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Investor efforts to evaluate carbon emissions, decarbonization plans, and climate risks through ESG (environmental, social, and governance) rating schemes have merely produced what some academics call “aggregate confusion.” And corporations have faced few penalties for failing to clearly disclose emissions or even meet their own standards.  All of which is to say that a new set of SEC carbon accounting and reporting rules that largely replicate the problems with voluntary corporate action, by failing to require…

How open source voting machines could boost trust in US elections While vendors pitched their latest voting machines in Concord, New Hampshire, this past August, election officials asked every kind of question: How much does the new scanner weigh? Are any of its parts made in China?The answers weren’t trivial. These machines are a once-in-a-decade purchase and many towns in New Hampshire want to replace their current, shoddy machines. But with what?  The officials’ first option was to continue with a legacy vendor.…

An ultrasound, for example, might reveal that a fetus’s kidneys are smaller than they should be, but absent a glaring genetic defect, doctors can’t say why they’re small or figure out a fix. But if they can take a small sample of amniotic fluid and grow a kidney organoid, the problem might become evident, and so might a potential solution.   Exciting, right? But organoids can do so much more! Let’s do a roundup of some of the weird, wild, wonderful, and downright unsettling uses that researchers have come up with for…

All told, the law sparked a national innovation renaissance that continues to this day. In 2002, the Economist dubbed it “possibly the most inspired piece of legislation to be enacted in America over the past half-century.” I consider it so vital that after I retired, I joined the advisory council of an organization devoted to celebrating and protecting it.  But the efficacy of the Bayh-Dole Act is now under serious threat from a draft framework the Biden administration is currently in the process of finalizing after a…

The OnePlus Watch 2 aims to redeem OnePlus in the world of smartwatches — but does it succeed? Turns out, it has a lot to offer.Pros Sleek design Zippy performance Excellent battery life Wear OS 4Cons Some missing fitness-tracking featuresOnePlus isn’t totally new to the smartwatch game. A few short years ago, the company launched the original OnePlus Watch, a device that received fine reviews, but failed to really make a name for itself as a top contender in the smartwatch game. Now, however,…

The VotingWorks model won over some machine skeptics at the Concord event, like Tim Cahill, a Republican in the New Hampshire House of Representatives. Cahill said he’d prefer that all ballots in the state be hand counted but would choose VotingWorks over the other vendors. “Why would you trust something you can’t put your eyes on?” he told Undark. “We have a lot of smart people in this country and people want open source, they want transparency.” Poll workers use the Accu-Vote machines to scan absentee ballots in…

As Xiaomi’s newest flagship and the torchbearer for the brand, the Xiaomi 14 has a lot riding on its slender shoulders. I call it slender because I think the smartphone’s handy dimensions work really well in its favour. But the mainstays of the phone, without an iota of a doubt, are its Leica cameras. The “co-engineered with Leica” tag isn’t an easy one to bear, with both brands leaving no stone unturned to make sure the device delivers on the photography front. The top-end specs of the device, headlined by Qualcomm’s…

Hydropower is one of the world’s largest sources of renewable electricity.But last year, weather conditions caused hydropower to fall short in a major way, with generation dropping by a record amount. In fact, the decrease was significant enough to have a measurable effect on global emissions.  Total energy-related emissions rose by just over 1% in 2023, and a shortfall of hydroelectric power accounts for 40% of that rise, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency. Between year-to-year weather…

Prime Video's latest original, Ricky Stanicky, is a light-hearted comedy you can enjoy with your brain switched off. It is about three childhood friends, Dean (Zac Efron), JT (Andrew Santino) and Wes (Jermaine Fowler), who have been blaming all their shenanigans for the past two decades on an imaginary “Ricky Stanicky” whom no one in their lives has met. Want to skip a gathering? Don't worry, you anyway have unavoidable plans with Ricky that day! Want to put your expenses on someone? Ricky is to be blamed! Want to attend…

But last year, weather conditions caused hydropower to fall short in a major way, with generation dropping by a record amount. In fact, the decrease was significant enough to have a measurable effect on global emissions. Total energy-related emissions rose by about 1.1% in 2023, and a shortfall of hydroelectric power accounts for 40% of that rise, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency. Between year-to-year weather variability and climate change, there could be rocky times ahead for hydropower.…