GESDA's best pick from the press, web and science journals, in relation to GESDA's thematic platforms
12 October - 02 November 2021
A GESDA product curated by Olivier Dessibourg
www.gesda.global
|
|
|
FOCUS 1 - COP26 SPECIAL
Stabilising the climate // 30.10.2021, The Economist
There has never been a collective human endeavour more ambitious than stabilising the climate. This special report assess what it will take to meet the historic goals agreed on in Paris six years ago.
> On science:
COP26 climate summit: A scientists’ guide to a momentous meeting // 25.10.2021, Nature
Statement by International Senior Scientific Advisers ahead of COP26 // 28.10.2021, UK Government
There are more questions than answers: what to watch for at COP26 in research and innovation // 28.10.2021, Science|Business
Climate change accelerating health crises, endangering more lives, warns New Lancet ‘countdown’ report // 21.10.2021, Health Policy Watch
> On international governance:
COP26: What International Geneva wants from Glasgow // 31.10.2021, Geneva Solutions
Why climate policy has failed. And how governments can do better // 12.10.2021, Foreign Affairs
The climate debt keeps growing. Rich countries still refuse to pay their share // 28.10.2021, Foreign Affairs
It’s time to fully mobilize central banks and financial supervisors on climate and nature risks // 28.10.2021, WWF
The international order isn’t ready for the climate crisis. The case for a new planetary politics // November 2021, Foreign Affairs
What is the least we need from COP26? (Opinion piece from Martin Wolf) // 26.10.2021, Financial Times
If global carbon emissions are to fall quickly, negotiators must bear the following in mind.
Alok Sharma, COP26 Chair: ‘We are counting on countries like Switzerland’ // 31.10.2021, Swissinfo.ch
> On numbers and plans:
UN-EU launch watchdog to track government methane pledges // 31.10.2021, Geneva Solutions
China's new climate plan promises to peak CO2 emissions before 2030 // 28.10.2021, New Scientist
Related video: Can China achieve its ambitious climate pledges? (Video) // October 2021, TED
Emissions Gap Report 2021 // 26.10.2021, UNEP
The Emissions Gap Report 2021: The Heat Is On is the 12th edition in an annual series that provides an overview of the difference between where greenhouse emissions are predicted to be in 2030 and where they should be to avert the worst impacts of climate change.
2021 Production Gap Report // 20.10.2021, UNEP
|
|
FOCUS 2
> Yuval Harari warns humans will be "hacked" if artificial intelligence is not globally regulated // 29.10.2021, CBS News
Harari says global cooperation is needed to prevent human data from getting into the hands of a powerful few.
|
|
FOCUS 3
> Funding agency’s reviewers were biased against scientists with novel ideas // 29.10.2021, Science
Study of Swiss agency is among the first to examine how proposals by unorthodox scientists fared.
|
|
|
|
(© Wenjin Chen/iStock)
|
|
FOCUS 4
> Can we defeat death? // 29.10.2021, Financial Times
As tech titans invest in the quest to extend our lives, Anjana Ahuja asks if longer lifespans are at last possible – and at what cost.
|
|
|
|
Backdropped against clouds, the Russian Zarya module approaches Space Shuttle Endeavour and NASA's Unity module in 1998. (© NASA)
|
|
FOCUS 6
> The many benefits of healthy sleep // 29.10.2021, Science Special Issue
This special issue summarizes recent insights into the basic mechanisms underlying sleep and the many functions our brains perform during this time. The issue also focuses on sleep’s restorative and health-promoting aspects for individuals and for society more generally. It is time to acknowledge and enjoy what Shakespeare called the “honey-heavy dew of slumber.”
|
|
|
|
(© Dion MBD)
|
|
FOCUS 7
> Quantum leap for quantum primacy (Viewpoint by Barry Sanders) // 25.10.2021, Physics
Two experimental quantum computers tackle the most complex problems yet, suggesting an end to the debate on whether quantum “primacy”– the point at which a quantum computer outperforms the best possible classical computer – can be reached.
|
|
|
|
(© Chao-Yang Lu / University of Science and Technology of China)
|
|
FOCUS 8
> Expanding the genetic code // 29.10.2021, NEO.LIFE
Three chemists at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla (California), who penned a perspective this week on chemical synthesis and synthetic biology, are rewriting the central dogma of molecular biology by expanding the genetic code. Focusing on things like incorporating novel, non-canonical amino acids into proteins and cells for basic research and for new therapeutics, they also discuss introducing “unnatural” nucleotides beyond the familiar A-T-C-G and creating novel replication systems that can reproduce the unusual DNA using bioorthogonal chemistries. “These advances have allowed us to remove in a very significant way a billion-year constraint on the chemical nature of proteins imposed by the genetic code,” they write.
