Billions of people around the world are continuing to suffer from poor access to water, sanitation and hygiene, according to a new report by UNICEF and the World Health Organization. 1 in 3 people globally do not have access to safe drinking water! What is worse, because of climate change, the problem will develop.
Unsafe water is one of the world’s largest health and environmental problems – particularly for the poorest in the world. Lack of access to safe water sources is a leading risk factor for infectious diseases, including cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid and polio It also exacerbates malnutrition, and in particular, childhood stunting.
What is Nanoseen?
Nanoseen is a polish start-up, where engineers and scientists set a goal to solve the global problem of drinking water scarcity and plastic pollution. They developed the world’s first technology for desalination and water purification without energy.
What if we could solve the water crisis and give all people unlimited access to clean water?
NanoseenX is an innovative, modern and breakthrough patented nanotechnology for desalination and/or water purification, which is based on flat and thin nanomembranes through which water flows, is purified and desalinated using the force of gravity – therefore no energy or pressure supply is needed.
Currently NanoseenX nanomembranes can be regenerated 10 times using: pure water (or solar energy or compressed air.)
The cost of each nanomembrane is $0.5 for 60 cm and $0,08 for 12 cm;
Nanoseen creates nanomembranes and its own desalination and / or water treatment systems, including mobile installations.
NanoseenX nanomembranes are 100% scalable and can be adapted to various forms of unlimited size.
The technology is environmentally friendly, does not emit CO2 – it is made of materials of natural origin (carbon compounds).
Used nanomembranes are recycled;
In conclusion, I think the start-up’s idea is going to be something huge! The drinking water scarcity has always been a problem and with upcoming climate crisis, it’s only going to get worse. Every idea that may help people, even a bit, is at premium these days. I hope we’ll come up with more solutions like this one.
As we all know, vegan diet is becoming more and more popular. In fact, becoming vegan is one of the best things we can do to fight climate change. In 2019, researchers from Oxford University conducted the most comprehensive analysis of farming’s impact on the planet to date. Joseph Poore, who led the study, concluded: “A vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water use.”
What is “It’s bean!”?
It’s bean! Is plant-based version of dairy products. It’s created by 2 Polish dieticians, who specialise in vegetarian diets. They say that: “On the market of vegan yogurts there was nothing we could really recommend to our patients or would like to eat ourselves. Most often there were just 2 options available: soy or coconut-based. Soy is overused in plant-based products and coconut, from dietary standpoint provides mostly fat and no protein. We wanted to create something completely different – local and valuable in terms of nutrition. Something that can be a healthy snack or the base for a quick and balanced meal. That’s how It’s bean! came to be! – bean yogurts.”
The product comes in 4 flavours – natural, raspberry&chocolate, apple and gingerbread&plump.
photo of a product from website ouichef.pl
With vegan diet becoming more popular, I think creating products like this one, can be a great move and a huge success! Despite the popularity of vegan alternatives, until now the yoghurts were only coconut or soy based, and I know a lot of people (myself included), who are not the big fans of coconut taste and there are plenty of people with soy allergy. Creating bean based product, not only makes the carbon footprint of a product smaller, (because it’s created from beans from Poland) but also enrich the world of plant-based food.
I think it’s also worth to mention that in the U.S., the “milk” section of grocery stores has evolved to such a degree than the non-dairy options often take up more shelf space than the traditional dairy offerings. In fact, U.S. retail sales of plant-based foods grew 29% over 2018 through 2019 and 11.4% in 2019 alone. In the U.S. today plant-based milks make up 14% of the entire milk category and this trend is expanding globally.
As we all know – food waste is a huge problem. Probably many of you often buy a lot of things, put them in the fridge, and then remembers about them after it’s way to late and they are already uneatable.
Here is a couple facts about wasting food:
According to the newest ONS report – we waste 1 billion tons of food EVERY YEAR!
