Science & Technology – Page 11

African elephants are migrating to safety—and telling each other how to get there

by: Josh Wolsky | February 27, 2018

Travel by night, because that’s safer. Poachers are out during the day. Listen for the language the people are speaking, that will tell you if they’re dangerous. Botswana is your goal; it’s safe there. The manner in which African elephants are adapting to an increasingly hostile world is extraordinary. This article tells the story.

Read & Share sourced from: Quartz

The American midwest is quickly becoming a blue-collar version of Silicon Valley

by: Josh Wolsky | February 26, 2018

There is a transformation taking place in the former industrial centers of the U.S. The economies in cities once characterized by factories and blue collar jobs are slowly becoming centers for what is known as ‘mid-tech’ jobs. ‘Mid-tech’ jobs are technology and programming related jobs that don’t require a 4-year degree, and the demographic shift

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Studies are increasingly clear: Uber, Lyft congest cities

by: Josh Wolsky | February 26, 2018

The common assumption is that ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft reduce demand on road infrastructure and reduce traffic and congestion. But the economics of a disruptive innovation on human behavior is rarely that simple. New studies are showing the low-cost of the service often captures a latent demand from users that would have otherwise

Read & Share sourced from: Associated Press

New film urges action to protect Badlands from oil impacts

by: Josh Wolsky | February 26, 2018

Teddy Roosevelt came to the North Dakota Badlands more than a 130 years ago, and the spirit of conservation was one of the ideals he took back to the East Coast and ultimately, the Presidency. And according to one group of North Dakota citizens, that same call to conservation is needed again in our state’s oil

Read & Share sourced from: Bismarck Tribune

North Dakota’s first syringe exchange program tackles trust issues

by: Josh Wolsky | February 26, 2018

Among the hard-to-measure longterm costs associated with the nation’s opioid epidemic — the future health care costs of former abusers who’ve contracted a disease through sharing needles. And while controversial, needle exchange programs have been shown to reduce the spread of infection, thereby lowering future healthcare costs and demands. North Dakota’s first program is getting

Read & Share sourced from: Bismarck Tribune

Norway will spend $13 million to upgrade its doomsday seed vault

by: Josh Wolsky | February 26, 2018

On the top of the world, there’s a little island that belongs to Norway; its global importance is hard to overstate. It’s our final insurance policy. If everything goes haywire, this is the place we go to get the seeds to begin growing critical crops. It’s our genetic safety deposit box. And it’s getting an

Read & Share sourced from: The Verge

Engulfed in Opioid Deaths, Ohio Turns to Science

by: Josh Wolsky | February 23, 2018

A huge contributor to the opioid epidemic is the over-prescription of pain medication. In other words, a big percentage of those addicted get their start at the doctor’s office. And that fact is driving a number of research-based pain reduction techniques and technologies. The idea: if we have alternative pain treatment methods, we don’t have to

Read & Share sourced from: Scientific American

Closing the Loop in Agricultural Plastics Recycling

by: Josh Wolsky | February 22, 2018

As farms get bigger, particularly dairy farms, the more plastic they use. And disposing of that plastic creates a crisis of both conscious and economics. In other words, it’s expensive and, in most cases currently, bad for the environment. But a company in Arkansas has found a profitable way to solve the problem. Collect the

Read & Share sourced from: InForum

Minnesota planners begin to envision driverless future

by: Josh Wolsky | February 22, 2018

We can resist it however we want, the world we live in is going to change around us. One change that’s virtually guaranteed, driverless cars. They’ll be safer, more efficient, and more convenient, and that will equal adoption by consumers. So if they’re coming, perhaps we should be planning for them? In Minnesota, they are.

Read & Share sourced from: Star Tribune

It is Time to Bag the Bag

by: tbaumann | February 5, 2018

Single-use plastic bags have been an important part of the development of our culture. They are a cheap and effective manner of transporting food from the grocery or convenience store. They are low in cost and high in flexibility. They even protect cars from melting ice cream and condensation from cold items on a summer day. But after we use them, where do they go?

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Introducing The Practical Environmentalist

by: Josh Wolsky | December 22, 2017

On the issue of the environment and our shared environmental future together, I feel as though I have reached the end of the good that I can do on my own. In a way, I am writing to ask for help. I want our community to be prepared for the changes in our climate that are coming

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Disruption in real time, UPS preorders 125 Tesla semi-trucks

by: Josh Wolsky | December 20, 2017

Disruption is the process by which standard practices are upset; that disruption then forces both people and companies to adapt. When in a period of significant disruption. Both politically, economically, and innovatively. Here’s one example of the latter. The lesson: we need to be resilient and ready for change.

Read & Share sourced from: Reuters

Endangered butterfly shows trouble is waiting in the wings

by: Josh Wolsky | October 31, 2017

The thing about losing a species — no matter how seemingly small and insignificant — is it’s a signal that something in the system is going awry. And when one of those species plays the role of a pollinator, the cascade effect becomes harder to quantify. The northern prairies are home to several endangered butterflies;

Read & Share sourced from: Winnipeg Free Press

A look inside the small US towns that will be crushed by the trucking revolution

by: Josh Wolsky | October 30, 2017

Disruption is coming. Automated cars have been a regular topic here on The Minot Voice, and that will continue. The reason, the technology is going to reshape the base fabric of this country. One of the likely less considered implications, how the transition to self-driving technology will change the small towns and roadside truck stops

Read & Share sourced from: Quartz

A Remote Chinese Province Uses Its Climate To Grow A Big-Data Industry

by: Josh Wolsky | October 30, 2017

What does a Southwest China have in common with North Dakota? A cool climate, cheap energy, and a steady wind. Why should we care? Because the Guizhou province of China has built a data storage industry around their natural assets. As we take up the conversation about building a sustainable economy here in Minot, perhaps we

Read & Share sourced from: NPR

Drug company billionaire arrested on charges of opioid conspiracy

by: Josh Wolsky | October 27, 2017

When it comes to moving product, it seems some in the pharmaceutical industry are far more concerned with the bottom line than medical ethics and basic human scruples. And when those values combine to bolster sales of a highly addictive opioid-based painkiller, the results are both tragic and criminal.

Read & Share sourced from: Los Angeles Times