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r0B0t: Ford to build 'high volume' of driverless cars for ride-sharing services - The Guardian

The Guardian

Ford to build 'high volume' of driverless cars for ride-sharing services
The Guardian
The robot car wars moved up a gear on Tuesday when Ford announced it would produce a fleet of driverless cars for ride-sharing services, such as Uber and Lyft, by 2021. Mark Fields, Ford's president and chief executive, said the next decade would be ...
Ford plans mass-market self-driving cars within five yearsTelegraph.co.uk
Ford to mass-produce a completely self-driving car within five yearsArs Technica
Ford Wants to Build the Largest Self-Driving Car Fleet in the WorldGizmodo
ZDNet -Bloomberg -Digital Trends -The Globe and Mail
all 115 news articles »

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r0B0t: WowWee CHiP is a hyper, engaging robot pet
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In the 16 years since Sony introduced AIBO, the first robotic pet, consumer robotics has not exactly flowered. AIBO was a smooth-moving, shockingly intelligent and incredibly expensive product. Ultimately, it couldn't survive even as long as the average dog. However, its influence continues even to this day and can be seen in WowWee's charming and mostly effective CHiP robot dog.

Designed for everyone eight-years-old and above, the mostly white (with silver-blue-accents), $199 CHiP comes complete with a charging base, SmartBall and SmartBand.

"WowWee — WowWee CHiP ships with a charging base (right) and a SmartBall (left).

More about Reviews, Review, Toys, Robotics, and Robot

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r0B0t: 'Mr. Robot' renewed for Season 3 on USA Network
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No big surprise here, but now it's official: Mr. Robot was just renewed for a third season, Mashable has confirmed.

The new season of the drama starring Rami Malek will premiere in 2017, although the number of episodes is still unknownMr. Robot's Season 2 order was upped in June from 10 to 12 episodes. The buzzy show recently nabbed six Emmy nominations.

“We couldn't be more proud of Mr. Robot, a series that has pushed boundaries, captured the cultural zeitgeist, and been honored as one of the best dramas on television,” NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Networks president Chris McCumber said in a statement to Mashable. “Midway through its second season, Mr. Robot continues to break new ground and open up new opportunities for the network. We can't wait to see where Sam Esmail and the entire brilliant Robot team take us next.” Read more...

More about Rami Malek, Usa Network, Mr Robot, Entertainment, and Tv

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Above and Beyond

* Pia * posted a photo:

This is the first photo of a new project I have just started. It's about discovery of yourself, identity and what ever else I can think of on this journey. This is the beginning and I don't know where this project will take me and where it will finish, but my next two photos are already in planning.

For this photo, I woke up at 4 am, took the night bus to central London and set everything up just before sunset (5.45ish am). Trafalgar square was pretty empty; it was just me, some drunks and people tidying up the square. Although, I did get advice on how to take the photo from some "helpful" stranger! Patronising strangers might be another idea for a photo project....

I don't like to write too much about the idea behind this photo because I like to leave the interpretation to the viewer. But I chose to shoot in dawn instead of sunset because of it's connotations with new beginnings, a big empty square with magnificent buildings and the scaffolding was just an (lucky) added extra (there's always something to be fixed).

Thanks for reading and viewing,

Pia

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Australia's rarest tortoises get new home to save them from climate change

Natural range of critically endangered western swamp tortoise increasingly untenable owing to reduced rainfall

Twenty-four of Australia's rarest tortoises have been released outside their natural range because climate change has dried out their remaining habitat.

The natural range of the critically endangered western swamp tortoise, Pseudemydura umbrina, has shrunk to two isolated wetlands in Perth's ever-growing outer suburbs, and a herpetological expert, Dr Gerald Kuchling, said reduced rainfall and a lowered groundwater table made those areas increasingly untenable.

Continue reading...
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Wildlife Conservation And Healthy Diet Are Closely Entwined

Your Plant-Based Ambassador: Image by Dana Ellis Hunnes

We all want to look our best, be our skinniest and healthiest selves, right?

Well, I've got the secret.

See, I've been a dietitian, working with individuals and patients for over 12 years.

I've seen patients who eat every type of diet you have and have not heard of; from the Paleo, to the Atkins, to the Zone, to the blood-type diet.

You know what? None of them worked long-term.

Not only that, they never really helped the underlying disease or "problems" that the patients had; and believe me, I work with the sickest of the sick patients. I work with organ-transplant patients, cardiac patients, and all types of surgical-cancer patients.

In all these years, and with all these patients, and with all my research. The one diet that works best for almost anyone**, whether you want to lose weight, reverse disease, lower your cholesterol levels, or just have clearer skin; is the plant-based diet.

