In 1908, a New England cotton mill instituted a 5-day workweek. The move inspired others to follow suit over the next 30 years until the Fair Labor Standards Act made 2-day weekends official in 1938. Now, over a century later, some tech companies are shaving another day off the workweek. Iceland’s national government trialed a 4-day workweek...
In rural areas, where workers are scarce because young people are moving to cities, autonomy may hold the key to sustaining sufficient yields. Farmers can control the tractors via a smartphone app, of course. You can start the machine with the swipe of a button, then watch live video as the tractor moves across the field from a pair of boxes...
"For businesses ourselves, the first step must be taking a long hard look in the mirror. The private sector faces a massive—and understandable—trust deficit on the back of widespread greenwashing, spin, and straight out lying. Therefore, we must get a clear picture of our impact and use this to open honest conversations. At Patagonia, we don’t...
Israeli lab-grown meat company MeaTech 3D says it has successfully bioprinted a 3.67 ounce steak that’s composed out of layers of lab-grown fat and muscle cells, making it the world’s largest lab-grown steak. The company claims it’s the “largest cultured steak produced to date,” meaning it would serve as an “important milestone toward the goal...
New York's Jacob K Javits Convention Center has been home to the largest green roof in NYC Since 2014. Now, the venue has added a one-acre farm that is already supplying ingredients to its kitchens, cutting the use of fossil fuels and carbon emissions. The farm is expected to provide 40,000 fruits and vegetables annually and has already...
Yara International has announced that it will soon commence commercial operations of its long-awaited Yara Birkeland, the world’s first electric and self-propelled container ship. It will also begin a two-year test period prior to entering full autonomous operation on a route off the coast of Norway. The Yara Birkeland is powered by a Leclanché...
At San Francsco's Clockwork, you can now make an appointment with a robot "manicurist." Insert your hands into the robot and it will perfectly paint your nails in less than 10 minutes. Just choose your colors and the robot takes care of the rest. There is a hand rest to keep your hand stabilized "so that when the robot goes to paint, it can...
Move over Tesla Autopilot and GM Super Cruise. German automaker Mercedes-Benz is the world’s first automaker to gain internationally valid regulatory approval in producing vehicles capable of Level 3 autonomous or “conditionally automated” driving. Mercedes-Benz’s updated Drive Pilot system can take over the driving chores while the vehicle is...
Alphabet’s AI research company DeepMind has released the next generation of its language model, and it says that it has close to the reading comprehension of a high schooler. The language model, called Gopher, was able to significantly improve its reading comprehension by ingesting massive repositories of texts online. Such a system could allow...
Eye drops that could replace reading glasses for millions of people were approved by the Food and Drug Administration and hit the market this week. The drops, called pilocarpine and marketed as Vuity by Allergan, can sharpen closeup vision for six to 10 hours. They work by using the eye’s existing ability to reduce its pupil size. “Reducing the...