Netherlands to ban inland vessels from discharging toxic fumes

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The Netherlands is banning inland vessels from discharging toxic fumes from July 2024, Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management Mark Harber announced this week. The ban will cover seven types of substances including carcinogenic benzene, gasoline and mixtures of petroleum and benzene. Countries along the river Rhine agreed in 2017 to jointly…

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Mexico declares national security protection for Mayan tourist train

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s president said on Thursday that construction and operation of a tourist train project that could cost up to $20 billion is a matter of national security, offering new legal protections for the high-profile public work. In a decree published in Mexico’s official gazette, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador invoked government…

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Apple restricts use of OpenAI’s ChatGPT for employees -WSJ

(Reuters) -Apple Inc has restricted the use of ChatGPT and other external artificial intelligence tools for its employees as Apple develops similar technology, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing a document and sources. Apple is concerned about the leak of confidential data by employees who use the AI programs and has also advised…

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Amputees could feel warmth of human touch with new bionic technology

By Cecile Mantovani and Denis Balibouse GENEVA (Reuters) – Fabrizio Fidati, who lost his right hand in an accident 25 years ago, had not experienced the sensation of temperature in his missing digits until trials for a bionic technology unlocked the cool of iced water and heat of a stove burner for him. Eventually, the…

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US FDA panel backs Pfizer’s maternal RSV vaccine for protecting infants

By Raghav Mahobe and Mariam Sunny (Reuters) -Advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday backed the safety and effectiveness of Pfizer Inc’s experimental respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine, boosting its chances of becoming the first available maternal shot to protect babies from the illness. The FDA’s advisory committee voted unanimously that available…

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Genome data sheds light on how Homo sapiens arose in Africa

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Our species arose in Africa more than 300,000 years ago, with the oldest-known Homo sapiens fossils discovered at a site in Morocco called Jebel Irhoud, located between Marrakech and the Atlantic coast. But the scarcity of Homo sapiens fossils from early in our evolutionary history and the geographical spread…

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Earth-sized alien planet gripped by widespread volcanism

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An Earth-sized planet orbiting a dim star in our galactic neighborhood is offering some of the best evidence to date of volcanism beyond our solar system, with observations suggesting a rugged and rocky world tormented by constant eruptions. Scientists said on Wednesday the planet, the third detected orbiting this…

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Russia says hypersonic missile scientists face ‘very serious’ treason accusations

By Tatiana Gomozova and Lucy Papachristou MOSCOW (Reuters) – Three Russian academics who have worked on hypersonic missile technology face “very serious accusations”, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, in a treason investigation that has spread alarm through Russia’s scientific community. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he was aware of an open letter from Siberian scientists…

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AI threatens humanity’s future, 61% of Americans say – Reuters/Ipsos

By Anna Tong (Reuters) – The swift growth of artificial intelligence technology could put the future of humanity at risk, according to most Americans surveyed in a Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Wednesday. More than two-thirds of Americans are concerned about the negative effects of AI and 61% believe it could threaten civilization. Since OpenAI’s ChatGPT…

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