Kolkata, India — An Indian artificial intelligence (AI) solutions provider is trying to help farmers in the county better combat vagaries of weather aggravated by climate change. And, it has bagged a major prize recently. AI Farms, developed by Kalicharan N., a senior tech analyst with American information technology service provider Cognizant, was recently named the Asia Pacific Regional Winner in IBM’s Call for Code 2020. It “evaluates climate and soil conditions to provide farmers with information to adapt their crop strategies”, and will take home prize money of $5,000. The agriculture sector contributes about 16 percent to the gross domestic product (GDP) of India, the fifth-largest economy in the…
Author: zenger.news
Islamabad — Jawad, 17, a resident of the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, has never met his father, Ahmed Ghulam Rabbani. In fact, he did not even know about Rabbani till he was five. “A Red Cross person came to our house and put money into a prepaid cellphone,” Jawad told Zenger News. “We then called my father. That was the first time I heard my father’s voice.” Rabbani had received the call at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, where he is known as detainee number 1461. He is one of the 369 al-Qaida terrorists Pakistan reportedly handed over to the…
ISRAEL — Grain crops will always need large fields. But tomatoes, leafy greens, peppers, and strawberries are some of the many fruits and veggies that thrive indoors under precisely controlled conditions. Though it costs more to raise produce in greenhouses or urban “farm factories,” the payoff is higher yield, quality and market value. The plants can grow year-round with less fertilizer and pesticide. As more agriculture moves indoors, Israeli technologies are moving in with them to optimize lighting, watering, temperature and other factors for an efficient and effective operation. “There is a growing trend for traditional greenhouse farming and indoor…
Known as “the Indian of the Hole,” this man lives in the Amazon jungle. He is the last survivor of a tribe that was uprooted and annihilated in 1995. Westerners think he is 50 years old. Even though no one has been able to contact him, the Brazilian government cares for him from afar. The government does this because, as a native, he has rights over indigenous lands. Researchers consider him an “inaccessible” man since he communicated only with his tribe until a group of farmers massacred them. There is sparse evidence of his life. Among what is known, there…
BADALONA, Spain — A Spanish long-distance runner has completed three marathons barefoot to help raise support and awareness for local animal shelters. Dr. Daniel Amo, who teaches at Ramon Llull University and lives in Badalona with his wife and two daughters, has had a passion for sports and running his entire life. He told Zenger News that he has been running barefoot for a year after starting to remove protective layers from his feet four years ago as a form of physical therapy to relieve pain. Dr. Daniel Amo has had a passion for sports and running his entire life and…
SAN CLEMENTE DEL TUYU, Argentina—After two years of rehabilitation, a black-chested buzzard-eagle that was found nearly dead in Argentina is back in the wild. The type of wounds the female bird suffered meant she was likely a victim of animal trafficking, authorities say. The buzzard-eagle (Geranoatus melanoleucus) was discovered by Mundo Marino Education Park employee Luis De Rosa under a tree in a field near where he works in August 2018. De Rosa first became suspicious the bird was wounded when it did not react to his presence, and he saw its talons appeared to be injured, according to a…
TERUEL, Spain – Scientists working at an archeological site in Spain have found the oldest pieces of mammal hair on record and the feather of a long-extinct dinosaur both preserved in amber. The sets of remains were found at two different sites 25 miles (40 kilometers) apart in the province of Teruel, in the north-central Spanish region of Aragon. Both finds are believed to be between 105-110 million years old, dating to the Early Cretaceous period. The samples were found during recent excavations of an amber mine in Santa Maria, where eggs of Proa valdearinnoensis and Europelta carbonensis dinosaurs have been…
Ask anyone which Israeli actors have made it in Hollywood, and odds are they’ll name Gal Gadot or Natalie Portman. What most people don’t know, however, is that there are other Israeli actors making their mark on the TV and film industry. Even if you don’t recognize their names or didn’t realize that they hail from the Jewish homeland, you probably are quite familiar with their work. Here are nine Israeli actors you are sure to see on your screen with increasing frequency. SHIRA HAAS Shira Haas photo via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/shirahaas)Birth year: 1995 Birthplace: Tel Aviv Best-known roles: Esther Shapiro…
In what is probably the most fun academic study published to date, two Israeli scholars recently burrowed into WhatsApp groups to unearth the black humor, little jokes and notes of desperation emanating from parents countrywide as they found themselves stuck at home with their offspring for weeks on end during lockdown last spring. Aptly titled “‘We Decided We Don’t Want Children. We Will Let Them Know Tonight’”: Parental Humor on Social Media in a Time of Coronavirus Pandemic,” the study recently was published in the International Journal of Communication. Researchers Dafna Lemish from Rutgers University of New Jersey and Nelly…
Hyperbaric oxygen treatments can stop the aging of blood cells and even reverse the aging process in healthy aging adults, according to a recently published study from scientists at Tel Aviv University (TAU) and Shamir Medical Center. The researchers found that a unique protocol of high-pressure oxygen treatments in a pressure chamber can reverse two major processes associated with aging: the shortening of telomeres (protective regions at both ends of every chromosome) and the accumulation of old, malfunctioning (senescent) cells. “For many years, our team has been engaged in hyperbaric research and therapy—treatments based on protocols of exposure to high-pressure…