Hitting three birds with one stone, rock dust is a mining by-product that captures carbon dioxide and redistributes it and other nutrients back into fields. Crushing up rocks accelerates chemical weathering, where CO2 transforms into bicarbonate after dissolving in raindrops and reacting with rocks. The bicarbonate and other rock nutrients get trapped under the soil, preventing the carbon from reaching the atmosphere. If sprinkled over UK farms, rock dust could eliminate up to 30 million tons of CO2 yearly (45% of the country’s carbon emissions) by 2050. Read full article here
Societal Issues
AI Predicts Crime A Week In Advance With 90 Per Cent Accuracy
An artificial intelligence model built by Ishanu Chattopadhyay and his colleagues analysed crime data in Chicago from 2014 to 2016 and managed to predict future levels of crime down to the nearest 300 metres, a week before they actually happened. While extremely useful, this artificial intelligence has been shown to expose racial prejudice in law enforcement. Hopefully, as the study’s data and methodology have been made available for others to evaluate, these prejudices can be avoided in the next iteration. Read full article here
Merv
August 15, 2022