Not only that, but, the plant-based diet is the only diet that also protects Earth.

Right now, we are in the midst of mass-species extinctions. Our glut for sushi, poke, sashimi, or ceviche, is throwing our oceans out of balance. It is leading to extinction of the mightiest of fish, the Bluefin tuna.

Fewer than 3% of the Bluefin tuna in the Pacific ocean remain. And of those, very few reach maturity or are of age to spawn and reproduce. Most are taken from the oceans, far too early.

This is a major problem.

Not only that, but we are killing the small fish too; such as anchovies, menhaden, herring at ridiculously fast rates, such that they cannot support the rest of the oceanic ecosystem or the larger fish that we, humans, like to eat. Yet, these smaller fish are not necessarily consumed at the dinner table. Rather, they are found in fish oils, or used as animal feed or fertilizer.

And, we have completely contorted the way our food is grown, reared, and what it is fed; including ourselves. We remove the vast majority of the fish in the ocean, and then we call other consumers such as whales and dolphins, pests, and retaliate against them.

Something has to change. For wildlife, and for OUR HEALTH.

We all strive to attain that perfect figure, those washboard abs, those beautiful biceps. But, we're going about it all wrong.

See, we eat poorly, too many animals, too many processed sugars and grains, not enough fruits and vegetables, and then we wonder why we look the way we do, or feel the way we feel.

But, we can fix this.

Myself? I swim miles at a time, do hard, long cycling classes (with a bonafide triathlete), and do so with energy, with stamina, at peak performance, and I do so on a plant-based, eco-friendly diet.

I've never been leaner, I've never been stronger, I've never been healthier.

I've been a plant-based eater for the vast majority of my adult life, mostly for personal health reasons. But, as I've learned more and read more about the environment and conservation of wildlife, my priorities, my reasoning for eating this way have evolved.

Luckily, these are not mutually exclusive reasons. We can eat a healthy plant-based diet for our health, and for the environment! Because it's simply good for both!

If you are looking to rid your body of diabetes, obesity, or cardiovascular disease; the best thing you can do today is start eating a plant-based diet.

If on the other hand, like me, you worry about the future of our earth, the future of Bluefin tuna, the future of the environment, the best thing you can do today is start eating a plant-based diet.

When I began my quest to defend and advocate for wildlife conservation, I didn't necessarily expect to be talking about diet as much as I do. But, the reality is they are so closely entwined, they cannot possibly be separated.

The truth of the matter is, my over 12-year history of being a dietitian has placed me in the ultimate position to educate and advocate for the healthiest of all diets, a plant-based diet.

Moreover, my scientific and doctoral background in climate-change science affords me the scientific basis for which I can fully conclude that a plant-based diet is THE ULTIMATE DIET.

So, whether you want to lose weight, have a six pack, or want to protect the environment; the best thing you can do for you, your family, your children, our home-Earth-is eat a mostly, if not entirely, plant-based diet.

And, anyone who tells you, you need meat to be healthy, doesn't know their science. There are amino acids and proteins in almost any and every food.

Anyone who tells you that you don't need carbs in your diet doesn't know their science, because our brains utilize 8 grams of glucose every hour.

Our biggest problems are the types of carbs and the processing of our food supply.

For more recommendations on a healthy plant-based diet, please see my prior post: "Why plants are this summer's coolest Diet."

(**Disclaimer: There are some disease states that require extra-special care in planning the type of plant-foods that should be consumed; consult with a dietitian or physician**)

To contact Dana: recipe.for.survival@gmail.com
Twitter: recipe4survival
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RecipeForSurvival/
PlanetExperts: http://www.planetexperts.com/author/danahunnes/

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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Protecting Animals In Our National Parks And Refuges

Photo Courtesy of the Humane Society of the United States

National parks, preserves and wildlife refuges located in Alaska belong to all Americans, which means it is up to each of us to protect the animals living on these special lands from the worst kind of predator, a "super predator" in fact: the trophy hunter.

Trophy hunters killed grizzly bears, black bears, wolves and coyotes in Alaska using some of the most barbaric and unsporting means: shooting swimming caribou from motor boats; luring grizzly bears to buckets of rotting meat and pet food for a point-blank kill; using cruel, steel-jawed traps or snares; and rooting out black bear mothers and their cubs using artificial lights at the den in wintertime and killing them; slaughtering wolf and coyote mothers at the den with their pups and extended family members--exploiting them when they are completely vulnerable--and scouting grizzly bears from planes, landing and then shooting them.

