Dutch King Willem-Alexander apologised to Indonesia on Tuesday for “excessive violence” during the former colony’s independence struggle in the 1940s. Indonesia declared its independence on August 17, 1945 following a brief wartime occupation by the Japanese and several hundred years as a Dutch colony. “The past cannot be erased, and will have to be acknowledged by each generation in turn,” the king said in a joint statement.
As Aldana thinks about opening and closing his hand, engineers “hijack” this signal from his brain. They reprogrammed a robotic walking system to read that signal as an initiation of steps, allowing Aldana to walk for the first time since his accident. They hope to expand this work further. (Robert Camarena/University of Miami-Miami Project)
At age 16, German Aldana snaped his spine just below his neck. For the next five years, he could move only his neck, and his arms a little. Researchers with the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis carefully opened Aldana's skull and, at the surface of the brain, implanted electrodes. Then, in the lab, they trained a computer to interpret the pattern of signals from those electrodes as he imagines opening and closing his hand. The computer then transfers the signal to a prosthetic on Aldana's forearm, which then stimulates the appropriate muscles to cause his hand to close. The entire process takes 400 milliseconds from thought to grasp.
In 2016 astronomers discovered an earth-sized rock planet around the nearest neighbour of our sun, Proxima Centauri, which orbits its star within its life-friendly zone. Since then, the question of whether “Proxia Centauri b” itself is life-friendly or not has been the subject of scientific controversy. A new study confirms again that the planet could be life-friendly despite its active central star.
Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian wrote on Twitter: “This is so astonishing that it changed many things I used to believe in.” Photo: AP
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian took to Twitter on Friday to double down on an unproven claim that the US military brought the new coronavirus
to the central city of Wuhan, where the outbreak began.
Zhao urged his more than 287,000 followers in two tweets on Friday morning to widely share an allegation from a Canada-based conspiracy website that the coronavirus originated in the US rather than the Wuhan seafood market that is thought to be its source.
“This is so astonishing that it changed many things I used to believe in,” he wrote on his official account.
Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent a letter to the United Nations promoting a conspiracy theory that COVID-19 is a biological weapon created in a laboratory. In the letter, he claimed COVID-19 is “a new weapon for establishing and/or maintaining [the] political and economic upper hand in the global arena.” He went on to say the flulike illness, which has infected tens of thousands, was “produced in laboratories” by the “warfare stock houses of biologic war belonging to world hegemonic powers.”
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman who promoted online theories about the origins of Covid-19 is the latest high-profile figure to make unverified claims. Beijing angered by US politicians who have characterised it as a ‘Chinese virus’ and Senator Tom Cotton’s suggestion it came from a lab in Wuhan
Diplomat David Stilwell delivers a ‘stern representation’ of the US government’s position to Cui Tiankai. Meeting in Washington follows Chinese foreign ministry spokesman’s insinuation that the US military brought the coronavirus to China
When we think of fungi, we probably think of mushrooms. But mushrooms are only fruiting bodies, analogous to apples on a tree. Most fungi live out of sight, yet make up a massively diverse kingdom of organisms that support and sustain nearly all living systems. The more we learn about fungi, the less makes sense without them. Sheldrake’s vivid exploration ranges from yeast to psychedelics, to the fungi that sprawl for miles underground and are the largest organisms on the planet, to those that link plants together in complex networks known as the ‘Wood Wide Web’, to those that infiltrate and manipulate insect bodies with devastating precision. Fungi throw our concepts of individuality and even intelligence into question. They can change our minds, heal our bodies, and even help us remediate environmental disaster. By examining fungi on their own terms, Sheldrake reveals how these extraordinary organisms – and our relationships with them – are changing our understanding of how life works.
A security guard standing in an empty shopping mall in Beijing during the current coronavirus epidemic (Source: Kevin Frayer / Getty Images)
The coronavirus outbreak, now declared a global pandemic, will eventually enable humanity to reset its values for the benefit of the planet, said top trend forecaster Li Edelkoort. In an interview with Dezeen, Edelkoort said that the coronavirus is now causing a “quarantine of consumption” that will usher in a “better system” for the environment and people. Her views are echoed by climate activists, who are saying that much of the response to the coronavirus has been quick, decisive and drastic, proving that world governments can and do have the capacity to bring about the necessary changes to fight the similarly urgent issue of the climate emergency.
This is the first in a series of in-depth stories and interviews with senior defense officials about the future of the American way of war and a concept now known as All-Domain Operations. It’s a vision of a computer-coordinated fight across land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace, with forces from satellites to foot soldiers to submarines sharing battle data at machine-to-machine speed.
The International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) has issued updated guidelines for exposures to RF/microwave radiation. “The guidelines have been developed after a thorough review of all relevant scientific literature, scientific workshops and an extensive public consultation process. They provide protection against all scientifically substantiated adverse health effects due to EMF exposure in the 100 kHz to 300 GHz range,” according to Eric van Rongen, the chairman of ICNIRP. “We know parts of the community are concerned about the safety of 5G and we hope the updated guidelines will help put people at ease,” he said. Van Rongen is with the Health Council of the Netherlands. The new guidelines are published in Health Physics and are open access. A copy is available here. They were last updated in 1998. The ICNIRP press release is here.
Intelligent robots in China have made a collective appearance amid the coronavirus epidemic with delivery, medical and disinfection purposes, contributing to prevention and control efforts. Experts say that though intelligent robot technology is still in an initial phase, the epidemic has offered a boost to the robot industry.