From our partner NEO.LIFE
|
|
|
|
(© Wikkicommons)
|
|
FOCUS 9
> Brain implants could be the next computer mouse // 27.10.2021, MIT Technology Review
What the world’s fastest brain-typist is telling us about the future of computer interfaces.
|
|
|
|
(© Selman Design)
|
|
FOCUS 10
> AI and maths to play bigger role in global diplomacy, says expert // 15.10.2021, The Guardian
International diplomacy has traditionally relied on bargaining power, covert channels of communication and personal chemistry between leaders. But a new era is upon us in which the dispassionate insights of AI algorithms and mathematical techniques such as game theory will play a growing role in deals struck between nations, according to the co-founder of the world’s first centre for science in diplomacy. Michael Ambühl, a professor of negotiation and conflict management and former chief Swiss-EU negotiator, said recent advances in AI and machine learning mean that these technologies now have a meaningful part to play in international diplomacy, including at the Cop26 and in post-Brexit deals on trade and immigration.
|
|
|
|
Prof Michael Ambühl: ‘Diplomats are not that accustomed to it.’
Photograph: Justin Hession/The Guardian
|
|
GOOD READS ABOUT GESDA'S PLATFORMS THEMES
|
|
Platform 1: Quantum Revolution & Advanced AI
Quantum and physics
> China's new quantum computer has 1 million times the power of Google's // 27.10.2021, Interesting Engineering
> Quantum computing comes out of shadows into public markets (Opinion by Madhumita Murgia) // 21.10.2021, Financial Times
> AWS opens its Center for Quantum Computing on Caltech campus // 26.10.2021, The Quantum Daily
> Toyota harnesses quantum computers to develop battery materials // 29.10.2021, Nikkei Asia
> EU team make progress toward European-only compact quantum computer that could run on solar power // 28.10.2021, The Quantum Daily
Artificial intelligence
> Pentagon wants AI to predict events before they occur // 14.10.2021, IEEE Spectrum
> AI generates hypotheses human scientists have not thought of // 28.10.2021, Scientific American
> Neuron bursts can mimic a famous AI learning strategy // 31.10.2021, WIRED
A new model of learning centers on blasts of neural activity that act as teaching signals – approximating an algorithm called backpropagation.
> AI that can learn cause-and-effect: these neural networks know what they’re doing // 29.10.2021, SciTechDaily
> How computing has transformed // 27.10.2021, MIT Technology Review
Jeanette Wing believes trustworthy AI and causal reasoning can help society solve real-world problems. But it won’t be easy.
> This program can give AI a sense of ethics – sometimes // 20.10.2021, WIRED
> Are you actually interested in AI ethics? (Opinion piece by Wendell Wallach) // 19.10.2021, Carnegie Council
> Not so mysterious after all: researchers show how to crack AI’s black box // 25.10 2021, SingularityHub
> ‘Yeah, we’re spooked’: AI starting to have big real-world impact, says expert Stuart Russell // 29.10.2021, The Guardian
> Communicating about the social implications of AI (report) // August 2021, FrameWorks Institute
|
|
Platform 2: Human Augmentation
Genomics
> CRISPR revolution: do we need tighter gene-editing regulations? No // 25.10.2021, ACSH
> The delicate dance of developmental genes // 29.10.2021, EPFL press release
> RNA-editing race intensifies as Big Pharma buys in // 23.10.2021, Chemical & Engineering News
Neurosciences
> Friend or foe? Single neurons in the brain control social interaction, study finds // 26.10.2021, SingularityHub
> How researchers mapped a fly brain // 26.10.2021, New York Times
> Effect of transcranial near-infrared light 1068 nm upon memory performance in aging healthy individuals: a pilot study // 18.10.2021, Photobiomodulation
> Human Brain Project researchers demonstrate highly efficient deep learning on a spiking neuromorphic chip // 29.10.2021, HBP
> Individuals declared brain-dead remain biologically alive // 27.10.2021, The Hastings Center
Longevity and health
> The shifting sands of ‘gain-of-function’ research // 27.10.2021, Nature
The mystery of COVID’s origins has reignited a contentious debate about potentially risky studies and the fuzzy terminology that describes them.