Trophy hunters aren't killing animals for their meat or fur, or for subsistence. They butcher a once wild animal, a sentient being who is a family member, to prove how manly and virile they are. They hang an animal's head on a wall, they turn bears into rugs, and stuff wolves in full-body-mounted displays. This is nothing but a sick competition, ticking each species from a checklist, racing against each other to kill more animals to win prizes and other inducements from groups like Safari Club International.

Thanks to federal land managers, these egregious killing methods are no longer permitted in a large portion of Alaska. That's because on October 15, 2015, the National Park Service on its National Preserves, and this month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on its National Wildlife Refuges, passed administrative rules that prohibit several of the most controversial and unsporting hunting activities. There are more than 96 million acres of these federal lands - national preserves and wildlife refuges - in Alaska impacted by these rules; more than in all the lower 48 states combined. These lands are home to wolves, wolverines, grizzly bears, black bears, lynx and other species whose very survival has been threatened repeatedly by reckless killing and dismal state management.

Alaskans should support these rules not only because they protect animals, but also because millions of people travel to Alaska annually to experience our abundant wildlife, and those tourists spend over $2 billion annually, immensely bolstering Alaska's sagging economy.

When the wolf population was decimated in Denali National Park because they were lured out of the Park and trapped ruthlessly on nearby state lands, many wolf-watching tourists abandoned Alaska for Yellowstone National Park, where they know they can see wild wolves in their natural habitat. Alaska hotel owners, restaurants, wildlife guides, and others who depend on tourism are economically harmed. The damage has been done in Denali. Not only does it need to be undone, we need to prevent this from happening in other parts of the state.

Yet the Alaska Board of Game continues what they call "Intensive Management," the slaughter of large carnivores in a misguided attempt to boost numbers of the prey species coveted by trophy hunters. This isn't surprising, considering that the BOG is composed of governor-appointees who aren't biologists, but are instead trophy hunters, trappers, NRA members, and even a hunting lodge manager. This group not only fails to recognize how much Alaskans value their wildlife, but they all appear to be oblivious to the fact that wildlife watchers and ecotourists bring far more money into the state economy than do trophy hunters.

In a statewide poll conducted in March, Alaska residents voiced their strong support for ending some of the most cruel and unsporting methods of hunting on national wildlife refuges and preserves in our state. What's more, these new rules are completely in keeping with the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), which allows for subsistence hunting while conserving and protecting preserves and refuges for their wild characteristics.

It is now up to each of us to tell our elected officials in Congress that public lands are meant to be managed in trust for all of us. They don't belong just to the BOG, or trophy hunters, or trappers. Whatever your political views are of the Obama administration, the fact remains that he, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service put forth policies that are far more humane, scientifically sound, and ecologically-minded and in keeping with Alaskans' values.

The animals in these parks belong to all Americans, and to our children and grandchildren. We must do whatever we can to protect them.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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Can Mankind Return To Nature?
Confusion. Determination. Elimination. Addition. Recollection.

Things all so necessary to a sane human existence.

But, not many things seem truly sane anymore.

People, filled with distrust, spend their lives locking everyone else out, becoming "secure" and "safe", yet die wallowing in confusion as to the state of their loneliness.

Others, so desperate for companionship, spend their lives taking anyone and everyone into their hearts, yet die the same.

We have lost our nature. We have lost the natural within ourselves. And we spend lifetimes trying to fill the void that distance has left us with.

Our world searches and yearns for progression, for progress, not realizing that the damage and destruction we will cause will set us back to the beginning. To nothing. Everything. The simplistic space occupied by only large planets, uncluttered by metal and smog and progression.

Only the beauty of the Heavens. Silent time passing. No clocks, no calendars to time what is beyond any humans control.

Fate. Life. Death.

Were the American Indians the heathen enemies our forefathers perceived? Was it our ancestors who lived solely off the land, only taking what was needed, worshipping Mother Earth, and her inhabitants large and small?

The Indians weren't corrupting the Earth, it was our own perception of what life was to be.

Instead of seeing the beauty of trees, we saw the possibility of the homes we could build.

Not the beauty of the fox running wild and free, but the coat we could place on our back.

Our need to either change what existed or destroy what resisted led us down this road that seemed to disappear behind our footsteps, leaving us no route of escape.

We must all now face the reactions of our actions.

Corruption. Destruction.

Fast these are becoming the symbols of human existence as young eyes begin to see. Perhaps, by the grace of time, of repercussions, the Earth's shiny, new inhabitants will look at this world through young, untainted eyes. Eyes that see not the impressiveness of tall buildings, but the sacredness of the ground they stand on.

