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Researchers are exploring ways to use features in modern cars, such as GPS, to make traffic safer and more efficient. Eventually, the upgrades could do away entirely with the red, yellow, and green lights of today, ceding control to driverless cars.

Henry Liu, a civil engineering professor who is leading a study through the University of Michigan, said the rollout of a new traffic signal system could be a lot closer than people realize. “The pace of artificial intelligence progress is very fast, and I think it’s coming,” he said.

The advent of connected and automated vehicles, though, has presented a world of new possibilities for traffic signals.

Among those reimagining traffic flows is a team at North Carolina State University led by Ali Hajbabaie, an associate engineering professor. Rather than doing away with today’s traffic signals, Hajbabaie suggests adding a fourth light, perhaps a white one, to indicate when there are enough autonomous vehicles (AVs) on the road to take charge and lead the way.

“When we get to the intersection, we stop if it’s red and we go if it’s green,” said Hajbabaie, whose team used model cars small enough to hold. “But if the white light is active, you just follow the vehicle in front of you.” The key would be making sure that it’s universally adopted like the current signals are.

Using such an approach would be years away, as it would require 40% to 50% of vehicles on the road to be self-driving in order to work, Hajbabaie acknowledged.

Waymo spokesperson Sandy Karp pointed out that the self-driving car subsidiary of Google’s parent company launched a fully autonomous ride-sharing service in Los Angeles and Austin, Texas, even without the addition of a fourth traffic light.

“While it is good at this early stage of AV development that people are thinking creatively about how to facilitate the safe deployment of safe AVs, policymakers and infrastructure owners should be careful about jumping too soon on AV-specific investments that may turn out to be premature or even unnecessary,” Karp said in an email to The Associated Press.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Several dozen young people wearing light blue T-shirts imprinted with “#teachclimate” filled a hearing room in the Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul in late February.

The high school and college students and other advocates called on the Minnesota Youth Council, a liaison between young people and state lawmakers, to support a bill requiring schools to teach more about climate change.

“Sometimes within like the youth community, it can be hard to hear from people, from older generations making decisions for you on an issue that is so near and dear to you,” said Lucia Everist, an Edina High School student pushing for the bill.

In places that teach to standards formulated by the National Science Teachers Association, state governments, and other organizations, many kids learn about air quality, ecosystems, biodiversity, and land and water in Earth and environmental science classes.

But students and advocates say that is insufficient. They are demanding districts, boards, and state lawmakers require more teaching about the planet’s warming and would like it woven into more subjects.

Some places are adding more instruction on the subject. In 2020, New Jersey required teaching climate change at all grade levels. Connecticut followed, then California. More than two dozen new measures across 10 states were introduced last year, according to the National Center for Science Education.

Where some proposals require teaching the basic science and human causes of climate change, the Minnesota bill goes further, requiring state officials to guide schools on teaching climate justice, including the idea that the changes hit disadvantaged communities harder.

The bill didn’t advance in the 2023 session. This year, the Minnesota Youth Council supported the bill, but it’s likely it won’t pass and will be reintroduced next year.

But students say being involved in the process gives them hope, despite legislative setbacks.

“For me personally, I get a lot of hope from working with other young people and seeing that other people care about the same things and that, you know, we all kind of have each other’s back working towards climate solutions,” said University of Minnesota freshman Libby Kramer.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Personal patient information is being given currency in Kenya as a way of expanding patient access to doctors.

A mobile start-up says its phone application allows users to pay for medical services by selling their personal data online through blockchain technology which protects their identity.

In Kenya, accessing medical services can be expensive. Kenyan start-up Snark Health believes it's found a way to enable more people to get qualified medical attention without having to pay for it with cash.

When a patient needs medical attention, they look for a doctor through the Snark app. Their personal medical data is anonymized by Snark and sold to pharmaceutical or consumer health companies.

Doctors get paid in various ways to incentivize them to join the app. When they see patients who cannot pay, they receive 10% of the cash Snark earns from selling patients’ anonymized data.

If a paying customer also agrees to the collection and sale of their health data they will get an equal share of the cash earned, so Snark, the doctor, and the patient each earn a third of the money made through the sale of the data.

The founder of Snark Health is Edwin Lubanga. He explains the app means the patient has access to doctors regardless of funds. Lubanga says: "Snark is a platform that connects patients with doctors [...]. Basically, patients log into the platform [...] to find a list of doctors and book appointments and consult them on the go."

According to Lubanga, it's also a way for fee-paying patients to make extra money.

According to Snark, the patient’s rights are protected because the company is a certified processor of data that complies with protocols laid down by the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner. Lubanga says the patient's sensitive health information can't be traced back to them.

Austin Omune, the CEO of Negus Med Limited, says he supports the idea. "While working as a doctor, we experience patients struggling to meet the payment needs so, of course, there is a need for innovations to address this challenge,” he added. According to Snark, the app has so far attracted more than 300 doctors and 4,000 patients.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

The tranquil spaces of Kew Gardens are a perfect place for a bit of quiet reflection. And there’s more than one way to do that now.

