Deadly floods that left large swathes of northeast Italy under water this month were caused by a "one-in-200-year" weather event, with climate change playing a limited role, experts said Wednesday.. The report from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group of climate scientists said May had seen "the wettest event of this type" for two centuries, calling it a "one-in-200 year event".
Baby boys babble more than girls, according to a scientific paper out Wednesday that upends a common belief that females hold a language advantage over males early on in life.. The idea that girls acquire language faster than boys has long held sway in scientific circles, and with it the assumption that baby girls vocalize more than baby boys.
Curbing global heating at 1.5 degrees Celsius will avert runaway climate change but not mass suffering in developing nations, a consortium of 50 researchers warned Wednesday. . Besides climate change, they found the tolerable threshold of ambient particle pollution -- especially across Asia -- must also be lowered compared to the original planetary boundaries schema.
The European Union and United States said Wednesday they expect to draft a voluntary code of conduct on artificial intelligence "within weeks" with the hope that fellow democracies will sign on.. European Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager added that a draft would be put forward "within weeks."
A SpaceX capsule carrying two Saudi astronauts has splashed down off the coast of Florida, completing the second private mission to the International Space Station.. The company carried out its first private mission to the ISS in April last year, with each of its three paying crew members reported to have paid tens of millions of dollars for their tickets.
Data-driven algorithms supercharged the advertising industry by enabling precisely targeted campaigns, but new AI tools may be about to shake the sector once again. . And as AI tools get more widespread, he said, the people whose images provide the training data will be able to claim fees that will eventually "cost as much as using a model".
The EU is moving towards extra tracking and putting cameras on fishing boats to monitor their catches in order to prevent overfishing, under a deal Wednesday that environmentalists hailed as a "landmark moment".. All fishing boats would have to be fitted with electronic recording systems, with those over 18 metres (59 feet) or fishing vulnerable stocks facing reinforced monitoring requirements such as onboard cameras and sensors.
Faced with record-breaking heat, Vietnam's capital Hanoi has turned off some street lights to save electricity as demand for air conditioning soars.. Hanoi Public Lighting Company HAPULICO reduced the city's street lights in response to EVN's calls for energy saving.
Japan on Wednesday passed a law allowing nuclear reactors to operate beyond 60 years, as it tries to reinvigorate the sector to meet energy challenges and climate targets.. The bill intends to "establish an electricity supply system that will achieve a carbon-free society", a parliament spokesman told AFP. Under the new rules, the age cap technically remains 60 years but exceptions are allowed for reactors that have had to pause operations for "unforeseeable" reasons.
Elon Musk and China's industry minister discussed ways to develop new energy vehicles Wednesday, a day after the Tesla CEO flew into Beijing and declared he wanted to expand his business in the world's second largest economy.. On Wednesday he met Jin Zhuanglong in Beijing to discuss "the development of new energy vehicles and intelligent connected vehicles", the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said in a readout.