> Doctors successfully attach a pig kidney to a human body // 20.10.2021, Science
> Is your exoskeleton ready for primetime? // 28.10.2021, NEO.LIFE
> Nanotechnology offers alternative ways to fight COVID-19 pandemic with antivirals // 07.10.2021, Nature Biotechnology
> Who wants to live forever? Big Tech and the quest for eternal youth // 13.10.2021, The New Statesman
> Shooting for longevity and the stars // 14.10.2021, NEO.LIFE
Senolytics that target age-related “zombie” cells could be game-changing for extending lifespans and enabling long-haul space travel.
|
|
|
Illustration by Patrick Edell
|
|
Platform 3: Eco-regeneration & Geoengineering
Resources
> This groundbreaking simulator generates a huge indoor ocean // 26.10.2021, WIRED
> A recipe for fighting climate change and feeding the world // 13.10.2021, Washington Post
Scientists hope a new kind of perennial grain, Kernza, offers a taste of what environmentally friendly farming could look like.
> Are green jet fuels finally ready for takeoff? // 27.10.2021, WIRED
A first commercial test flight shows how fuel made from plants, not petroleum, could make flying cleaner.
Related communication article: First A319neo flight with 100% sustainable aviation fuel // 29.10.2021, AIRBUS
Energy
> Europe falls behind UK and US in private race for nuclear fusion // 28.10.2021, Science|Business
> Nuclear fusion edges toward the mainstream // 18.10.2021, New York Times
> Study: recycled lithium batteries as good as newly mined // 15.10.2021, IEEE Spectrum
Biotechnologies
> Shape-shifting worm blobs could inspire future robot swarms // 28.10.2021, NSF
> Mémoires à ADN: tout l’internet enregistré dans une tasse de thé // 01.11.2021, Heidi.news
Space
> China’s space mining industry is prepping for launch – but what about the US? // 26.10.2021, Forbes
> Airbus, Air Liquide and ispace Europe launch EURO2MOON, a non-profit European platform to explore future uses of natural lunar resources // 26.10.2021, Airbus
> If NASA greenlights this interstellar mission, it could last 100 years // 26.10.2021, NPR
> Tardigrades could survive interstellar travel in extreme hibernation // 29.10.2021, New Scientist
> SpaceX: how Elon Musk’s new rocket could transform the space race // 12.10.2021, Financial Times
> Un centre sur l’origine de la vie sur Terre et dans l’univers // 17.10.2021, Swissinfo.ch
Le prix Nobel Didier Queloz et l'astrophysicien Sascha Quanz vont étudier les origines de la vie dans un nouveau centre à Zurich. Qu'en attendent exactement les deux chercheurs suisses?
Climate and environment
> Is carbon capture here? // 31.10.2021, New York Times
A Swiss company is operating a device in Iceland that sucks CO2 from the air and shoots it into the ground, where it turns into rock.
> Minnesotans are helping to sequester carbon for big US companies. Here’s what that means // October 2021, St. Cloud Times
> Critical decarbonization technologies need at least “10x” investment to hit zero emission targets // 14.10.2021, WEF
> Working towards a Digital Twin of Earth // 14.10.2021, ESA
> New observatory to probe the mysteries of Earth’s ‘forgotten’ subsoil // 12.10.2021, Science
> Transformational opportunities for an equitable ocean commons (Opinion piece by Robert Blasiak, Diva Amon and Joachim Claudet) // 19.10.2021, PNAS
|
|
|
|
© Shutterstock/LeQuangNhut
|
|
Platform 4: Science & Diplomacy
> The Strategic Council for Research Excellence, Integrity, and Trust // 12.10.2021, PNAS
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine announces the creation of a new body called the Strategic Council for Research Excellence, Integrity, and Trust, charged with advancing the overall health, quality, and effectiveness of the research enterprise across all domains that fund, execute, disseminate, and apply scientific work in the public interest. By promoting the alignment of incentives and policies, adoption of standard tools, and implementation of proven methods, the Strategic Council seeks to optimize the excellence and trustworthiness of research for the benefit of society.
> Civil society activists question pandemic treaty’s ability to address global health inequalities // 26.10.2021, Health Policy Watch
Related article: ‘Zero Draft’ Report on WHO reform punts pandemic treaty forward – amidst signals of US warming to initiative // 28.10.2021, Health Policy Watch
> No more pandemic have-nots (Opinion piece by Mark Malloch-Brown, Raj Shah, Darren Walker) // 14.10.2021, Project Syndicate
With the Global North still dragging its feet while billions of people around the world remain vulnerable to COVID-19, a new coalition of leading philanthropies has come together to press for meaningful action. Failure to address this crisis means that we will almost certainly fail in the face of the next one, too.