And then, perhaps this world will become what it was meant to be. A place of wonder, a place of beauty, and a place to be shared.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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Fueling Extinction: Fed's Protection of Endangered Species Moving At Snail's Pace
An often cited standard response time for emergency workers in many localities is nine minutes or less. So you can only imagine the outrage, and additional loss of life, if first-responders routinely took six times longer to arrive - 54 minutes.

A new peer-reviewed study suggests that's exactly what's happening when it comes to providing endangered species protections for the Nation's most critically imperiled species.

Under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife is required to determine whether imperiled plants and animals need to be officially listed as threatened or endangered in no more than two years.

But a new study I co-authored in the international scientific journal Biological Conservation found that over the past four decades, imperiled species have waited an average of more than 12 years to receive protection -- six times longer that the law allows.

The study, co-authored with Fordham University postdoctoral associate Dr. Emily Puckett and Dr. Dylan Kesler, a research associate with The Institute for Bird Populations, also found that vertebrate species like mammals and birds move through the process roughly twice as fast as invertebrates and plants. That means species like mollusks, insects and flowers that are critical parts of the web of life are often failing to get the timely protections they need.

What's the solution to these problems? Our study found that increased funding would certainly help the agency protect more species. It also found lawsuits from organizations like the one I work for, the Center for Biological Diversity, targeted species stuck in the process and sped protection.

This latter result directly refutes unsupported assertions routinely spouted by Republicans opposed to the Endangered Species Act -- that lawsuits filed by conservation groups and other interested parties draw resources away from species conservation and hurt the process for protecting species.

For the study, we analyzed the listing process for 1,338 species protected between 1973 and 2014 to determine how budget constraints, species taxonomy, lawsuits and presidential policy choices affected the length of time it took for species to receive protection.

We found that increased funding and lawsuits accelerated protection of species, but that policy choices and taxonomy had mixed impacts on the time required to gain protection.

Unfortunately, even though protection decisions are supposed to be based solely on science, who is in the White House has a tremendous impact on decisions about whether species receive protection. For example, only 62 species gained Endangered Species Act protection under the second Bush administration compared to 268 under the Obama administration and 522 under the Clinton administration.

The study recommends increased funding and better partnerships with nongovernmental organizations interested in biodiversity protection to address lengthy delays in protection.

We already know the cost of doing otherwise: At least 42 species have gone extinct waiting for protection.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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Robotic Surgery Triumphs Over Prostate Cancer In Obese
It's yet another feather in the cap of robotic-assisted prostate surgery. Researchers in the Department of Urology of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine have discovered that robotic-assisted surgery to remove the prostate reduces the risk of blood loss and prolonged hospital stays.

Researchers examined records of 9,108 obese men who underwent radical prostatectomy (removal of the prostate gland and some surrounding tissue). Among all patients, 60.4 percent underwent robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy and 39.6 percent underwent open prostatectomy.

Compared with patients who had open surgery, patients undergoing robotic-assisted surgery were 83 percent less likely to require blood transfusions and 72 percent less likely to require prolonged hospital stays. But robotic-assisted surgery did not reduce the risk of infections and other complications, the study found.

The robotic system allows surgeons to operate through a few small incisions. Movements by the surgeon's hand or wrist are translated into highly precise movements of the surgical instruments. Every maneuver is directed by the surgeon, in real time, as the surgeon views a magnified, 3D, high-definition image of the surgical site.

Prostate cancer is the most common solid organ cancer in men in the United States. One in six men will develop prostate cancer over their lifetimes, and many will choose to have radical prostatectomies. In the past decade, the use of robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy has surpassed that of open surgery.

More than one-third of adults in the United States are obese. Obese patients can be challenging, because many have related conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and obstructive sleep apnea that can increase the risk of blood transfusions, complications and prolonged length of stay.

Researchers concluded the study results have these implications:

• The finding that robotic-assisted surgery reduces blood transfusion and prolonged length-of-stay even in obese patients offers a better understanding of the value of robotic surgery in challenging patients.
• For urologists, the finding that robotic and open surgery have similar complication rates implies that both techniques remain interchangeable. The surgeon's comfort level should dictate which surgical approach is used.
• For obese prostate cancer patients, the broad findings suggest that both surgical approaches are feasible and safe.

In the study, researchers examined records from the 2009-2010 Nationwide Impatient Sample maintained by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Dr. Samadi is a board-certified urologic oncologist trained in open and traditional and laparoscopic surgery and is an expert in robotic prostate surgery. He is chairman of urology, chief of robotic surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital and professor of urology at Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine. He is a medical correspondent for the Fox News Channel's Medical A-Team Learn more at roboticoncology.com. Visit Dr. Samadi's blog at SamadiMD.com. Follow Dr. Samadi on Twitter, Instagram, Pintrest and Facebook.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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