The Canary Islands have the potential to become carbon neutral by 2050, a new study indicates. This could be achieved by shifting to a 100% renewable energy supply, improving energy efficiency and building new grid connections between islands. Energy solutions for small island regions, such as the Canaries, could act as role models for larger systems, as well as similar islands, the researchers suggest.

A new oil-spill risk-management system has been developed by researchers, which shows the likely effects of a coastal spill on the environment and economic activities for specific locations. It provides maps of oil-spill risk through a web portal and could help decision makers and emergency-response authorities protect the local environment and businesses through targeted and efficient planning and responses.

A new screening tool to assess the potential seismic risks (earthquake activity) from deep geothermal energy projects has been outlined in a recent study. The tool provides categories of seismicity risk for projects, which are dependent on factors including geological aspects, as well as social concern and location in relation to urban areas.

A new review of the potential uses of visual soil evaluation (VSE) shows how this tool can be used to indicate risks of erosion, compaction, greenhouse gas emission or storage and surface-water run-off. Assessing soils in this way is not only useful for agriculture, but has implications for the wider environment, due to the vital role that soil plays in the provision of ecosystem services, for example as a habitat for biodiversity and as a carbon sink.

As well as providing renewable energy, wave farms can help protect coasts against erosion by reducing the force of waves. However, it remains unknown whether they can provide this complementary service under future climate change when sea levels will be higher. A new study, based upon computer simulations, concludes that a wave farm off the south coast of Spain could indeed protect the coastline under higher sea levels, and cause the local beach to grow in size after storms.

Scheduled cleanup

Deployment of AI and cloud technologies is helping the energy firm maintain its operations without disruption.

In a freewheeling discussion with ETCIO, Miao Song, Global CIO & Global VP of MARS group emphasized this different Covid-19 challenge which is new for CIOs to tackle and difficult too.

A remote consultation app at Apollo is allowing safety for both the patients and the frontline doctors while using AI to improve diagnostics.

Mashreq bank's preparation for digitization has only helped the bank improve its profits during Coronavirus pandemic while most of its competitors continue to struggle

In an interview with ETCIO, Vikas Varma, Chief Operating Officer, South Asia, Mastercard talks about how the company’s AI-driven secured contactless payment initiatives have helped them prevent any business losses during the crisis.

The stratospheric rise in phishing and identity attacks since the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic is give sleepless nights to CISOs across the world making them the Digital Security Warriors

Covid-19 crisis has seen a surge in demand for the roles of CISOs and CDOs, while the CIO role seems to be headed for an on-demand model among the small and medium enterprises.

A team of Carnegie scientists has discovered three giant planets in a binary star system composed of stellar ''twins'' that are also effectively siblings of our Sun. One star hosts two planets and the other hosts the third. The system represents the smallest-separation binary in which both stars host planets that has ever been observed. The findings, which may help explain the influence that giant planets like Jupiter have over a solar system's architecture, have been accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal.

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Terzan 5, 19 000 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer) and in the direction of the galactic centre, has been classified as a globular cluster for the forty-odd years since its detection. Now, an Italian-led team of astronomers have discovered that Terzan 5 is like no other globular cluster known.

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Quasars are supermassive black holes that sit at the center of enormous galaxies, accreting matter. They shine so brightly that they are often referred to as beacons and are among the most-distant objects in the universe that we can currently study. New work from a team led by Carnegie's Eduardo Bañados has discovered 63 new quasars from when the universe was only a billion years old. (It's about 14 billion years old today.)

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The majestic auroras have captivated humans for thousands of years, but their nature -- the fact that the lights are electromagnetic and respond to solar activity -- was only realized in the last 150 years. Thanks to coordinated multi-satellite observations and a worldwide network of magnetic sensors and cameras, close study of auroras has become possible over recent decades. Yet, auroras continue to mystify, dancing far above the ground to some, thus far, undetected rhythm.

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A recent report has assessed the latest research on the adverse affects of noise on health, focusing on approaches to estimating the economic cost of noise. This information could help policy makers tasked with designing cost-effective noise reduction and management policies.

When natural disasters, such as earthquakes, storms and hurricanes, are reported in the media, they are often accompanied by an assessment of the cost of the disaster. While such information can be useful to help governments and international organisations target aid and recovery efforts, the details of what is included in the assessment, and the methods used, are often unclear.

Soils play a vital role in the Earth's life-support system, yet their importance and value to society is not always recognised. A recent study suggests that incorporating soils into a National Capital and Ecosystem Services framework will raise the profile of soils and enable soils to be more easily integrated into policy decisions.

In economic terms, overfishing can be regarded as borrowing natural capital at a high rate of interest, according to a new study. Combining economic and biological principles, the study develops a concept that expresses overfishing in terms of the ‘interest’ that the fishing industry have to repay in future years as a result of lost income from depleted fish stocks.