> On the road to regulating self-driving cars // 27.10.2021, Swissinfo
As cars become increasingly able to drive themselves, to what extent should they be able to explain their actions? A UN body is putting that question and others to the public to find answers.
> Transparency in regulatory science // 13.10.2021, ACSH
> The technopolar moment // November 2021, Foreign Affairs
How digital powers will reshape the global order.
> Plan for Africa’s first synchrotron light source starts to crystallize // 27.10.2021, Nature
> On the confluence of science and diplomacy // 26.10.2021, Graduate Institute
Keshav Khanna (pictured right) is a student in the Master in International Affairs programme. He was invited to participate in the 2021 Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator (GESDA) summit as a student rapporteur and speaker during the closing plenary. His interaction with the summit this year helped him understand emerging challenges at the intersection of science and diplomacy. It also highlighted new challenges, like the importance of including the youth in other summits like these and reforming our international institutions of governance for the future.
|
|
OF INTEREST
> Look over here, kids, it’s the metaverse // 28.10.2021, WIRED
Facebook’s vision for the future of computing comes with some shiny new branding.
Related articles:
> Hey, Facebook, I made a metaverse 27 years ago // 29.10.2021, The Atlantic
> How to govern the metaverse // 19.10.2021, WIRED
To build healthy communities in virtual reality, we must move beyond automated penalties toward proactive forms of governance. Games can show us how.
|
|
|
> Cultiver la paix et relever les défis contemporains: de la graine à l’écosystème // 01.11.2021, admin.ch
Discours prononcé par le conseiller fédéral Ignazio Cassis, vice-président du Conseil fédéral et chef du DFAE à l’occasion de la cérémonie d’ouverture de la Semaine de la Paix de Genève 2021. Selon lui, “le 1er Sommet du GESDA a montré l’importance, pour la gouvernance internationale et la prévention des conflits, d’anticiper les évolutions scientifiques et de renforcer le dialogue entre science et diplomatie.” (Photo: DR)
|
|
|
|
> Alondra Nelson: “Science and technology now sit in the center of every policy and social issue.” // Fall 2021, Issues in Science and Technology
Alondra Nelson, the first deputy director for science and society in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, talks about “a new social compact for science and technology policy” that would make innovation more inclusive and equitable, reckon with the nation’s past, and use social science to improve policymaking. (© Dan Komoda)
|
|
|
|
> Marcel Salathé: Ein Treiber der Digitalisierung // 28.10.2021, Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute
Seit sechs Jahren zeichnet das Schweizer Wirtschaftsmagazin «Bilanz» die 100 führenden Personen der Schweiz aus, die die Digitalisierung voranbringen. Zum dritten Mal unter ihnen ist Marcel Salathé, Podiumsgast an der GDI-Konferenz «Zukunftsmedizin». (Photo: DR)
|
|
|
TOOLS, RESOURCES AND PARTNERS
> Before making a mammoth, ask the public (Opinion by Victoria Herridge) // 20.10.2021, Nature
“I turned down the role of adviser to a de-extinction company — that task belongs to everyone.”
> Santé personnalisée : Comment poursuivre et renforcer la participation citoyenne ? // Août 2021, UNIL/Réseau Romand Science et Cité
Si la pandémie de Covid-19 a quelque peu relégué au second plan les autres questions de santé, la santé personnalisée demeure un enjeu majeur qui a le potentiel de transformer la prise en charge des patients·es et le traitement de nombreuses pathologies ainsi que d’améliorer la santé de la population en général par son effet préventif. Elle est toutefois encore largement méconnue du grand public et sa mise en oeuvre soulève de nombreuses questions, tant éthiques que juridiques ou économiques, qui toucheront tôt ou tard une majorité de la population. On ne peut plus aujourd’hui concevoir des innovations biomédicales d’une telle ampleur sans impliquer davantage leurs futurs usagers dans l’exploration de leur pertinence sociale. L’initiative SantéPerSo de la Fondation Leenaards, lancée au début de l’année 2018, est venue dans ce sens combler un certain manque de vision de la part des autorités fédérales et des institutions de recherche.
> Public health messaging lessons for the next pandemic // 28.10.2021, AXIOS
|
|
BOOKS
> The genome defense: inside the epic legal battle to determine who owns your DNA // 25.10.2021, Nature
How a win in the Supreme Court challenged a linchpin of the genetic-testing industry.
