SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Africa's most advanced satellite. Israel's SpaceCom is shortly to launch its Amos 17 satellite on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center. Its main aim is to improve TV, cellular and Internet services to Africa. SpaceCom already has $53 million of orders for services. The satellite will operate for up to 20 years. https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-spacecom-to-launch-most-advanced-amos-satellite-to-service-africa/ https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3767211,00.html Jerusalem to revolutionize waste recycling. (TY Janglo) Jerusalem Municipality has begun to replace its current recycling facilities whereby residents were required to sort waste into paper, bottles, glass, plastic etc. In future, sorting will be done centrally, by GreenNet situated in the Atarot Industrial Area, north of Jerusalem. http://green-net.ysbgroup.com/home-EN.html Smarter garbage trucks. Israeli startup GreenQ uses sensors on garbage trucks and big-data analytics to optimize schedules and routes for trash collection. It helps avoid collecting empty bins or missing overflowing ones. GreenQ says it can save 30-50% of a city's costs for refuge collection and reduce traffic congestion. https://www.israel21c.org/greenq-makes-garbage-trucks-smarter-and-thats-good-for-all-of-us/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0wKZ28F044 https://greenq.gq/ Recycling waste into recycling bins. I reported previously (Apr 2018) on Israel's UBQ which is turning garbage into reusable thermoplastic building material. It is shipping 2,000 recycling bins made from UBQ's material to the Central Virginia Waste Management Authority, for delivery to Virginia residents. https://www.jpost.com/Jpost-Tech/Environment/Israeli-recycling-technology-aims-to-revolutionize-global-waste-597012 Sustainable villages. Israeli entrepreneurs Jonathan Haran and Victor Hajaj are founders of the Sustainable Group. They plan to build the first carbon-negative village in a kibbutz near Mizpe Ramon. They are also developing AI software for cities to manage food, water, energy and waste for humans and the environment. http://nocamels.com/2019/07/israeli-sustainability-pilot-village-in-a-box-water-food-energy/ http://sustainable.co.il/ https://youtu.be/0D2qgvjiNxQ An all-seeing eye. Israeli-founded Mobileye demonstrated its new EyeQ4 camera in London. It can track and analyze masses of data including traffic lights, bus stops and even manhole covers. It can calculate rush hour traffic volumes, detect muggings and accidents. Data is uploaded to the cloud in real time. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3767208,00.html Waze's new Israeli carpool feature. Israeli-developed Waze has released a new carpooling feature in Israel. Drivers will now be able to invite multiple passengers to join their carpool, and if the car has at least three passengers, their route will be adjusted to include High Occupancy Vehicles (HOV) lanes. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3767278,00.html Making light work of broadband. Israel's Juganu has developed "Digital World" that combines smart street lighting and advanced connectivity for municipalities. It enables intelligent traffic control, security and accident monitoring, rescue coordination, support for smart cars and of course lighting and more – all without cabling. https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-led-lighting-connectivity-co-juganu-raises-23m-1001293005 https://juganu.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w_yMEiGFn8 Putting Israel in the shade. (TY Janglo) Israel's National Planning and Building Commission is eliminating bureaucracy preventing artificial shade in public spaces. It estimates the cost of shading a street at around NIS 1000 per square meter – trivial, compared to the NIS 800,000 cost of one person's treatment for skin cancer. https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-planners-to-start-putting-israel-in-the-shade-1001294511 Leading the way in computer vision. Rare positive (video) article on Israeli imaging technology from the UK Financial Times. Extracts from the video – "This technology's impact is being felt in fields from medicine to self-driving cars and even shopping." "There's one small nation at this industry's forefront, Israel." https://www.ft.com/video/cf0259d7-dfba-4c97-9dc5-89919cccb1c7 Tomato-picking robot. Israeli startup MetoMotion is developing a robotic system for labor-intensive tasks in greenhouses. The company's robot can pick tomatoes, using 3D vision and machine vision algorithms to identify and locate ripe tomatoes. MetoMotion states that the robot can also prune and de-leaf. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3767459,00.html https://metomotion.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYtpPvJWf0M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb17WtGOg4Q Defending against the unknown. (TY OurCrowd) I reported previously (see here) on Israeli cybersecurity startup ThetaRay. It has just launched Version 4.0 of its advanced analytics platform to help global banks detect and prevent "unknown unknown" cybercrimes that are hard to spot with older cybersecurity products. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/thetaray-4-0-with-intuitiveai-gives-banks-a-powerful-new-weapon-against-financial-cybercrime-300888999.html Toddlers need to know who is boss. A study of 120 toddlers aged 17 months by researchers at Bar-Ilan and Illinois universities shows that they have a well-developed understanding of social hierarchies and power dynamics. They reacted differently to situations where misbehavior was dealt with compared to when it wasn't. https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/parents-who-show-children-whos-boss-on-right-track-israeli-uni-study-shows/ |