The world is good

2021-05-12 10:50:13 Open / Comment

2021-05-12 10:50:08 Uganda Joins African Nations Using Drones to Deliver Life Saving Medical Supplies to More Than 22 Million People

On the 84 remote islands that make up Uganda’s Kalangala District on the surface of Lake Victoria, medical experts are tackling one of Africa’s worst provincial HIV crises with the help of cargo drones.

Uganda isn’t alone in the project, as Rwanda and Ghana also use medical supply drones to reach far off communities, and together the technology promises a faster and more reliable way to deliver life-saving drugs and supplies to more than 22 million Africans.

Using these drones is being called a “game changer,” and while Victoria is a lake, it’s so big that a passenger ferry needs 16 hours to cross it. Adding up the time for stops and navigation around the islands, and trying to distribute medical supplies by boat becomes an enormous undertaking.

Home to around 67,000 people, Lake Victoria’s islands have an HIV incidence rate of 18%, far above the national average of 5.6%. Getting antiretroviral drugs to HIV-positive patients can prevent the virus from crippling the immune system, and the 4.5 foot wingspan of the cargo drones can carry a kilogram of these supplies at a time—to a distance of about 150 kilometers (105 miles).

Developed by the Academy For Health Innovation Uganda and costing around $5,500 each, the drones launched last week for the first time—and will go on to supply 78 separate community groups and health facilities across the widely scattered Ssese islands, with about 200 scheduled flights per month.

“Using medical drones is a huge step for us as a health sector in improving service delivery especially in hard to reach areas,” said Uganda’s director general of health services Henry Mwebesa. “It’s very useful. Once it’s successful we can adopt it for other facilities and replicate it in other places.”

“Thanks to the support and coordination of our partners, including Johnson & Johnson, this program will help gather the information and data needed to help make this future a reality, while also helping to deliver lifesaving care to people in need,” said Parkes-Ratanshi, director of the project for the Academy. Open / Comment

2021-05-11 10:52:33 Open / Comment

2021-05-11 10:52:27 IBM develops the world’s smallest and most powerful microchip

For years, the tech industry has been seeking hardware that’s smaller, faster, cheaper, and more energy-efficient, constantly driving microchip innovation forward. Now, IBM has achieved another important milestone in this audacious technological endeavor by announcing that it has created a 2-nanometer chip — the world’s smallest and most powerful yet.

When it comes to computer chips, the smaller they are, the greater their power capacity. Currently, most computer chips use either 10-nanometer or 7-nanometer process technology, meaning that IBM’s 2-nanometer chip is a huge leap forward for these components that are used to power everything from smartwatches to televisions to supercomputers.

“There are not many technologies or technological breakthroughs that end up, lifting all boats,” said Dario Gil, director of IBM Research. “This is an example of one.”

Improving a chip’s performance requires increasing the number of transistors — the core components that process data — without enlarging the thing itself. IBM reports that the new 2-nanometer chips fit 50 billion transistors in a space roughly the size of a fingernail. This large count of transistors will enable more innovations related to AI and encryption, among other things, to be added directly onto the chips.

On top of that, the biggest benefits include a 45 percent increase in performance, and about 75 percent lower energy use, from today’s 7-nanometer chips. Running on 2-nanometer chips, cell phone batteries are expected to last four times longer, laptops could get significantly faster, and the carbon footprint of data centers could be slashed thanks to higher energy efficiency. Open / Comment

2021-05-10 10:40:27

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2021-05-10 10:40:24 Three good social projects

Belgium melted down over 22,000 firearms
Belgium recently melted down over 22,000 firearms into 60 tons of recycled steel.
Half of the firearms were collected from members of the Belgian public. The other half were police weapons that are no longer used.
Carina van Cauter, governor of East Flanders, said in a statement: “The result is impressive: 22,457 firearms have disappeared from our society… It is obviously positive for the security of our citizens that these weapons are no longer in use.”
This is the third time the Belgian police force has worked with the steel firm ArcelorMittal to recycle firearms—with this particular operation taking three days to complete.
“Steel is endlessly recyclable without loss of quality. For us, steel is the cornerstone for a sustainable circular economy”.