> Antonio Damasio – Feeling & Knowing: Making Minds Conscious // 31.10.2021, Skeptic Magazine
In recent decades, many philosophers and cognitive scientists have declared the problem of consciousness unsolvable, but Antonio Damasio is convinced that recent findings across multiple scientific disciplines have given us a way to understand consciousness and its significance for human life. In his latest work, Feeling & Knowing, Damasio helps us understand why being conscious is not the same as sensing, why nervous systems are essential for the development of feelings, and why feeling opens the way to consciousness writ large. He combines the latest discoveries in various sciences with philosophy and discusses his original research, which has transformed our understanding of the brain and human behavior.
|
|
> The Exponential Age : How Accelerating Technology Is Transforming Business, Politics and Society // September 2021, Diversion Books
A bold exploration and call-to-arms over the widening gap between AI, automation, and big data--and our ability to deal with its effects. We are living in the first exponential age. High-tech innovations are created at dazzling speeds; technological forces we barely understand remake our homes and workplaces; centuries-old tenets of politics and economics are upturned by new technologies. It all points to a world that is getting faster at a dizzying pace. Azeem Azhar, renowned technology analyst and host of the Exponential View podcast, offers a revelatory new model for understanding how technology is evolving so fast, and why it fundamentally alters the world. He roots his analysis in the idea of an "exponential gap" in which technological developments rapidly outpace our society's ability to catch up. Azhar shows that this divide explains many problems of our time--from political polarization to ballooning inequality to unchecked corporate power. With stunning clarity of vision, he delves into how the exponential gap is a near-inevitable consequence of the rise of AI, automation, and other exponential technologies, like renewable energy, 3D printing, and synthetic biology, which loom over the horizon. And he offers a set of policy solutions that can prevent the growing exponential gap from fragmenting, weakening, or even destroying our societies. The result is a wholly new way to think about technology, one that will transform our understanding of the economy, politics, and the future.
|
|
EVENTS
> Four radical policy proposals to shape AI’s impact on society // 9-10.11.2021, organized by HAI Stanford University
The Stanford HAI Fall Conference will debate data cooperatives, algorithmic audits, and more. This spring, scholars at Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI put forth a call: What are the most radical policy proposals focused on emerging technologies that could respond to the challenges and opportunities of an AI-powered future? Now some of the most ambitious proposals will be discussed Nov. 9-10 during the Stanford HAI Fall Conference, Policy and AI: Four Radical Proposals for a Better Society.
|
|
> A fragile future: can mountain communities adapt to climate change? // 08.11.2021, 5:15pm CET
The University of Geneva and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs are pleased to invite you to a duplex round tables with Glasgow. Climate change threatens the vast high latitude and high altitude cold regions of the world that provide freshwater to over half of humanity. What impacts of climate change on the cryosphere have already been experienced in Latin America, Central Asia and the Andes? What risks will these regions be exposed to? After addressing these questions, the panelists will explore adaptation solutions and experiences, especially in mountain areas, with a focus on developing countries.
|
|
> Unleashing marine robots for good // 2.11.2021, 4pm CET, organized by ITU
One of the Earth’s most valuable and greatest resources remains largely unexplored and under threat… this has begun to change. Autonomous underwater robots are already being deployed; performing subsea inspections and maintenance in the hydroelectric, aquaculture, oil and gas industries; monitoring pollution, tsunami, and seismicity activity; and contributing to ocean plastic and debris clean-ups. However, the hostile and dynamic nature of the seas, extreme pressures, low temperatures, and unpredictable scenarios are only some of the challenges that hold us back from unlocking the potential of these intelligent machines. This webinar will provide insight into recent advances and possible futures of underwater robots and how they can accelerate the revitalisation of our ocean’s health and improve conditions for sustainable use of marine resources.
|
|
|
WHAT IS GESDA?
Humanity, now more than ever, is facing global challenges (especially with regards to the Covid-19 crisis), putting people and the planet under stress and in great uncertainty. Simultaneously, the world is experiencing breakthroughs in science and technology at an unprecedented pace, which are sometimes hard to grasp. Anticipation, therefore, is key to build the future with the aim of early and fully exploiting this scientific potential for the well-being and inclusive development of all. The Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator was founded in Geneva in 2019 to tackle this issue.
GESDA's ambition is to first anticipate and identify these cutting-edge advances in science and technology throughout various domains (Quantum revolution & advanced AI, Human augmentation, Ecoregeneration and Geoengineering, Science and Diplomacy). Based on this scientific outlook, it will, with its Diplomacy community, translate potential leaps in science and tech into tools that can bring effective and socially-inclusive solutions to emerging challenges. Most importantly, this process will be achieved not only by scientists or diplomats, but will include actors of various professional origins and mindsets (from philanthropy, industry, citizens, to youth).
|
|
|
|
Have a very nice and fruitful week! :-)
|
|
|
|
|