Dotted across the landscape is a series of sculptures, many of them made in stainless steel. The lush green vegetation of Kew is mirrored back from their shiny surfaces. There are 16 works to spot, some sitting on the open lawns, others buried between the plants inside the famous glasshouses.

All are the work of artist Marc Quinn who was inspired by Kew’s scientific research to create five sculptures in the collection.

"Kew approached me to do something and I came down, and I hadn't really been for a long time. And when I came here and realized that they have hundreds of scientists doing research and horticulturists and I spent more and more time here, I realized that there was actually a whole show to do here, so we worked together to do that,” he says.

“I mean, the sculpture we're standing on next to now is from a herbarium sample, and they're sculptures of plants that have been used to create anti-cancer medicines."

The famous Palm House inspired a series of sculptures based on the fronded plants it houses. Those artworks have been placed outside the glasshouse, reflecting land, sky and the water of the nearby pond. Orchids have also been created in steel.

The artist thinks it’s only right that they are on display in the place that inspired him. "I love the way they interact with the gardens and I love also the idea that these sculptures that were conceived here are now shown here. So they're kind of like being born into their own environment. And it's such a beautiful place. And because there's so much about reflection, you see this beauty doubled, trebled, redoubled. It just feels to me like a beautifully integral presentation," Quinn says.

While Kew hopes the new exhibition will drive more visitors to come and see the gardens, it also wants people to reflect on the wider importance of plants.

The exhibition ‘Light into Life’ opened on May 4 and runs until September 29.

This article was provided by The Associated Press. 

Scammers stole more than $3.4 billion from older Americans last year, according to an FBI report that shows a rise in losses through increasingly sophisticated criminal tactics to trick the vulnerable into giving up their life savings.

Losses from scams reported by Americans over the age of 60 last year were up 11% over the year before, according to the FBI’s report. Investigators are warning of a rise in brazen schemes to drain bank accounts that involve sending couriers in person to collect cash or gold from victims.

“It can be a devastating impact to older Americans who lack the ability to go out and make money,” said Deputy Assistant Director James Barnacle of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “People lose all their money. Some people become destitute.”

The FBI received more than 100,000 complaints by victims of scams over the age of 60 last year, with nearly 6,000 people losing more than $100,000. It follows a sharp rise in reported losses by older Americans in the two years after the 2020 coronavirus pandemic when people were stuck at home and were easier for scammers to reach over the phone.

Barnacle said investigators are seeing organized, transnational criminal enterprises targeting older Americans through a variety of schemes, like romance scams and investment frauds.

The most commonly reported fraud among older adults last year was tech support scams, in which criminals pose over the phone as technical or customer service representatives. In one such scam authorities say is rising in popularity, criminals impersonate technology, banking and government officials to convince victims that foreign hackers have infiltrated their bank accounts and instruct them that to protect their money they should move it to a new account—one secretly controlled by the scammers.

Federal investigators saw an uptick between May and December of scammers using live couriers to take money from victims duped into believing their accounts had been compromised, according to the FBI. In those cases, scammers tell victims that their bank accounts have been hacked and that they need to liquidate their assets into cash or buy gold or other precious metals to protect their funds. Then the fraudsters arrange for a courier to pick it up in person.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

There may soon not be enough gas to meet demand in the Australian state of Victoria, and this could happen as soon as next year according to the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).

This is pushing more and more Victorians to switch off their gas, especially as their energy bills are getting steeper.

“It’s just the savings. Like obviously, environmental impact is important, and the health implications. But I reckon it’s probably just halved our bills,” explains Sarah Anderson, homeowner and former gas customer.

In a survey from last year, it was found that 90 percent of Victorians rely on gas for their household appliances with cooktops, hot water systems, heaters, and ovens coming first in terms of usage.

All of the survey participants said they could consider using electricity for one of these appliances, but only half of them said they would be willing to switch off their gas consumption completely.

Moving away from gas will help Victorians reach their sustainability targets but it may also become necessary. The Australian Energy Market Operator says there could be gas shortfalls from 2028 and shortages in winter as soon as next year as Bass Strait supplies dwindle.

"The real problem here is that not enough is being found to meet our ongoing demands. That is why it’s really critical that we take the actions that we are (taking) because we know that gas is a finite resource," says Victoria's Energy Minister Lily D'Ambrosio.

The Victorian government is pushing citizens to get off gas by banning it in new homes and offering discounts to households that decide to replace gas appliances with electric ones. But that could come at too high a cost for some households and not everyone is on board with the idea.

"The Victorian government has an ideological approach to energy and an ideological approach to gas. We say that gas is part of the future and our big gas distribution system should be regarded as an opportunity by the government, not something to be pulled out and stripped away," says Victoria's Shadow Energy Minister David Davis.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.