Police in China can now screen out potential coronavirus carriers with the help of futuristic-looking smart helmets. Shenzhen-based Kuang-Chi Technology introduced police smart helmets that can quickly measure body temperature in crowds. The infrared cameras attached to the N901 helmets enable wearers to measure temperature from up to five meters away. They have facial recognition.
The AI system is linked to a number of different databases, allowing it to cross-check information. Photo: AFP
Researchers involved in project say it will make it almost impossible to avoid detection, while the current fragmented system is easier to get around. Concerns about economic impact may delay its introduction as many private firms rely on informal deals with local tax authorities to limit the amount they pay. The AI engine has been embedded in the heart of the Golden Tax System, the software used by the State Taxation Administration, China’s top tax office.
The Voyager Golden Records are two phonograph records that were included aboard both Voyager spacecrafts launched in 1977. The records contain sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth, and are intended for any intelligent extraterrestrial life form who may find them. They are a sort of time capsule.
Global citizenship is the idea that one's identity transcends geography or political borders and that responsibilities or rights are derived from membership in a broader class: "humanity". This does not mean that such a person denounces or waives their nationality or other, more local identities, but that such identities are given "second place" to their membership in a global community. The idea leads to questions about the state of global society in the age of globalization.
Richard Nikolaus Eijiro, Count of Coudenhove-Kalergi was an Austrian-Japanese politician, philosopher and Count of Coudenhove-Kalergi. A pioneer of European integration, he served as the founding president of the Paneuropean Union for 49 years. His parents were Heinrich von Coudenhove-Kalergi, an Austro-Hungarian diplomat and Mitsuko Aoyama, the daughter of an oil merchant, antiques-dealer and major landowner in Tokyo. His first book, Pan-Europa, was published in 1923 and contained a membership form for the Pan-Europa movement, which held its first Congress in 1926 in Vienna. Coudenhove-Kalergi proposed Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" as the music for the European Anthem
Kurt Josef Waldheim was an Austrian diplomat and politician. Waldheim was the fourth Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981, and President of Austria from 1986 to 1992. While he was running for the latter office in the 1986 election, the revelation of his service in Thessaloniki, Greece and in Yugoslavia, as an intelligence officer in Nazi Germany's Wehrmacht during World War II raised international controversy.
In 1994, former Mossad officer Victor Ostrovsky claimed in his book The Other Side of Deception that Mossad doctored Waldheim's file while he was serving as Secretary-General to implicate him in Nazi crimes. These allegedly false documents were subsequently "discovered" by Benjamin Netanyahu in the UN file and triggered the "Waldheim Affair".
The Rites of Misraïm and Memphis were united into a single order under Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1881.
On 26 and 27 October 2019 in Naples (Italy), Brothers Initiated to the Most High Degrees of Egyptian Freemasonry from Italian Shrines of different but equal Regular Constitution met Ritually, for the first time in Italy in a Council, to "bring together what is spread "; verify the possibility of merging Rituals and Operating Instructions among the various Egyptian "currents" on Italian soil while recovering the Operative Ritual of the Arcana Arcanorum coming from an Ancient Private Archive containing historical documentation (ancient rituals and ritual jewels) by Giustiniano Lebano. At the end of the two days, after a joint verification of the Ritual contents of the Lebano Archive, Six Sublime Principles Patriarchs Great Conservators for Life (95th), they signed the historic Bolla di Fondazione and installed the Santuario Egizio d'Italia of the Ancient Rite and Primitive of Memphis-Misraïm Arcana Arcanorum Scala di Napoli (1777), Royal Custodian of the Venerated Ark of Tradition throughout the Italian territory; the whole Ceremony took place on a Sacred Altar where Egyptian Masonic Objects and Symbols were used by the Past Master Giustiniano Lebano.
Officials said they had dismantled a major crime family within the ’Ndrangheta, the group based in the southern region of Calabria that is Italy’s most powerful mafia syndicate.
The "transistor" (a portmanteau of "transconductance" and "resistor") was 1/50 the size of the vacuum tubes it replaced in televisions and radios, used far less power, was far more reliable, and it allowed electrical devices to become more compact.
On December 23, 1947, Bardeen and Brattain were working without Shockley when they succeeded in creating a point-contact transistor that achieved amplification. By the next month, Bell Labs' patent attorneys started to work on the patent applications. Bell Labs' attorneys soon discovered that Shockley's field effect principle had been anticipated and patented in 1930 by Julius Lilienfeld, who filed his MESFET-like patent in Canada on October 22, 1925. Shockley publicly took the lion's share of the credit for the invention of transistor; this led to a deterioration of Bardeen's relationship with Shockley. Bell Labs management, however, consistently presented all three inventors as a team. Shockley eventually infuriated and alienated Bardeen and Brattain, and he essentially blocked the two from working on the junction transistor.
In this highly unauthorized account of the Big Five's origins, Rob Larson sets the record straight, and in the process shreds every focus-grouped bromide about corporate benevolence he could get his hands on. Those readers unwilling to smile and nod as every day we become more dependent on our phones and apps to do our chores, our jobs, and our socializing can take heart as Larson provides us with maps to all the shallow graves, skeleton filled closets, and invective laced emails Big Tech left behind on its ascent to power. His withering analysis will help readers crack the code of the economic dynamics that allowed these companies to become near-monopolies very early on, and, with a little bit of luck, his calls for digital socialism might just inspire a viral movement for online revolution.
