Censorship
Google, Facebook quietly move toward automatic blocking of extremist videos reuters
The move is a major step forward for internet companies that are eager to eradicate violent propaganda from their sites and are under pressure to do so from governments around the world as attacks by extremists proliferate, from Syria to Belgium and the United States.
The technology was originally developed to identify and remove copyright-protected content on video sites. It looks for "hashes," a type of unique digital fingerprint that internet companies automatically assign to specific videos, allowing all content with matching fingerprints to be removed rapidly.
Tech
Historic Route 66 Getting Covered in Solar Panels interestingengineering v
Solar powered roads are starting to become more widely used, but the USA has yet to see any major uses of the technology. Set out to change this, the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) is seeking to eventually pave a 200 mile stretch of Route 66 on Interstate 70. Teaming up with the startup Solar Roadways, MoDOT is hoping to start paving rest stops with the hexagonal panels where they will then evaluate the prospect of paving roads with them.
World’s Largest Dump Truck Weighs in at 496 Tons interestingengineering v
The largest dump truck in the world features a conventional 2-axle set-up but with 4 wheels on each axle. The turning radius is 20 meters and it can travel up to a top speed of 64 km/hr. It is hard to grasp the absolute scale of a truck this large, but imagine a 3-story tall building moved by 3-meter wheels, then you start to get the picture.
AI
New A.I. Beats Tactical Experts in Combat Simulation rdmag
In fact, it was only after early iterations of ALPHA bested other computer program opponents that Lee then took to manual controls against a more mature version of ALPHA last October. Not only was Lee not able to score a kill against ALPHA after repeated attempts, he was shot out of the air every time during protracted engagements in the simulator.
Since that first human vs. ALPHA encounter in the simulator, this AI has repeatedly bested other experts as well, and is even able to win out against these human experts when its (the ALPHA-controlled) aircraft are deliberately handicapped in terms of speed, turning, missile capability and sensors.
Space
Sending an Armored Tank to Outer Space theatlantic
[Jupiter's] famous Great Red Spot is a violent anticyclone three times the size of Earth that has been raging for at least 400 years. The radiation around Jupiter is a menace, 1 million times more intense than radiation belts that surround Earth. The Jovian magnetosphere, which powers its radiation belts and produces brilliant permanent auroras around the planet’s poles, is the largest structure in our solar system. “Northern Lights on steroids,” as Randy Gladstone, a planetary scientist who focuses on airglow, once put it to NASA. “They're hundreds of times more energetic than auroras on Earth.”
Research
Tough new hydrogel hybrid doesn’t dry out news.mit.edu v
Now engineers at MIT have found a way to prevent hydrogels from dehydrating, with a technique that could lead to longer-lasting contact lenses, stretchy microfluidic devices, flexible bioelectronics, and even artificial skin.
Micro-camera can be injected with a syringe phys.org
Using 3-D printing, researchers from the University of Stuttgart built a three-lens camera, and fit it onto the end of an optical fibre the width of two hairs. Such technology could be used as minimally-intrusive endoscopes for exploring inside the human body, the engineers reported in the journal Nature Photonics.
Pestilence
Researchers find second 'superbug' gene in U.S. patient reuters
The gene, found in a sample of E. coli bacteria from a patient in New York, follows the discovery late last month of a patient in Pennsylvania who had a urinary tract infection caused by E. coli that carried the gene. The finding was published on Monday in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
Society
California's Religious Liberty Moment—Coming to a State Near You christianitytoday
The California legislature is poised to consider legislation that could destroy the ability of numerous faith-based colleges and universities to pursue the mission for which they were created. SB 1146, one of two similar bills recently introduced into the California legislature, would essentially restrict fully faith-based education to seminaries.
Rights group to launch legal challenge of [Canadian] assisted-dying law theglobeandmail
The Liberal government faced mounting criticism that the law, known as Bill C-14, was too restrictive, due to a provision that says a patient’s natural death must be “reasonably foreseeable” in order to qualify for assisted death. The Senate voted to remove that requirement, but the Liberal government rejected the amendment and the Red Chamber passed the bill with several small changes.
Brexit
As an English European, this is the biggest defeat of my political life theguardian
A universal truth: nobody knows what is going to happen but everyone can explain it afterwards. If just 3% of the more than 33 million Brits who voted in this referendum had gone the other way, you would now be reading endless articles explaining how it was, after all, “the economy, stupid”, how British pragmatism finally won through, etc. So beware the illusions of retrospective determinism. There is always a mystery in how millions of individual voters make up their minds. It is the mystery of democracy.
Good, long-form article from the point of view of an insider. Also see Britain’s Labour Party Melts Down Just as Opportunity Knocks
Cameron Rejects Repeat Brexit Vote as U.K. Bank Stocks Plummet bloomberg v
While Brexit won’t be “plain sailing” as the country adjusts, “Britain is ready to confront what the future holds for us from a position of strength,” Cameron, who announced his intention to resign in the wake of the vote, told the U.K. Parliament on Monday. “Britain will be leaving the European Union but we must not turn our back on Europe or the rest of the world.”
Au revoir anglais?' EU could drop English as official tongue after Brexit economictimes.indiatimes
"English is our official language because it has been notified by the UK. If we don't have the UK, we don't have English," Danuta Hubner, chair of the European Parliament's constitutional affairs committee told a news conference on the legal consequences of the British referendum to leave the EU.
China
China Halts Taiwan Liaison Link on Lack of One-China Support bloomberg
Taiwan’s president, sworn in on May 20, failed to declare support for the principle that Taiwan is part of China and as a result the mechanism for the two sides to liaise has been suspended, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing An Fengshan, a spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office.
Turkey
Turkey seeks to mend fences with Israel, Russia in foreign policy reset in.reuters
The deal with Israel after years of negotiation was a rare rapprochement in the divided Middle East, driven by the prospect of lucrative Mediterranean gas deals as well as mutual fears over growing security risks.
The Kremlin meanwhile said Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan had apologised to Vladimir Putin over last year's shooting down of a Russian air force jet by Turkey's military, opening the way for Russia to lift economic sanctions.
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