Mexican Hotel Chain Thanks 100 Healthcare Heroes With All-Inclusive Vacations
These days, heroes come with face masks instead of capes—but a luxury resort chain in Mexico has rewarded 100 health care superheroes with free spa vacations to say thank you for their great hearts during the worldwide pandemic.
The last year of COVID has put their professionalism, resilience, and determination to be of help to others on full display.
As a token of appreciation for all their hard work—and even putting their lives at risk—Velas Resorts is giving 100 healthcare heroes a much-deserve vacation on a Mexican beach.
During April the public voted for their favorite stories among 350 nominations, choosing who would get the chance for an all-inclusive stay of 4 days and 3 nights in the luxury resort, with food and drinks prepared by its premiere chefs and restaurants.
Mexican airline Aeromexico joined in the initiative to give away roundtrip flights for the medical personnel chosen.

South Africa will end the breeding of lions in captivity
Following a two-year study on the effects of raising and breeding wild animals in captivity, South Africa has announced that it will ban the breeding of lions in captivity for hunting, cub petting, and for the commercial lion-bone trade.
Conditions for these animals are often inhumane and cubs are taken from their mothers at just a few hours old. Frequent interactions with humans mean they can never be introduced into the wild, and these animals are slated to spend the rest of their lives in captivity.
The ban on lion breeding is an encouraging first step for eliminating this inhumane practice. Moving forwards, the government must find effective ways to actually implement and enforce the ban. We hope this legislation in South Africa will offer a blueprint for other countries seeking to eliminate wild animal breeding. Open / Comment

2021-05-09 10:35:39

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2021-05-09 10:35:34 This yacht will fuel itself with the trash it sucks up from our oceans

Professional yacht racer Yves Bourgnon was irritated at the sight of floating plastic trash in seawater and decided to turn that anger into the inspiration he needed to create the concept for the Manta, a water-cleaning sailboat that is powered by the litter it picks up.

The Manta will be an impressive 56-meter (184 feet) vessel and would be the first product from Bourgnon’s SeaCleaners Project. The idea is for the yacht to be able to pick up litter as small as 10 millimeters while gliding through the water with conveyor belts that are situated in between the three pontoons. Three trawl nets will drift behind at the depth of one meter (to avoid catching marine life), which also adds to the onboard collection. Once the trash has been gathered, it’s then fed into a processing machine where crewmen sort it. The next step is for the garbage to get placed into an incinerator that melts the plastic. The gases will then be used to power the electric motor.

In combination with solar panels that line the decks of the yacht and a wind turbine that harvests power from the wind coming off the sails, the Manta will be 70 percent self-sufficient. This means that it can cruise around, collecting around three tons of waste an hour without needing to offload plastic or return to the harbor for refueling.

Bourgnon designed the yacht with room onboard for a scientific laboratory so that marine biologists and chemists can study the effects of plastic on the ecosystem. Bourgnon hopes to turn this concept into a working prototype by 2024, and believes that with 400 of these sea vessels, 33 percent of the ocean’s plastic pollution could be eliminated. Open / Comment

2021-05-08 12:59:40 Open / Comment

2021-05-08 12:59:32 Innovative surgery spares dozens of babies with spina bifida from paralysis

Spina bifida is a birth defect that prevents the spine and spinal cord from forming properly, and can eventually make the baby vulnerable to life-threatening health problems, including bladder and bowel dysfunction, as well as paralysis. The most common strategy to treat the condition is to perform surgery soon after birth, but doing so doesn’t always resolve the problem.

Doctors in the UK, however, have recently proved that operating on the baby while in utero, instead of waiting until after birth, results in much better outcomes. Since January 2020, the complex surgery — which can take a team of up to 30 doctors to perform — has saved dozens of babies with the condition from suffering paralysis, according to NHS England.

Helena Purcell was one of the parents whose baby was diagnosed with spina bifida and was operated on when she was 23 weeks pregnant. The mother was initially told that her child would likely be paralyzed and incontinent. After the surgery, however, Purcell gave birth to Mila who now shows good signs of development and is fully continent.

“I cannot explain the massive difference the service has had for my family. The NHS doctors are heroes in my eyes, and the surgery they did is just mind-blowing,” she said.

As reported by Sky News, the 30-strong team that carried out the surgery includes fetal surgeons, neurosurgeons, anesthesiologists, obstetricians, neuro-pediatric surgeons, radiologists, a scrub team, and neonatologists. Open / Comment