search engines must respect Europeans’ privacy rights, and – on request – remove erroneous, irrelevant and/or outdated information about a private citizen,” reports Natasha Lomas for TechCrunch. Google responded by applying delistings on local European domains,...

South China Morning Post: Pollution Can Damage Brain

Alice Shen August 28, 2018
Air pollution has long been listed as a health hazard, causing respiratory problems and reducing life expectancy. New research also points to harm for the brain and cognition skills, especially among the elderly. The Chinese research study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “The researchers came to the conclusions by comparing the results of 32,000 Chinese men...

Wired: Kenya’s Silicon Savannah

Laura Mallonee August 15, 2018
Nairobi is home to more than 200 startups as well as established firms like Intel and Microsoft, reports Laura Mallonee for Wired. Photographs by Janek Stroisch show young adults at work alone on computers and with teams surrounded by gadgets, wires and equipment, all reminiscent of scenes from Silicon Valley in California. Mallonee notes the “the problems are a little different,” describing...