On the wall of Aaron Dollar’s office is a poster for R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots), the 1920 Czech play that gave us the word “robot.” The story ends with the nominal robots seizing control of the factory of their origin and then wiping out nearly all of humanity. Dollar, fortunately, has something more cheerful in mind for the future of human-robot relations. (more…)
Seas between the islands of Skye and Mull on Scotland’s west coast are highly important for basking sharks, according to a report published by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH).
Each year large numbers of basking sharks are seen in an area of the Sea of the Hebrides which is currently being assessed as part of the Scottish Marine Protected Areas Project.
The report sets out findings from the first two years of a project which aims to reveal some of the mysteries surrounding the world’s second largest fish. The project is a joint venture between SNH and the University of Exeter, and is the first known to use satellite tagging technology to track the near real-time movements of basking sharks. (more…)
