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Humanoid robots are here, but they’re a little awkward. Do we really need them?

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:15:50 GMT

Building a robot that’s both human-like and useful is a decades-old engineering dream inspired by popular science fiction.While the latest artificial intelligence craze has sparked another wave of investments in the quest to build a humanoid, most of the current prototypes are clumsy and impractical, looking better in staged performances than in real life. That hasn’t stopped a handful of startups from keeping at it.“The intention is not to start from the beginning and say, ‘Hey, we’re trying to make a robot look like a person,’” said Jonathan Hurst, co-founder and chief robot officer at Agility Robotics. “We’re trying to make robots that can operate in human spaces.”Do we even need humanoids? Hurst makes a point of describing Agility’s warehouse robot Digit as human-centric, not humanoid, a distinction meant to emphasize what it does over what it’s trying to be.What it does, for now, is pick up tote bins and move them. Amazon announced in October it will beg...

Mississippi has a history of voter suppression. Many see signs of change as Black voters reengage

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:15:50 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A few years ago, Tiffany Wilburn just didn’t see the point in voting any longer.Her children didn’t have proper school books, health insurance was expensive and hard to get, police abuse continued against Black residents, and her city’s struggle to get clean drinking water seemed emblematic of her community always coming out on the short end of state decision-making.Combine that with Mississippi’s long history of voter suppression and she felt casting a ballot was simply a hopeless exercise.“It’s like you’re not being heard,” Wilburn said in her hometown of Jackson, the state capital. “You run to the polls, hoping and praying for change, and then you look around and nothing’s really happening. So you shut down.”Recent interviews with Black voters, voting rights groups, candidates and researchers show that the voter fatigue felt by Wilburn has been widely shared in a state where nearly 40% of the overall population is Black. This year, political dynamics have co...

Some houses are being built to stand up to hurricanes and sharply cut emissions, too

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:15:50 GMT

When Hurricane Michael hit the Florida Panhandle five years ago, it left boats, cars and trucks piled up to the windows of Bonny Paulson’s home in the tiny coastal community of Mexico Beach, Florida, even though the house rests on pillars 14 feet above the ground. But Paulson’s home, with a rounded shape that looks something like a ship, shrugged off Category 5 winds that might otherwise have collapsed it.“I wasn’t nervous at all,” Paulson said, recalling the warning to evacuate. Her house lost only a few shingles, with photos taken after the storm showing it standing whole amid the wreckage of almost all the surrounding homes.Some developers are building homes like Paulson’s with an eye toward making them more resilient to the extreme weather that’s increasing with climate change, and friendlier to the environment at the same time. Solar panels, for example, installed so snugly that high winds can’t get underneath them, mean clean power that can ...

Singapore’s prime minister plans to step down and hand over to his deputy before the 2025 election

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:15:50 GMT

SINGAPORE (AP) — Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Sunday he planned to bow out and hand over power to his deputy, Lawrence Wong, late next year, before the 2025 general election.Lee, 71, initially intended to retire before turning 70, but it was shelved because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He has served as head of the long-ruling People’s Action Party, or PAP, and as prime minister since 2004. Last year, he named Wong, who is also finance minister, as his designated successor.“I have full confidence in Lawrence and his team and there’s no reason to delay their political transition. Therefore, I intend to hand over to DPM (Deputy Prime Minister) Lawrence before the next general election,” Lee said at a party conference.He said passing the baton to Wong before the national polls will allow the 50-year-old politician to win his own mandate and take the country forward. “If all goes well, I will hand over (to Wong) by PAP’s 70th birthday next year” in November 2024...

Fire truck destroyed as dozens of unoccupied homes go up in flames in Vaughan

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:15:50 GMT

Firefighters continue to battle a massive blaze that engulfed almost three dozen homes under construction in Vaughan early Sunday morning.York police tell CityNews they started receiving calls around 5 a.m. and that between 30 to 40 unoccupied units were on fire on Simmons Street in the area of Highway 27 and Rutherford Road.A dozen fire trucks were on the scene and fire officials say a number of the homes are completely gutted and are not likely salvageable.Officials also confirm that an aerial fire truck was also engulfed by flames and has been destroyed in the fireMultiple homes nearby have been evacuated as a precaution.No injuries have been reported thus far.

