Category: Tech

On June 24th, Sidewalk Labs, the Google sister company proposing a smart city for Toronto’s eastern waterfront, released its mammoth 1,500-page Master Innovation and Development Plan
During Sidewalk Labs’ approximately two-year public consultations, privacy and control over data quickly emerged as flashpoints. A July 2019 survey by The Forum Poll found that while only 38 per cent of Torontonians were familiar with the smart-city project, 60 per cent of those people did not trust Sidewalk Labs to collect data on its residents.

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By Swathi Hameed The technology of blockchain has been around for more than two decades now. Ever since Bitcoin, an application of blockchain, hit the airwaves in 2008, a number of applications have cropped all of which seek to leverage the principles and capabilities of the digital ledger technology. Many people see blockchain as a

Pretty pink, orange and white flowers of the shrub Lantana camara or wild sage, are common in ornamental gardens across many parts of the world. Although considered beautiful and hardy by landscape designers, the species is reviled by conservation biologists as “one of the worst weeds in recorded history”

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Today, megacities have become synonymous with economic growth. In both developing and developed countries, cities with populations of 10 million or more account for one-third to one-half of their gross domestic product.

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Perhaps the most amazing thing about fossils is that they don’t just show us what extinct animals looked like, they can also reveal how those animals lived. Even a fossilised dinosaur egg can provide a wealth of clues about its parents’ behaviour.

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Search for “climate change” on YouTube and before long you’ll likely find a video that denies it exists. In fact, when it comes to shaping the online conversation around climate change, a new study suggests that deniers and conspiracy theorists might hold an edge over those believing in science. Researchers found evidence that most YouTube videos relating to climate change oppose the scientific consensus that it’s primarily caused by human activities.

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Groundwater reserves in Africa are estimated to be 20 times larger than the water stored in lakes and reservoirs above ground. These are the freshwater stores that flow in rocks and sediment beneath the Earth’s surface. They are a vital source of drinking water in sub-Saharan Africa, where groundwater is often the only year-round supply of fresh water in rural areas. Increasingly it is being used in towns and cities as well.

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Search for “climate change” on YouTube and before long you’ll likely find a video that denies it exists. In fact, when it comes to shaping the online conversation around climate change, a new study suggests that deniers and conspiracy theorists might hold an edge over those believing in science. Researchers found evidence that most YouTube videos relating to climate change oppose the scientific consensus that it’s primarily caused by human activities.

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The devices that we use have unique identifiers. With cross-browser fingerprinting, the data we generate as users isn’t as anonymized as we believe it is. The tracking of our online activity is extensive, comprehensive and persistent, and generates marketable data shadowsthat do not need our personal information in order to target us as consumers.

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What will space exploration look like in 2069, a century after the first moon landing? In the fifth and final episode of podcast series, To the moon and beyond, we speak to space scientists about the missions they are dreaming about and planning for the future.

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