“De-Extinction” Biotechnology & Conservation Biology — Ben Novak, Lead Scientist Revive & Restore
Ben Novak is Lead Scientist, at Revive & Restore (https://reviverestore.org/), a California-based non-profit that works to bring biotechnology to conservation biology with the mission to enhance biodiversity through the genetic rescue of endangered and extinct animals (https://reviverestore.org/what-we-do/ted-talk/).
China’s economy — the 2nd-largest in the world — is teetering on the brink of disaster.
Since this spring, Beijing has canceled initial public offerings, fined tech companies billions for antitrust violations, forcibly shut down China’s entire for-profit education industry, and sent CEOs running for the exits to avoid the government’s ire. Even more dire, the Chinese megadeveloper Evergrande recently started missing payments on its more than $300 billion in debt, shaking global markets. The convulsions have woken the world up to a startling new possibility — that Beijing may be willing to allow some of its private corporate behemoths to collapse in a bid to reshape the economic model that made China a superpower.
While the metaverse might seem like a far off dream, more fit for the pages of a Neal Stephenson novel than reality, some are already attempting to cash in the concept — and even provide a digital workforce for it.
Enter Soul Machines 0 a New Zealand-based company that says it’s designing AI-driven digital humans for clients to use for things like customer service, promotional videos, and education. However, the company also has its sights set on the future — with co-founder Greg Cross saying it plans to create a “digital workforce” for a potential metaverse, according to The Verge.
In conversation with my teenage daughter last week, I pointed out a news report which flagged concerns over the use of facial recognition technologies in several school canteens in North Ayrshire, Scotland. Nine schools in the area recently launched this practice as a means to take payment for lunches more quickly and minimize COVID risk, though they’ve since paused rolling out the technology.
Far from the Space Race where billionaires are outwitting one another to build colonies and private stations in space, a quiet YouTuber has built a water rocket that uses a parachute to gently return to Earth.
Laura Hiscott reviews Quantum Technology | Our Sustainable Future by The Quantum Daily.
How could quantum computing help us to fix climate change? This is the question at the heart of Quantum Technology | Our Sustainable Future, a half-hour-long documentary published on YouTube in July.
For us at the OEC promoting STEM Education and Artificial Intelligence as well as preparing students with future job skills has been our focus for the past 5 years. We would not relent as we know that the robots are not just coming to take over our jobs but they are coming to be our Bosses and many in Africa are not aware of this hence OEC is poised to change the narrative by engaging in Talk shows, workshops, boot camps, seminars, etc. The job is huge but we say thank you to our wonderful partners that have also been there for us each time we call for support. These awards are clarion calls to do more and we would continue to push to see that my dear continent does not lose out in the fourth industrial revolution powered by intelligent machines.
Balancing Risk and Cutting Edge Medical Innovation — Dr. Paul Offit, MD, Director, Vaccine Education Center, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Dr. Paul A. Offit, MD, (https://www.paul-offit.com/) is an internationally recognized expert in the fields of virology and immunology, Co-Inventor of a landmark vaccine for the prevention of Rotavirus gastroenteritis, and holds multiple titles including — Director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital Of Philadelphia (CHOP), Maurice R. Hilleman Chair of Vaccinology and Professor of Pediatrics, Perelmann School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and Adjunct Associate Professor, The Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology.