(IEN) ROBOT ART

Ai-Da, the world’s first ultra-realistic robot artist, is poised to make art history as her latest work, a portrait of computing pioneer Alan Turing, goes under the hammer at Sotheby’s London next month.

This moment marks the first time a humanoid robot’s artwork will be sold at a major auction house.

The portrait, titled AI God, is a striking 7.2-foot-high painting of Turing, widely regarded as a foundational figure in the development of modern computing. With an estimated value ranging from £100,000 to £150,000 ($130,000 to $196,000), the painting captures Turing’s complex legacy.

The auction, which will take place online from October 31 to November 7, is part of Sotheby’s Digital Art Sale, a showcase that explores the intersection of art and cutting-edge technology.

Ai-Da, created in 2019, is the brainchild of British gallerist Aidan Meller, who collaborated with artificial intelligence experts from the universities of Oxford and Birmingham to bring her to life. Ai-Da’s advanced design includes AI algorithms, cameras embedded in her eyes, and bionic hands, all of which allow her to paint autonomously.

She is capable of creating her artwork without any human intervention, using complex machine-learning techniques to guide her brushstrokes.

Ai-Da’s choice of subject, Alan Turing, is particularly poignant. Known for his pivotal role in cracking the German Enigma code during World War II and laying the theoretical groundwork for computer science, Turing also expressed concerns about the potential dangers of artificial intelligence in the 1950s.

These warnings resonate deeply in today’s world, where AI technology has become both a powerful tool and a source of ethical debate. More of this article (Interesting Engineering) - link - more like this (art) - link - more like this (AI) - link

(GRE) ONE MAN'S MEAT IS ANOTHER MAN'S NUTS

Did you know that you can eat peanut shells? Better yet, were you aware that you can make planet-friendly meat from them?

That’s what scientists from the US are proposing, in a move they say can cut food waste, promote human health, boost food security and farm economies, reduce emissions, and thus meet several Sustainable Development Goals.

In a review published in the Frontiers journal, researchers outline how about 22% of the 46 million tonnes of peanuts produced annually is waste from the shells, resulting in a loss of over 6.5 million tonnes of dietary fibre and 595,000 tonnes of plant protein.

While peanut shells are most commonly upcycled into animal feed, a dry complete material for packaging and industrial fillers, and potentially biofuel, the study suggests that this is a “missed opportunity” since these hulls are edible to humans. It proposes methods to recapture nutrients (like protein and fibre) and process these hulls into functional ingredients for a variety of foods, including plant-based and cultivated meats.

The scientists argue that the valorisation of peanut byproducts would significantly increase the amount of food available from current land, water and energy use, addressing hunger and benefitting farmers (who could sell the shells at a premium compared to low-cost animal feed).

Most of the greenhouse gas emissions from peanut production come from on-farm activities, and the hulls alone represent a quarter of the potential energy output. But overall, these groundnuts generate 97% fewer emissions per kg than beef, and use up 97% less land too – so using the shells to produce food for human consumption illustrates a highly sustainable way to increase food security. More of this article (green queen) - link - more like this (food) - link 

(NAT) ROBOTS IN TRAINERS

A few months back, China's Robot Era demonstrated the strolling capabilities of its XBot-L humanoid by setting it loose on the Great Wall of China. Now the company has released video footage of two flagship Star1 models racing through the Gobi Desert.

Robot Era is a fairly recent addition to the humanoid robot space, having incubated from Tsinghua University in August 2023. But the company already has a number of humanoids in its robot ranks, has developed a dexterous human-like hand, and become quite adept at showing off its creations in fun promo videos.

The latest footage was shot late last month and features the company's new flagship humanoid robot, Star1. Well two of them actually, racing against each other on rocky routes, grassy vistas and winding roads along parts of the Gobi Desert. One runs "bare-footed" while the other benefits from a snazzy pair of sneakers.

Sadly, we don't know a great deal about the flagship running bot, but we can tell you that it stands 1.71 m tall (5.6 ft) and tips the scales at 65 kg (143 lb). Its odd running gait sees the body remain straight-backed upright while its jointed legs push out front in a style that would likely gain full approval from the Ministry of Silly Walks.

The company reports that the sneaker-clad humanoid started late but quickly caught its opponent before taking the lead, running at 3.6 meters per second (8 mph) for 34 minutes. More of this article (New Atlas) - link - more like this (robots) - link - more like this (made in China) - link

(BBC) SAVE THE ISABELLE PEPIN ONE

An MP has questioned a woman's £500 fine for leaving an Ikea storage system on a pavement for interested passers-by to collect.

Isabelle Pepin left the item in front of her house in Southbourne, Bournemouth, and said she had hoped someone else in the community could still make use of it.