Sunday Forecast: High near 60, air quality moderate to unhealthy

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:15:50 GMT

Sunday: Increasing clouds & mild. SW 10-15 mph. Sunset tonight: 4:41p. Air quality in the Moderate to Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups in the western parts of Chicagoland. High near 60Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy, chance of showers-- especially after midnight. SW 5-10 mph. Low near 50Monday: Lots of clouds, morning showers likely, breezy & very mild. SW 10-20, G35 mphHigh: 67Chicago Weather | Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center's Forecast (wgntv.com)Extended outlook calls for a mix of clouds & sun on Tuesday with temps back into the mid 50. Chance of showers late Tuesday becomes some periods of rain on Wednesday with highs near 60. Partly sunny to mostly sunny skies on Thu/Fri with highs in the mid to low 50s. 

Northern lights could be visible in some states Sunday, forecasts show

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:15:50 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — Northern U.S. states from New York to Washington and potentially into Iowa may be able to see the northern lights Sunday, current forecasts show. In an alert issued Sunday morning, NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center warned of a moderate geomagnetic storm, sparked by an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection, or CME. CMEs are explosions of plasma and magnetic material from the sun that can impact navigation, communication and radio signals on Earth. They're also able to cause auroras by creating currents in Earth’s magnetic fields that send particles to the North and South Poles, which then interact with oxygen and nitrogen, according to NASA. Northern lights could ramp up next year, and so could these strange occurrences The current Earth-directed CME was sparked by a filament eruption on Friday, the SWPC says. It is expected to impact us late Sunday, causing G1-level geomagnetic storms (the lowest level on the five-point scale). G2 storms are likely f...

Hostage situation at Germany airport ends, man in custody

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:15:50 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — The hostage situation at Hamburg Airport ended Sunday afternoon, around 18 hours after a man drove his vehicle through the gates of the airport with his 4-year-old daughter inside, authorities said. The man was arrested and the girl appears to be unharmed.Hamburg police tweeted that “the hostage situation is over. The suspect has left the car with his daughter. ... The child appears to be unharmed.”Police also said that “the man was arrested by the emergency services without resistance.”The airport in the northern German city had been closed to passengers and flights canceled since Saturday night when the man, who was armed, broke through an airport gate with his vehicle and fired twice into the air with a weapon, according to German news agency dpa. The man drove the vehicle just outside a terminal building and parked it under a plane.Authorities said the man’s wife had previously contacted them about a child abduction. 5 dog breeds this veterinarian says ...

Daylight saving: Why these two states didn't change their clocks this morning

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:15:50 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — If you’re reading this, you (hopefully) got a little extra sleep last night. Or maybe, you had a rude awakening, waking up an hour earlier than you expected. It’s all thanks to daylight saving time. At 2 a.m. Sunday, our phones, laptops, TVs, smartwatches, and any other clock connected to the Internet switched back to 1 a.m. as daylight saving time ended. But, for residents in two states, it’s just another Sunday morning. Hawaii and most of Arizona stay in one time zone year-round, meaning they don’t switch their clocks in March and November like the rest of us. Since 1968, Arizona has observed Mountain Standard Time year-round, with the exception of the Navajo Nation. For Arizona, the decision was based largely on the amount of sun the state already gets.  Have you been tipping wrong at restaurants? What experts advise If you’ve ever been to Arizona, it’s easy to understand why they prefer the nighttime hours to come a little sooner in th...

Does your water have fluoride? Why some cities are moving towards removing it

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:15:50 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Dental Association is raising awareness about water fluoridation after a recent decision by the Brushy Creek Municipal Utility District in Williamson County to stop adding fluoride to its drinking water. Brushy Creek MUD is among communities not adding fluoride to its water. According to the Fluoride Action Network since 2010, over 240 communities have rejected fluoridation across North America. (KXAN Photo/Ed Zavala)"It kind of makes us all stand on edge because we know the benefit it provides and the protection it provides," said Dr. Tyrone Rodriguez, a pediatric dentist in San Antonio and TDA spokesperson. In a letter sent to Brushy Creek MUD, the association, which has more than 9,000 members, wrote of the benefits of fluoridation including, "every $1 invested in water fluoridation yields $38 savings in dental treatment costs," TDA added, "water fluoridation benefits everyone, especially those without access to regular dental care."S...