There is enough food produced in the world to feed everyone (in the same time around 690 milions of people in underfeed)
1/3 – that much of the produced food is wasted in the USA (that causes more CO2 than the air lines generates…)
The average american spends 1,3 tousand of dollars a year for a food that is going to waste
Wasting food is worse than total emissions from flying (1.9%), plastic production (3.8%) and oil extraction (3.8%).
If food waste was a country, it would be the third biggest emitter of greenhouse gases after USA and China.
The good thing is, there’s actually a lot we can do to prevent food waste. I think the easiest way to do it, is creating a meal plan for upcoming week and buying only needed ingredients. But of course, it’s easy to say. With help comes SMARTERWARE.
Company came up with the idea of containers and food tags working with an app, that helps you with remembering about the products in your fridge. When you tag a food, the countdown begins and an app will notify you when it’s time to eat the product. In an application you also got ideas of food and recipes you can use with tagged food.
Containers for storing leftovers, clips for closing bags and a Universal Connect that can be put onto everything from cardboard to glass. With Smarterware, you can tag the foods you love (or often lose track of) so you remember to eat them.
I think it’s really important to come up with ideas like this, that will help us with saving our planet. There’s a lot of things we can do to live more eco-friendly and definitely stopping food waste in our homes is one of them. Sadly, for now SMARTERWARE is not available to buy, the company stopped before launching the product.
Probably many of you, when the 1st of January comes, decide to create a list of resolutions for the whole year. If anyone wants to be more productive this year, I recommend to you FOREST.
This is, in my opinion, the best productivity app, that helps you with staying focus. When you have a list of things to do and you lack motivation, there comes Forest. As many of you know, the Pomodoro technique is a productivity method where you have around 25-minute blocks of being focused mixed with 5-minute blocs of relaxation time. Forest allows you to set your own duration time of “work time” and time for breaks.
screenshot from my phone, the 1st thing you see after opening the app
How does it work?
During the time you are focused, the tree of your choice is growing in the app. When you set the timer for example for 25 minutes, it will start counting down that time and you will see a tree starting to grow in that time. The more time you spend, the more trees you will have in your own forest. Also you can choose from the 80 tree species.
Yes it does! In the app, you not only get to plant your own forest, but you also collect points, and after every 2500, the sponsor of the app “Trees for the future” will plant a real tree on your behalf, which I think is really great.
Why is it so helpful?
Avoiding distractions becomes much easier, when the app turns your effort into a game-like experience. One tree represents one successful session of undistracted work. Why undistracted? Because disturbing a session (so turning off the app or switching to another) results in a dying tree. When you find yourself tempted to use your phone and you exit the forest app, as you leave the app, you will almost instantly receive a notification that says that your tree will die if you don’t go straight back onto the app and continue with the timer.
Can you play with your friends?
Yes you can and I think it is a great option. You can add your friends in the app, which creates a little bit of a competition, because you can compare your focus time, but also allows you to study together (and then when one of you fails, the tree you were working on together, dies).
To sum up, I think Forest is an ideal choice if you are trying to become more focused and spend less time on your phone while completing your day-to-day tasks. And what’s important you are not only boosting your own productivity and focus, but you are also helping to encourage and contribute to the planting of real trees around the world
Ameca is a robot created by a British company – ENGINEERED ARTS. As you can see on the video above, it amazes withhyper-realistic facial expressions. It is being described as a world’s most advanced human shaped robot.
WHAT IS AMECA DESIGNED FOR?
Will Jackson, founder of Engineered Arts, said that “the reason for making a robot that looks like a person is to interact with people”. Ameca has a grey coloured skin with deliberately gender and race neutral characteristic. Although it can perfectly mimic the human’s reactions and moves, it cannot walk yet. The engineers from the team say that this ability is currently under research and we can expect it very soon. Ameca has been designed as a robot platform—customers who buy it can add AI and other software to give the robot desired abilities, which I think might be very promising for example as a use in a metaverse. Just imagine taking your metaverse character into a real world or sending a robot to a meeting across the world.
photo: Engineered Arts website
Will Jackson spoke to the press recently, telling them that the abilities of Ameca and the company’s prior robots are the result of over 15 years’ worth of research and development. He also said that the goal of the company has remained the same – to develop robots that are able to interact in human-like ways, with humans. As for now, Ameca is available for purchase or event rental through Engineered Arts website.
video published by Engineered Arts on Vimeo
HOW THEY MADE AMECA SEEM SO REAL?