Valuations of water quality as an ecosystem service often fail to include related services like recreation or human health, and do not consider the effects of water quality changes due to management. Researchers have now developed a template for valuation that considers multiple services and links management actions to changes in water quality and ultimate economic value.

Climate change will lead to an increased risk of flooding and huge economic losses if countries do not invest in appropriate adaptation measures, according to a new study. The research estimates the risks posed by flooding to cities around the world and the associated economic losses in 2005 and 2050, and suggests that flood protection must be increased to maintain the same level of risk to coastal cities.

While energy-efficiency gains are needed to lower Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions, low-carbon technologies are also crucial if we are to meet ambitious EU emissions targets in the long term, new comparative research concludes.

A framework to value marine and coastal zone ecosystem services, which acknowledges but transcends monetary value, has been proposed by researchers. Using this approach, coastal managers can integrate the different values placed on ecosystem goods and services by various stakeholders to assess how these values affect planning decisions.

Emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) have fallen significantly across Europe since 1960. According to recent research, this is caused by a combination of factors including improved energy efficiency, a changing fuel mix and specific emission control measures. At the same time CO₂ emissions have only increased moderately, mainly due to improvements in energy efficiency.

Seagrass meadows are worth around €78 million every year to commercial fishing in the Mediterranean, a new study estimates. Their annual value to recreational fishing is even bigger, at an estimated €112 million. The researchers say that marine policies should consider the socioeconomic effects of the loss of seagrass, which provides habitat for many fishery species.

To increase energy efficiency, many countries are encouraging their citizens to make individual energy-saving changes, such as changing the type of light bulbs they use. This study investigated the relationship between understanding of environmental issues and effective energy-saving behaviour and shows that informed citizens are key to successful policy.

Assessment (ERA), each with different goals. The researchers find that overlaps between the three assessments could be combined to create a more comprehensive form of ERA, usable by regulators and environmental decision makers.

The livestock sector is estimated to contribute 14.5% of all global anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study estimated the costs of reducing emissions from ruminant livestock using five different practices. The findings will help policymakers to understand the cost effectiveness of different interventions in the sector, and the contribution that different policies could make to addressing climate change.

A tax of €0.05–0.27 per kilogram (kg) of fertiliser could help to limit French farmers’ use of fertiliser, which is driven by the high rapeseed prices resulting from biofuels policy, according to new economics research. This, in turn, may limit fertilisers’ environmental impacts, such as water pollution, the study’s authors suggest.

Ocean acidification threatens marine ecosystems worldwide, but economic assessments of its impact are lacking. A recent study has predicted the future cost of ocean acidification on mollusc production in Europe and showed that the highest economic impacts would be in France, Italy and Spain. For Europe overall, the annual damage could be in the region of €0.9 billion by 2100.

An inventory of carbon footprints has been developed for 177 regions across 27 EU Member States. The map is the first to quantify greenhouse gas emissions associated with household consumption across the EU. It reveals significant regional differences based on income, household size and urban versus rural living.

A new analysis of waste recycling systems in Portugal highlights where kerbside (edge of pavement) collection systems could be optimised, to decrease their environmental impact. In this case, researchers found that the kerbside system was less favourable economically and environmentally due to more packaging and more fuel consumption per tonne of waste, compared to a system where recyclable materials are deposited by residents in large containers. But the researchers suggest that measures such as re-usable boxes and efficient collection routes could help to mitigate the impact of kerbside collection. While there is an environmental impact from waste collection, processing and disposal, this study only focused on the collection phase.

Gendered expectations in marriage are not just bad for women, they are also bad for men, according to a new study by University of Connecticut (UConn) sociologists.

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Death and mourning were largely considered private matters in the 20th century, with the public remembrances common in previous eras replaced by intimate gatherings behind closed doors in funeral parlors and family homes.

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To everything there is a season -- even divorce, new research from University of Washington sociologists concludes.

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The U.S. prison population continued to rise even after the crime rate began declining in the mid-1990s because judges were faced with more repeat offenders, a new study suggests.

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Our beliefs about how farm animals are raised can shape our meat-eating experience, according to a new study led by Lisa Feldman Barrett, University Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University.

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For children with autism and a class of genetic disorders, exposure to diagnostic ultrasound in the first trimester of pregnancy is linked to increased autism severity, according to a study by researchers at UW Medicine, UW Bothell and Seattle Children's Research Institute.

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Preliminary findings from a mass participation study have indicated a link between weather conditions - specifically rain and lack of sunshine - and chronic pain.

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53 percent of Indian enterprises were least mature in the adoption of mobility solutions whereas 17 percent of enterprises are adequately mature in their strive to adopt mobility solutions

Both VMware and Citrix have partnered with Samsung around new Galaxy S8 smartphone through the integration of their enterprise mobility solutions with Samsung DeX platform

The mobility solution brings till to the consumer in the store and enables closure of the entire billing and payment process where consumers are.

Onymos has transformed the art of mobile apps development, where open standards HTML, JavaScript and CSS technologies are made use of, which in turn, cuts down the development time from months to days.