A contractor working for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council issued the fine, saying the furniture had been left on a public highway rather than Ms Pepin's own property.

Ever since I joined the waste management industry I've always understood the concept of throwing something away as 'discarding' it - that's what the government says anyway:-

When a material is waste – discard

A material is waste if the holder has discarded it. The holder is the person or legal entity who has the material at the time it’s discarded.

When Isabelle Pepin put her piece of IKEA furniture on the pavement in front of her house, it could be argued that she was being 'untidy' or 'foolish' but was she actually discarding it? Apparently not. Isabelle was waiting to see if anyone wanted it as there was "still life left in it".

As the IKEA unit had not been discarded, it was never technically waste. Not being waste, it cannot be dealt with under any waste/fly tipping legislation. More of the original article  (BBC) - link - more like this (waste) - linklink

In my opinion, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council was/is wrong.

(F24) ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER LOOMING

For years, scientists have held onto the hope that even if global temperatures temporarily exceed climate targets, the planet could eventually cool back down. However, a major academic study released on Wednesday has cast doubt on that idea.

The report highlights the dangers of "climate overshoot"– a temporary breach of the 1.5°C warming limit set in the 2015 Paris Agreement. While world leaders have committed to keeping the global temperature increase below 1.5°C, emissions continue to rise, making this goal increasingly difficult to achieve.

The study emphasises that even a brief overshoot could lead to long-term impacts, including rising sea levels and other lasting effects that may persist for thousands of years.

At the 2015 Paris Agreement, several strategies were agreed upon in order to meet climate goals, such as halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

Yet, these pledges have not been matched by action, and the idea of overshoot has even been embraced by some world leaders as a fallback plan.

False promises

At the 2023 climate negotiations in Dubai, COP 28 President Sultan Al Jaber promised to uphold the 1.5°C goal, stating the United Arab Emirates was guided by a "deep sense of urgency".

However, as CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Al Jaber was simultaneously overseeing plans for a major expansion in fossil fuel production.

This is one of the many contradictions between public promises and private actions. Many policies claiming to align with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C target are underpinned by the flawed belief that climate overshoot can be reversed without radically reducing emissions or the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

“Our research highlights that hoping to overshoot and then return to safer levels is delusional,” said Joeri Rogelj, a professor of climate science at Imperial College London and one of the co-authors of the study.

The research, spanning three years, outlines how exceeding the 1.5°C global temperature target could lead to consequences lasting for centuries.

The paper shows overshooting could trigger the thawing of permafrost, releasing vast amounts of greenhouse gases that would further accelerate climate change. Furthermore, it indicates that for every 100 years the temperature exceeds 1.5 °C, there is an associated increase in sea-level rise by approximately 40 cm by the year 2300, which presents a significant danger to island nations.

“Climate overshoot would leave an irreversible legacy,” said Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, lead author of the study and science advisor to Climate Analytics and Honorary Professor at Humboldt University Berlin. “It may not be reversible, even if global temperature increase might actually be reversed." More of this article (France 24) - link - picture (New Scientist article) - link - more like this (COP) - link - more like this (Abu Dhabi) - link

(GRE) DEFENDING FOSSIL FUEL

In May, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and 18 of his Republican colleagues launched their bid to block lawsuits that several Democrat-led states including California have brought against energy giants for deceiving the public while fueling the global climate emergency. Multiple U.S. municipalities have filed similar suits against Big Oil.

Although justices have rejected the oil and gas industry’s efforts to shift those suits from state to federal court, six of them are right-wingers with a record of anti-environment rulings. A spokesperson for Marshall told Reuters that the new request of Prelogar is “an encouraging sign that the justices are taking seriously the complaint of 19 states.”

Meanwhile, Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity (CCI), took aim at the Alabama-led case, saying in a statement that “this meritless, politically driven request is an obvious attempt to shield fossil fuel companies from facing accountability for their climate lies and the monumental damage they’re causing.”

“It should be a no-brainer for the solicitor general to oppose this petition and for the Supreme Court to reject it,” he added. “Communities deserve their day in court to hold Big Oil accountable.”

Wiles responded similarly in June, when the Supreme Court asked Prelogar to weigh in on a case brought by the City and County of Honolulu.

Alyssa Johl, CCI’s vice president of legal and general counsel, said at the time that “lawsuits like Honolulu’s are not seeking to solve climate change or regulate emissions—these plaintiffs simply want Big Oil to stop lying and pay their fair share of the damages they knowingly caused. The solicitor general should make clear that federal laws do not preempt the ability of communities to hold companies accountable for their deceptive claims under state law.” More of this article (green queen) - link - more like this (Biden) - link - more like this (fossil fuels) - link

(IAN) OXFORD 206

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(ICN) LIES, DAMN LIES AND MISINFORMATION

Fossil fuel interests are working to kill solar in one Ohio County. The hometown newspaper is helping.