The appearance of the Ameca robot is based on 3D scans of real people. Thanks to that, they were able to imitate the human-like bone structure, skin surface and facial expression. Engineers also use high-precision sensors, cameras, depth sensors, LiDAR technology and microphones.
Woebot is a bot, that invites people to talk with him and encourages them to have an honest conversation about their feelings, thoughts. On the webpage of Woebot is it said that: “Woebot uses AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques to learn from millions of conversations annually and to provide therapeutic encounters that are psychologically related, responsive to a person’s dynamic state of health, and targeted using tools from cognitive, behavioral, and interpersonal disciplines.”
The Woebot has a different versions for different people, like for example for being in control of a maternal mental health, not only during the pregnancy, but also in time of a postpartum etc. I think this is a really helpful for women especially during this time, because as shown by the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS), CDC research shows that nationally, about 1 in 8 women experience symptoms of postpartum depression.
https://woebothealth.com/science-and-technology/
THE ADVANTAGES OF HAVING AN ONLINE CONVERSATION
Personally, I think that many people have the problem with being honest when it comes to talking about their feelings. Furthermore, the problems with mental health are often neglected, because of the social view on them. Many people are ashamed to talk about mental health, due to being scared of what others may think of that. When it comes to human-like therapeutic encounters and talking with a bot, many problems vanish. The fear of being judged is not an issue anymore. I also think it’s worth to mention that Woebot is free, so it’s available for everyone with a smartphone.
IS THE BOT REPLACING THERAPISTS?
No, Woebot isn’t created to replace the professional help. It’s only a useful tool for people who are seeking help in something different than traditional methods.
IS WOEBOT AVAILABLE IN EVERY LANGUAGE?
Unfortunately, as for now, the bot is talking only in English and partly in Italian.
The mental health awareness is really important and I’m really happy that initiatives like Woebot are becoming a thing.
Reading Time: 5minutes(Photo of “Bitcoin Beach on El Salvador by Kate Linthicum / Los Angeles Times)
El Salvador in September became the first country to accept digital currency (Bitcoin) as a legal tender. As a county in Central America, El Salvador has a hard time dealing with natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes. It’s economy has also been hampered by government policies that mandate large economic subsidies, and by official corruption. Subsidies became such a problem that in April 2012, the International Monetary Fund suspended a $750 million loan to the central government. President Funes’ chief of cabinet, Alex Segovia, acknowledged that the economy was at the “point of collapse”.
In June 2021, President Nayib Bukele said he would introduce Bitcoin as a legal tender in El Salvador. It was said by Jack Mallers, (founder Strike which is a Venmo-like application that allows people to send bitcoin to each other almost instantly and allows them to freeze their money in a dollar amounts) that Bitcoin would help countries like El Salvador protect themselves against “potential shocks” of inflation for traditional currencies – as El Salvador doesn’t have it’s own central bank and is contigent on monetary policy of the United States. The Bitcoin Law was passed by the Legistalive Assembly on 9 June 2021, with a majority vote of 62 out of 84. Bitcoin officially became legal tender ninety days after the publication of the law in the official newspaper. Since then bitcoin, as well as the United States dollar, is the official currency of El Salvador. Also, what I think is interesting, in the law it is said that foreigners can gain permanent residence in El Salvador if they invest 3 Bitcoins into the country. It is also worth to know that as a resident of this country you don’t have to pay capital gains tax.
Is it an easy thing to use cryptocurrency in such country as El Salvador?
