Stephanie cruz green

Can advanced AI and robotics fix the recycling industry? The problem is especially urgent with recent news that China will no longer be accepting waste from the US. A company that makes robots to improve the economics of recycling just raised $16 million. AMP Robotics plans to use the money to develop more powerful AI to aid in its green mission."Over the last few years, the industry has had their margins squeezed by labor shortages and low commodity prices," explains Shaun Maguire, partner at Sequoia, which led the recent fundraising round. "The end result is an industry proactively searching for cost-saving alternatives and added opportunities to increase revenue by capturing more high-value recyclables, and AMP is emerging as the leading solution."The problem is especially urgent with recent news that China will no longer be accepting waste from the U.S. As I've written, even when China was taking our recyclables the process was extremely inefficient, the bales often poorly … [Read more...] about Recycling robots make green viable again

Pythons are nonvenomous snakes found in Asia, Africa and Australia. Because they are not native to North or South America, they are considered Old World snakes. The word python can refer to both the family Pythonidae or the genus Python, found within Pythonidae.There are 41 species of python found within the family Pythonidae, according to the Reptile Database. Though both pythons and boas are large constrictors, they are separate families. Physical characteristicsThe family Pythonidae contains some of the largest snakes snakes in the world, according to Sara Viernum, Wisconsin-based founder of The Wandering Herpetologist. “Most pythons are large snakes … such as the reticulated python (Python reticulatus), which can grow over 30 feet [9 meters] in length,” she said. “There are also small species of pythons such as the anthill python (Antaresia perthensis), which only grows up to 24 inches [61 centimeters] in length and is considered the smallest python species … [Read more...] about Python Facts

In a new report, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assessed the ecological risks that nine giant non-native snake species would bring if they were ever established in the United States. The result: Five of them pose a high risk and four pose a medium risk.The nine species, including non-native boa, anaconda and python species, are invasive or potentially invasive in the United States. However, the authors write in their report that "at present, the only probable pathway by which these species would become established in the United States is the pet trade."Among the high risk species are Burmese pythons, northern and southern African pythons, boa constrictors and yellow anacondas. These species put larger portions of the U.S. mainland at risk, constitute a greater ecological threat, or are more common in trade and commerce. Medium-risk species, including the reticulated python, Deschauensee’s anaconda, green anaconda and Beni anaconda, constitute lesser threats in these areas, but … [Read more...] about Giant Invasive Snakes Threaten U.S. Ecosystems

The first complete sequence of any snake genome reveals that Burmese pythons evolved rapidly to be able to eat prey as big as their own bodies.The python's amazing eating abilities derive from the genetic capacity to alter its metabolism and the size of its organs after a meal, according to a new study published today (Dec. 2) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Some organs more than double in size in the two days after a python, which averages about 12 feet (3.7 meters) long, eats.Eating isn't the only extreme snakes have gone to in their evolutionary history. To become the long, slithering creatures they are today, snakes have lost their limbs, reduced one of their lungs, elongated their skeletons and organs, developed a hinged jaw, and in many cases, evolved a toxic brew of venoms. They also rapidly fluctuate their metabolism based on their feast-or-famine diet of periodically swallowing large prey whole. [Photos: Giant Pythons Invade Everglades]Extreme … [Read more...] about Python’s Extreme Eating Abilities Explained

SAN FRANCISCO—It is well known nowadays that people should be careful around broken thermometers and moderate their consumption of tuna to avoid contact with mercury, a highly potent neurotoxin.Now, scientists have figured out one of the things that makes water-borne mercury even more toxic—dead stuff.The decayed remains of plants and other organic materials may help convert mercury in waterways to forms that are highly toxic to humans, a new study shows.Mercury is present throughout Earth's environment—it is found in small quantities in rocks and in watery environments, including lakes, wetlands and oceans. Pollution, especially from the burning of coal for electricity, adds to these levels in the environment.Mercury also can accumulate in fish—and in larger quantities in big fish such as tuna—that live in contaminated waters, eventually posing a health risk to those who eat tainted fish, especially to children, pregnant women and women planning a … [Read more...] about Dead Stuff Makes Mercury More Deadly