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I am a member of two LinkedIn groups focused on global issues and the future. In one of them the discussion has moved to defining our ecological footprint on the planet and comparing different areas of the world to come up with the planet’s carrying capacity. What is ecological

We live in a world of instant communication, that speeds data, voice and images around the planet at the speed of light. It is a world both wired and wireless. This is a world far removed from when James Martin wrote “The Wired Society” in the 1970s. In Martin’s worl

Agriculture Update: Plant Recognition Technology Prototype Being Developed at University of Southern Queensland in Australia Imagine a technology that detects weeds in a field and directs spray equipment to eradicate them. Well the National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture, Unive

Our world leaders are meeting to set goals for humanity in the 21st century. So 20 years after the first Rio meeting in 1992 that discussed climate change, biodiversity and sustainability it’s a good time to take the pulse of the planet. If you want to keep a daily score than vi

With the Rio conference seeking a common set of policies and actions for global sustainability, climate change and global warming are among the important agenda items. Since greenhouse gas (GHG) is the primary source of atmospheric warming seeking ways to remediate it will be discusse

If you thought I was finished talking about robots with my last two blog postings – think again. A new breakthrough in tactile sensor technology is now commercially available. It has implications for robotic touch and for human prosthetics. The device is called Bio Tac(R) and it

No sooner than I ask readers to tell me about applications they would like personal robots to engage in, Joggobot shows up. What is it? A personal social companion that accompanies you as you jog. Joggobot is a quadracopter drone with a built in camera and software program. The camera

Grishin Robotics has launched a $25 million capital fund to promote the robotics industry, helping businesses to get their new robot inventions to mass market. The company’s mission is to turn robots into everyday objects in human lives. Today’s market is divided between i

The Newspaper Problem The manufacture of paper takes a huge environmental toll on our planet. Paper manufacturing is ranked third among industries on the planet in its consumption of fossil fuels. Every year in the United States, 24 billion editions of newspapers get published. A year