Critics have pointed out that the plan is very light on details and that Bitcoin is notoriously difficult to use as a day-to-day currency partly due to its volatility. In addition, there’s a good chance that a large number of businesses in the country won’t even be able to accept the cryptocurrency; El Salvador has the lowest number of internet users in Latin America (about 45% of population). Bukele (El Salvador’s President), however, has been pointing to a El Zonte where residents have been using Bitcoin for nearly two years as evidence that the cryptocurrency could help power the economy nationwide. But he didn’t mention the fact that people there also had a long introduction to the cryptocurrencies.
What is a bitcoin beach and how it’s gotten it’s name?
Playa El Zonte, also known as “Bitcoin Beach” is a beach located in El Zonte, El Salvador. It all started with an anonymous donation from an American donor. It is said that he had gotten rich while trading the cryptocurrency and believed it “was going to change the world.”
How the people from Bitcoin Beach were able to learn about Bitcoin?
The investors firstly were trying to convince older people that bitcoin is a good thing for them, they started to pay their children in digital coins to pick up the trash from the beach etc. Also the main factor that helped them to introduce Bitcoin was the pandemic and the fact that the tourism industry collapsed. The families from the city started receiving from Michael Peterson, a 47-year-old California native, about $35 in Bitcoin and when they wanted to cash the money, they needed and app which allows that. That’s how Bitcoin Beach Wallet was created. It is said that 18 months after the project launched, roughly 90% of El Zonte’s households are interacting with the currency regularly.
What are pros and cons of using bitcoin on El Salvador?
So firstly – 70% of the population is unbanked (according to study from 2017) which is an estonishing number. We can hope that introducing Bitcoin would increase a percentage of bank users, but also we have to take under consideration that only 45% of the population is using internet, so it might be not only a hard thing for them to learn, but it also might be hard to convince them that using digital currency can be good or even life changing. Reports indicate that some residents have struggled to access the payment system because of limited data plans and lack of access to more advanced smartphones.
We also have to think about the Bitcoin itself. According to the Bank of America bitcoin industry’s global CO2 emissions have risen to 60 million tons, equal to the exhaust from about 9 million cars. Considering the environmental impact it has, maybe there would be better cryptocurrency for everyday use.
In an interview with Roxana Valles, the 42-year-old proprietor of a small beachside grocery store she said that using Bitcoin has allowed her to invest for the first time. But what if the Bitcoin’s value drops like it happened in April 2021? One Elon Musk’s tweet about Tesla not accepting Bitcoin caused a big crush (about 50%) “I’d be very interested in seeing what happens if we enter a bear market,” says McCormack, the British podcaster. “If you’re a shop owner and you have $50 a day in Bitcoin sales and all the sudden that goes up to $60, that’s cool. But what happens when it starts going down to $40 or $30?”
Steve Hanke, professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University and director of the Cato institute’s Troubled Currencies Project says that “Businesses tend to unload Bitcoin as fast as they can because of the fluctuating exchange rate. If you receive it in the morning, it could easily be down 5 or 10 percent by the close of business,” said Hanke. “Are you running a business in which you’re speculating in Bitcoin, or are you running a business where you’re selling clothes or shoes?” People on El Salvador simply need currency that they can either hold or sell without worrying about it’s value changing over night or even in hours.
How the Latin American nation reacted to Bitcoin being announced as a legal tender?
Since the day the Bitcoin Law went into effect — when the coin was valued at just $46,777 — the value of Bitcoin has already significantly increased. But this optimism is not shared by everyone. It’s a country where not only internet or bank access are hard to reach, but also an education opportunities are limited. Not everyone is open to cryptocurrency and people are not interested in learning about it. They have hard time accessing Chivo app, which is supposed to help them with receiving and paying with Bitcoin. Chivo wallet makes the transactions instant and almost costless.
SUMMARY
Making Bitcoin a legal tender in El Salvador is definitely a bold decision. Like every groundbreaking innovation it has it’s supporters and opponents. We will see in the future how it turns out for El Salvador’s economy. I hope it’s going to end up well for them, but personally I think there may be a better cryptocurrency than Bitcoin for them to use, possibly more eco-friendly one.
