Новости за 27.06.2017

To involve children in terrorism is an unthinkable prospect. And yet they have become not only targets of violence, but are being used to promote radicalised causes too.

Is it any wonder they feel like bargaining chips? EPA

Great news has been issued by the good people of the British government to all those EU citizens living in the UK feeling uncertain about their future after Brexit – they could soon qualify for “settled status”. What they must do now, however, is wait. Basically, they should do what they’ve been doing for the past year – and be patient.

Demonstrators demanding that Jakarta's Christian governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, should be jailed for blasphemy. EPA/Mast Irham

According to reports in the BBC recently, Stephen Fry has been investigated in Ireland on charges of blasphemy. While the investigation stalled almost as quickly as it began, it was by no means the only occasion or high-profile matter of this type in recent weeks.

Sergey Nivens

As revealed in a patent filing, Facebook is interested in using webcams and smartphone cameras to read our emotions, and track expressions and reactions. The idea is that by understanding emotional behaviour, Facebook can show us more of what we react positively to in our Facebook news feeds and less of what we do not – whether that’s friends’ holiday photos, or advertisements.

So now we know the cost of the Democratic Unionist Party’s support for the Conservative minority government – £1 billion. Money well spent in an age of austerity when the pressures on doctors, teachers, police officers, mental health support workers and many others are intense? No.

So now we know the cost of the Democratic Unionist Party’s support for the Conservative minority government – £1 billion. Money well spent in an age of austerity when the pressures on doctors, teachers, police officers, mental health support workers and many others are intense? No.

The White House has announced that Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is possibly preparing to carry out another massive chemical strike. A press statement says:

Here they come ... Shutterstock

A steady stream of black ants scurries busily in and out of a crack in the patio. They’ve been living there quietly for weeks. Perhaps you tried to get rid of them – especially if they were taking sugar from the kitchen or crawling across your bedroom. Perhaps you ignored them, or marvelled at their ability to navigate over apparently featureless paving stones back to their nest.

dotshock/Shutterstock

Wacky job titles aren’t new. Google has employed a Captain of Moonshots since around 2010. Astro Teller – his real name – currently holds the post and heads up research and development. In another universe, he’d just be “head of research and development”.

DenisFilm/Shutterstock

It recently has been suggested that using vegetable oils to fry food may be bad for your health due to the production of toxic chemicals called aldehydes during the heating process. Aldehydes are simple organic structures – compounds which contain a carbon-oxygen double bond – and are abundant in nature. They are formed in the human body in small amounts as by-products of normal fructose and alcohol metabolism. Consumption of dietary aldehydes is thought to contribute to... Читать дальше...

Useful? Or just a money-spinner? Shutterstock

There is a lot of money to be made from Artificial Intelligence. By one estimate, the market is projected to hit US$36.8 billion by 2025. Some of this money will undoubtedly go to social good, like curing illness, disease and infirmity. Some will also go to better understanding intractable social problems like wealth distribution, urban planning, smart cities, and more “efficient” ways to do just about everything. But the key word here is “some”.

South Africa’s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), has been on a steep upward climb since 2004. It has increased its share of the vote in every national poll to reach 22.23% in 2014; it has also greatly expanded its support at the municipal level, where in 2016 it secured 26.9% of the vote and ousted the ANC from control of major urban centres, such as Johannesburg, Pretoria and Port Elizabeth.

Artist's impression of Cassini ending its life as a fireball in Saturn's atmosphere. "NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA’s orbiter Cassini will make a series of decreasing orbits that will end in a fiery death dive into Saturn’s atmosphere in September. This deliberate termination of a still serviceable spacecraft is to comply with “planetary protection” protocols, designed to minimise the risk of depositing stowaway Earth microbes into an environment where they might be able to reproduce.