Month: June 2024

So long plastic air pillows: Amazon shifting to recycled paper filling for packages in North America

natixis-ezine

Read time : 2 mins

Level : Intermediate

FILE – The Amazon logo is seen, June 15, 2023, at the Vivatech show in Paris. Amazon is moving from putting plastic air pillows in its packages to using recycled paper filling instead, a move that’s more environmentally friendly and secures items in boxes better. The company said Thursday, June 20, 2024 that it’s already replaced 95% of the plastic air fillers with paper filler in North America and is working toward complete removal by year’s end. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN AP Business Writer

Amazon is shifting from the plastic air pillows used for packaging in North America to recycled paper because it’s more environmentally sound, and it says paper just works better.

The company said Thursday that it’s already replaced 95% of the plastic air pillows with paper filler in North America and is working toward complete removal by year’s end.

“We want to ensure that customers receive their items undamaged, while using as little packaging as possible to avoid waste, and prioritizing recyclable materials,” Amazon said. Continue reading

Beneath offshore wind turbines, researchers grow seafood and seaweed

natixis-ezine

Read time : 2 mins

Level : Advanced

Workers aboard a small boat check lines of seaweed and mussels crops at Kriegers Flak offshore wind farm, about 15 kilometers off the Danish coast, Baltic Sea, Denmark, Tuesday June 18, 2024. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

By JAMES BROOKS Associated Press

KRIEGERS FLAK OFFSHORE WIND FARM, Denmark (AP) — In a small boat bobbing in the waves between towering offshore wind turbines, researchers in Europe’s Baltic Sea reach into the frigid water and remove long lines stretched between the pylons onto which mussels and seaweed are growing.

It’s part of efforts to explore multiple uses for remote wind parks far out at sea, such as fresh seafood production.

Run by the Swedish state-owned power firm Vattenfall and Denmark’s Aarhus University, the four-year project started in 2023 off the Danish east coast at Scandinavia’s largest wind farm, Kriegers Flak. With its first harvest just 18 months later, it’s already showing signs of early success. Continue reading

Life-Changing Art Museums You Need To Visit

natixis-ezine

Read time : 2 mins

Level : Intermediate

By Melanie Allen | Wealth of Geeks undefined

Humanity has been creating art for millennia. The earliest known artworks predate civilization by 40,000 years. Artistic expression is clearly important for the human condition.

Our obsession with art only grew as we formed communities, then cities. As humanity learned the benefits of specialization, our artistic abilities flourished.

We cultivated talent, created schools focused on fine-tuning skills, dedicated state funds to promote artistic culture, and built massive museums, allowing us to store the most iconic artworks ever created for posterity.

These top art museums store some of humanity’s greatest treasures. Continue reading

Tobacco-like warning label for social media sought by US surgeon general who asks Congress to act

natixis-ezine

Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

FILE – The U.S. Surgeon General’s Warning appears on a pack of Camel cigarettes purchased at a Chicago area news stand on Nov. 30, 2012. In a Monday, June 17, 2024, opinion piece for The New York Times, Dr. Vivek Murthy has called on Congress to require warning labels on social media platforms similar to those now mandatory on cigarette boxes. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN AP Business Writer

The U.S. surgeon general has called on Congress to require warning labels on social media platforms and their effects on young people’s lives, similar to those now mandatory on cigarette boxes.

In a Monday opinion piece in the The New York Times, Dr. Vivek Murthy said that social media is a contributing factor in the mental health crisis among young people.

“It is time to require a surgeon general’s warning label on social media platforms, stating that social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents. A surgeon general’s warning label, which requires congressional action, would regularly remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been proved safe,” Murthy said. “Evidence from tobacco studies show that warning labels can increase awareness and change behavior.” Continue reading

Facebook owner Meta seeks to train AI model on European data as it faces privacy concerns

natixis-ezine

Read time : 2 mins

Level : Intermediate

FILE – The Meta logo is seen at the Vivatech show in Paris, France, Wednesday, June 14, 2023. Meta said Monday, June 10, 2024, it wants to use data from users in privacy-conscious Europe to train its artificial intelligence models. It’s facing concerns about data protection while battling to keep up with rivals like OpenAI and Google. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)

By KELVIN CHAN AP Business Writer

LONDON (AP) — Meta wants to use data from users in privacy-conscious Europe to train its artificial intelligence models, the social media giant said Monday as it faces concerns about data protection while battling to keep up with rivals like OpenAI and Google.

The company, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, said that in order to better reflect the “languages, geography and cultural references” of its users in Europe, it needs to use public data from those users to teach its Llama AI large language model. Continue reading