A retired gas industry executive, a shadowy “grassroots” group and a controversial media company are spreading misinformation while turning residents against a proposed solar farm— and each other.

Word tends to spread fast in rural Knox County, Ohio. But misinformation has spread faster. The first article in the Mount Vernon News last fall about a planned solar farm simply noted that residents were “expressing their concern.” But soon the county’s only newspaper was packed with stories about solar energy that almost uniformly criticized the project and quoted its opponents.

Then a new “grassroots” organization materialized and invited locals to an elaborate event billed as a town hall, with a keynote speaker who denied that humans cause climate change.

Someone sent text messages to residents urging them to “stop the solar invasion” and elect two county commission candidates who opposed the solar farm. And one day this past March, residents received an unfamiliar newspaper that contained only articles attacking Frasier Solar, a large project that would replace hundreds of acres of corn and soybeans with the equivalent of 630 football fields of solar panels. More of this article (Inside Climate News) - link - more like this (solar) - link - more like this (Ohio) - link

(IAN) OXFORD 205

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(DRI) TESLA ROBOTAXI

Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk have unveiled the long promised Robotaxi prototype at its much ballyhooed “We, Robot” event in Hollywood, to showcase what it says will be the future direction of the world’s best-selling EV brand.

Musk took time out from his pro-Trump political campaigning to launch the new products at the Warner Bros studios in California.

His presentation, which started nearly an hour late – ostensibly due to a medical emergency in the crowd – lasted just 20 minutes and was short on detail, but long on hype, and Musk’s vision of a future world where “everyone will want” their own robot.

The first product to appear, with Musk inside, was the two-door Robotaxi with no steering wheel, and no pedals. The styling of this model seems to be inspired by the Cybertruck and Tesla’s Roadster sportscar, and Musk said it would likely be sold for less than $US30,000.

He said unsupervised fully autonomous trials would begin in California and Texas – pending regulatory approval – in 2025, using Model 3 and Model Y cars. Musk said that the Robotaxi would not likely be in production until 2026, or maybe 2027. More of this article (The Driven) - link - more like this (electric cars) - link - more like this (Tesla) - link

(NAT) BETWEEN TRACK SOLAR

Even on busy rail networks, the gap between lines can spend much of its time doing little but face skyward, so why not put that space to good use? Swiss startup Sun-Ways is looking to do just that by installing solar panels in between railway tracks.

Despite many household and business rooftops rocking solar panels, and dedicated "farms" also soaking up the Sun's energy, there's still huge potential for harvesting much more.

Sun-ways is looking to tap into the estimated 1-TWh annual energy potential from the 5,000-km of railroad tracks in Switzerland by laying removable PV panels between them. The company states that this could potentially meet the electricity needs of almost a third of the country's public transport sector, while making yearly CO2 savings of more than 200,000 tons.

Each "full black" panel measures 1 x 1.7 m (3.3 x 5.5 ft) and features an anti-reflective filter to prevent glare. This is mounted as a multi-array format in a frame where all components and wiring are housed within. The current setup is designed to fit track gauges of 1.43 m (4.6 ft), though this can be adapted for non-standard installations.

The multi-panel modules can be installed and connected manually by engineers, but railway maintenance company Scheuchzer SA has developed a machine capable of installing up to 1,000 m2 of Sun-Ways panel arrays per day.

The "solar power plant" has been designed so that the panel modules can be temporarily removed while railway engineers perform track maintenance, and then put back down when work has been completed. And the setup has been tested for stability for trains passing overhead at up to 150 km/h (93 mph), and can withstand 240-km/h (150 mph) winds. More of this article (New Atlas) - link - more like this (solar power) - link - more like this (Switzerland) - link

(MOT) CATASTROPHIC IS THE NEW NORMAL

Something’s shifted. And it’s not just the climate.

Even before being named a tropical storm, I knew that what would become Mean Helene was set on a mission to be yet another multibillion-dollar disaster. I knew that it would undergo rapid intensification and become a catastrophic hurricane. And I knew that a calamitous rainfall event would unfold in the Southeast many hours after landfall.

So, I did what I’ve done during my entire 40 year career—I tried to warn people. Except that the warning was not well received by everyone. A person accused me of being a “climate militant,” a suggestion that I’m embellishing extreme weather threats to drive an agenda. Another simply said that my predictions were “an exaggeration.”

But it wasn’t an exaggeration.

The storm surge from Helene was widespread and up to 15 feet deep. The windstorm sliced through the Southeast with gusts up to 100 miles per hour. And the rains were, as I predicted, “biblical.”

