Drones, tractor hacks and robotic sprayers: the technology of farming

Farming may not be the first industry that comes to mind when we think of technological advancement, but that’s changing — fast. Agricultural giant John Deere, for instance, just spent $305 million to buy a robotics company. The farm machine manufacturer has been around for almost two centuries, but it too has felt the need to keep up with changing trends and tools, says Deanna Kovar, a marketing director for John Deere. Its acquisition, Blue River Technology, is a startup that makes agricultural robots capable of identifying weeds and other unwanted plants, and dosing them with high-precision sprays of herbicide. The…

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Opinion: Technology is a huge threat to humankind; this means you, Silicon Valley

Technology, which has made our lives incomparably better, is now one of the greatest threats facing humankind.All of the marvelous gadgets we’ve invented are not only thoroughly reinventing us, but they are doing it in ways that give us no idea of their full impacts. In short, we are undergoing a transformation/revolution that affects every aspect of our being — our brains, bodies, institutions, the entire world.It’s nothing less than The Revolution of Everything. For instance, MIT engineers have recently developed naturally conductive gold leaf that can be placed directly…

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The Global Gap In Health Care Dollars For Young And Old Is Huge

The United States spends a lot of money taking care of the health needs of old people. In 2010, for example, each person 65 and older received $18,424 in health care services. That’s five times more than the $3,628 in spending per child under 18, and three times more than the $6,125 per working-age adult, according to the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services. “In the developed world, people live longer with very intense disease — and costly treatment,” says Vegard Skirbekk, professor at Columbia University’s Aging Center. In the…

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Huge Study Finds a Billion People Suffer From High Blood Pressure

The number of people with high blood pressure has almost doubled in 40 years to over 1.1 billion worldwide, scientists said on Wednesday, with the burden of the condition shifting from the rich to the poor. In the largest study of its kind analyzing blood pressure in every nation between 1975 and 2015, the scientists said that it has dropped sharply in wealthy countries – possibly due to healthier diets and lifestyles – but risen in poorer ones. The increases are especially significant in Africa and South Asia, the researchers…

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Girls have huge sense of being ‘unclean’ during periods: Study

  In July last year, the state government launched a scheme to distribute free sanitary napkins. The distribution was done directly in schools and among slum populations by the manufacturer. It continued only for about three months, but it has led to changes in menstrual hygiene practices, researchers who questioned 270 of the over 20 lakh girls covered by it found. Over 73% of the girls said they had no notion what periods were about at the time they first got them. Many said they would not ask their mother…

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