The Biden administration is working to address the global semiconductor shortage that has caused production halts in U.S. industries including autos, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said. From a report: The administration is identifying choke points in supply chains and discussing an immediate path forward with businesses and trading partners, Psaki told reporters at the White House on Thursday. In…
Tag: and Transportation
Biden Rejoins Paris Climate Accord, Works To Overturn Trump’s Climate Policies
During his first moments in the Oval Office on Wednesday, President Biden returned the United States to the Paris climate accord and directed federal agencies to begin unraveling Donald Trump’s environmental policies. The Washington Post reports: Biden’s executive order recommitting the United States to the international struggle to slow global warming fulfilled a campaign promise and represented a stark repudiation of…
Less air pollution during Covid-19 restrictions, says study
NASA researchers have found that since February, pandemic restrictions have reduced global nitrogen dioxide concentrations by nearly 20%. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/how-much-covid19-related-pollution-levels-deviated-from-norm-2020…
Mysterious Phishing Campaign Targets Organizations in COVID-19 Vaccine Cold Chain
IBM’s cyber-security division says that hackers are targeting companies associated with the storage and transportation of COVID-19 vaccines using temperature-controlled environments — also known as the COVID-19 vaccine cold chain. From a report: The attacks consisted of spear-phishing emails seeking to collect credentials for a target’s internal email and applications. While IBM X-Force analysts weren’t able to link the attacks to…
Video: Connecting Earth with the moon
Lunar exploration relies on the extensive expertise that is on hand across ESA. As a new lunar economy emerges, it will create new opportunities involving robots, habitats and transportation. Missions to the moon share similar communication and navigation needs that could be satisfied using a constellation of lunar satellites. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-11-video-earth-moon.html…
The World’s First Carbon Dioxide Removal Law Database
Today, researchers at Columbia University launched the world’s first database of carbon dioxide removal laws, providing an annotated bibliography of legal materials related to carbon dioxide removal and carbon sequestration and use. It is publicly available at cdrlaw.org. Phys.Org reports: The site has 530 resources on legal issues related to carbon dioxide removal, including such techniques as: direct air capture; enhanced…
Senator Fears Clearview AI Facial Recognition Could Be Used On Protesters
Sen. Edward Markey has raised concerns that police and law enforcement agencies have access to controversial facial recognition app Clearview AI in cities where people are protesting the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died two weeks ago while in the custody of Minneapolis police. CNET reports: Markey, a Democratic senator from Massachusetts and a member of the…
Tesla’s Stock Drops Billions After Elon Musk’s Tweetstorm Friday
Friday Techcrunch reported Elon Musk tweeted to his 33.4 million followers that Tesla’s stock price “was ‘too high’ in his opinion, immediately sending shares into a free fall and in possible violation of an agreement reached with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last year.” Tesla’s shares plummetted nearly 12% over the next 30 minutes, which reduced Tesla’s valuation by over…
White House Earmarks New Money For AI and Quantum Computing
The Trump administration on Monday unveiled its $4.8 trillion budget proposal which, among other things, includes plans to increase federal funding for the development of AI and quantum computing. “The technologies are expected to become an important part of national security, and some worry the United States is behind China in their development,” reports The New York Times. From the report:…
No, Tesla Is NOT the Largest US Automaker Ever
An anonymous reader shares an excerpt from a CleanTechnica report: Over the last couple of days, as Tesla continues on this monstrous run, the media seems to have been noting that Tesla is now more valuable than any U.S. automaker’s market cap ever. (Tesla is currently almost exactly the market cap of Ford and GM combined, around $88 billion.) Even though…