Helene became a major hurricane on September 26 amid a rapid intensification (RI) cycle in which it attained 55 mph greater windspeeds in a span of 24-hours—just short of the “extreme” RI threshold of 58 mph in 24 hours. It was the second time since it formed that maximum sustained windspeeds had increased by at least 35 miles per hour in a day.

As a result, Helene went from an 80 mph low-end Category 1 hurricane one day to a 140 mph Category 4 cyclone the next. According to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, Category 1 hurricane damage would be expected to be “minimal,” while Category 4 hurricane damage would be “devastating.”

Helene was the second major hurricane (Cat 3 or higher) of the 2024 season. Record-setting Hurricane Beryl preceded it as the earliest-forming Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic basin’s history. Beryl became a major hurricane in the month of June east of the Lesser Antilles, the first time that’s ever happened during the first month of hurricane season since record-keeping began in 1851. More of this article (Mother Jones) - link - more like this (extreme weather) - link - more like this (flooding) - link

(RCH) HENLEY BUSINESS SCHOOL SECURES RMD FUNDING

A new AI platform is set to aid in the early detection of rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases.

A team led by Henley Business School, University of Reading, has secured a £1.2 million grant for the development of RMD-Health.

This machine learning system aims to enhance the early detection and referral of rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMD).

The project will be piloted at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust (RBFT) and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH) over the next three years. The initiative is partially funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and will focus on preparing the product for regulatory approval and commercial use.

Rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases affect up to a third of the UK population and are leading causes of disability, including inflammatory arthritis, and one of the biggest contributors to sick days and unemployment.

Professor Weizi Li, the project's lead and Professor of Informatics and Digital Health at Henley, said: "With an estimated annual cost of £1.8 billion in sick leave and work-related disability for rheumatoid arthritis alone, the current RMD referral system faces huge challenges."

The new machine learning system is designed to help doctors refer patients more accurately and quickly, leading to faster and more effective treatment. Between 2019 and 2021, general practitioners had only 40 per cent accuracy in suspected early inflammatory arthritis referrals.

This also led to delays in patients accessing the correct clinics and treatments, often resulting in multiple consultations with GPs. More of this article (Reading Chronicle) - link - Elizabeth Scott (reporter) - link - more like this - (University of Reading) - link - more like this (University of Oxford) - link

(ELN) EFW MEETS HVO

Encyclis has announced the completion of the ‘UK’s first’ energy-from-waste plant to use hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) instead of diesel for its start-up process.

The milestone was achieved at the Newhurst Energy Recovery Facility in Leicestershire following a year-long research and development programme aimed at reducing fossil fuel emissions in the waste-to-energy sector.

The use of HVO, produced from sustainable waste vegetable oil, eliminates fossil carbon dioxide emissions during plant start-up and shutdown phases, which traditionally rely on diesel or natural gas.

HVO is now used to fuel the plant’s auxiliary burners, vehicles and emergency generators, further contributing to carbon reductions.

Following successful trials at the Newhurst facility, Encyclis plans to expand the use of HVO across its energy recovery facilities.

The project was developed in collaboration with Saacke, the German manufacturer of the plant’s burners, and involved extensive testing to ensure efficiency and safety. More from Energy Live News - link - more like this (waste) - linklink - more like this (vegetable oil) - link

(NAT) COMING TO A BORDER NEAR YOU

The fastest any human has ever run on record was Usain Bolt. He was clocked at a ridiculously quick 27.79 mph (44.72 km/h) when he ran a 9.58-second 100-meter dash. Two-legged robots can run even faster, and it looks really weird.

What sent me down this rabbit hole was stumbling on a 10-year-old video of a robot designed after a Velociraptor dinosaur by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). Basically the Korean version of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The aptly named KAIST Raptor robot weighs 6.6 lb (3 kg) and sprints at an insane 28.5 mph (46 km/h). It has a "tail" to aid its balance while it runs at full tilt, even while obstacles are thrown in its path. Sadly, its "tail" looks nothing like a 'raptor tail. It's actually just a pole mounted to the side that works as a counterweight to keep it upright.

Given the tether, we can't quite tell if it's self-balancing as the researchers claim, so it almost feels like a bit of a cheat on the top speed. Could it run that quickly and stay upright without the crane-like tether?

The only robot to have run nearly as fast as the Raptor is Boston Dynamics' Cheetah at 28.3 mph (45.5 km/h) ... but the Cheetah is a 4-legged sprinter – also tethered – so "it doesn't count" in this article. But it's still kind of cool. For reference, an actual cheetah can run up to 70 mph (113 km/h). More of this article (New Atlas) - link - more like this (robots) - link