The small French town of Rambouillet launched The French town where the lighting is alive / BBC an experiment with street lighting. The Mayor's Office has signed a contract with Glowee, which produces lanterns based on the bioluminescence process. The principle of their work is based on the ability of the marine bacterium Aliivibrio fischeri to emit a soft turquoise glow. But this superpower is activated only in its natural habitat. To reproduce it, microorganisms are placed in glass tubes with salt water, where food and fresh air enter. To turn off the light, oxygen access is blocked: the bacteria go into an anaerobic state, and bioluminescence is interrupted.
The management of Rambouillet invested 100 thousand euros in the project. If the experiment is successful, it may result in The French town where the lighting is alive / BBC to transform the electrification system of public spaces throughout France.
It seems that Dubai residents are ready to change stuffy traffic jams for flights with a breeze. In February, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the emir of the city and the Prime Minister of the UAE, wrote on Twitter that the government "approved the design of flying taxi stations that will start operating in the city within 3 years." Equip Futuristic air taxis in Dubai will start serving passengers in 3 years / Association of Tour Operators such sites are planned in busy places: near the airport, on the Palm Islands‑Jumeirah and not far from the Dubai Marina skyscraper quarter.
The prototype was assembled Dubai says flying taxis to take off by 2026 from 4 stations across city / Arab News in the American aviation company Joby Aviation. Outwardly, it resembles a miniature airplane with six propellers, thanks to which an air taxi takes off and lands on the principle of a helicopter — vertically. Such a device can reach speeds of up to 320 km / h and travel about 240 km without recharging.
In Japan, they came up with housing that is not afraid of earthquakes. Air Danshin engineers designed Air Danshin has developed an active seismic protection system / InFuture active seismic protection system for private homes. The principle of its operation is simple: at the first shocks, the structure is separated from its base by means of a sliding air chamber and rises 2-3 cm above the ground surface. Due to this, the pressure on the foundation is reduced and the walls are not destroyed. When the sensors realize that the shaking has stopped, the house is lowered into place.
The success of the Japanese in the construction of earthquake-resistant buildings is explained by necessity. The islands are located Why are Japanese houses not afraid of earthquakes? / iXBT on the contact of two tectonic plates, so earthquakes are not uncommon here. About 100 "flying" houses have already been built in the country.
No, it's not about Robocop yet. Nevertheless, similar technologies already exist. For example, in the arsenal of American police officers there is a pistol that can shoot during the pursuit of an offender Security Robots. DigiDog. GPS Launchers. Welcome to New York / The New York Times on it with "bullets" with GPS navigators. And the Boston Dynamics roboback will be used in New York in dangerous situations for humans, for example, when taking hostages. Similar devices are being assembled in South Korea Korean Police prepare for dystopian future with plans for power armor, robot dogs / The Korea Herald to take to the streets within the next 30 years. And China plans to introduce by 2025 Chinese robocop can boost police patrol resources tenfold, study finds / South China Morning Post patrols with artificial intelligence in most of their cities. By the way, the first robot in the world to be accepted into the service of law enforcement agencies was The first robot policeman went on patrol near Burj Khalifa in Dubai / Russian Emirates Russian production. It happened in 2017 in Dubai. It is equipped with a camera that transmits the image in real time to the police station and is able to identify suspects who are wanted.
Despite the ambitious plans of the supporters of robotic policemen, the debate over the ethics of such measures does not abate. For example, opponents are confident that racial discrimination will not disappear. The software on which the machines are trained does not recognize well Study finds gender and skin‑type bias in commercial artificial‑intelligence systems / MIT News dark-skinned people, which means they will be identified more often Are Robots the Future of the Police Force? / Jumpstart as criminals. And the question of the use of force remains open. Let's say that during protests robots can Are Police Robots the Future of Law Enforcement? spray gas or disperse the crowd with rubber bullets when it is not necessary.
These are converted shipping containers in which vegetables, fruits and herbs are grown right in the cities. The advantage of such farming is that in a small space, due to the vertical arrangement of beds, automated lighting and irrigation, it is possible to harvest all year round. Moreover, products grown in this way are more environmentally friendly Vertical farming — is this the future of agriculture? / UN Climate Change High‑Level Champions : no pesticides are used here, and special software helps to save water.
Kimbal Musk, Elon Musk's brother, is considered one of the ambassadors of technological and compact farms. Now his company Square Roots is actively deploying a network of similar installations in the USA. For example, these work Find your local farm / Square Roots in Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky.
There are urban farms in Russia too Beds up. Who and why builds vertical farms in Russian cities / Inc . There are already more than a dozen of them in Moscow alone What are city farms and why are the Moscow authorities ready to allocate grants to them / Rossiyskaya Gazeta , and the authorities of the capital are even ready to allocate grants to start an eco-business for aspiring entrepreneurs. By the way, the trend for the green development of megacities is also confirmed by surveys. For example, many Russians believe that in the future technologies will help improve the environmental situation in cities and make them more comfortable.
South Korean engineers were the first to master this technology. In 2013, Olev designed KAIST’s wireless Online Electric Vehicle, OLEV, runs inner city roads buses that are recharged on the move literally from the asphalt. Energy is transmitted by induction through coils installed in the roadbed.
Now many companies and startups are engaged in the development of a wireless electric highway system. For example, Electreon launched List of projects / Electreon nine experimental sites in Israel, Sweden, Germany and Italy. The technology looks not only eco-friendly, but also commercially profitable. If the transport can be charged in motion, then the downtime will decrease, which means that the truck will carry more goods, and the bus will carry passengers.
