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Author: avi maxwel

Both sides in the Russia-Ukraine war are using new and old technologies for warfare

Both sides in the Russia-Ukraine war are using new and old technologies for warfare

When it comes to technology, the war in Ukraine is a war of juxtapositions. On the one hand, this is the first major war in which a variety of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) — or drones — have played such a prominent role. On the other hand, this new technology has played a major part in forcing infantry to dig lines of trenches reminiscent of the First and Second World Wars.

Some of the technology in the war in Ukraine, such as the guided missiles being used by both sides, isn’t fundamentally all that new. Modern guided missiles trace their origin back to early developments during the latter part of the Second World War.

Modern precision-guided weapons may be increasingly accurate in hitting their targets, but there is all too often considerable human error in allocating targets for them.

What is new in the war in Ukraine

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Parker: Calgary-based NanosTech set to transform oilsands industry

Parker: Calgary-based NanosTech set to transform oilsands industry

The benefits are expected to be great

Published Dec 18, 2023  •  Last updated Dec 18, 2023  •  3 minute read

Pedro Pereira-Almao is co-founder of NanosTech, a Calgary-based technology firm. Photo by Courtesy, NanosTech. /Postmedia Network

Calgary-based technology company NanosTech is set to transform the Alberta oilsands industry.

The company emerged from the University of Calgary’s Alberta Ingenuity Centre for In Situ Energy, committed to developing leading-edge catalytic solutions to the most pressing challenges facing the energy industry today.

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NanosTech was co-founded by CTO Pedro Pereira-Almao and a group of scientist colleagues as an energy transition company to help producers meet the challenges of climate change. His partners are serial entrepreneurs who have successfully taken emerging technologies to market.

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Novel PET Recycling Technology Put to the Test

Novel PET Recycling Technology Put to the Test

Switzerland-based gr3n, which has developed an advanced recycling technology for polyethylene terephthalate (PET), reports that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with shareholder Intecsa Industrial to build a “first-of-its-kind” recycling facility. The engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) phase is set to begin in the fourth quarter of 2024 and the plant is projected to be operational by 2027. 

Economically viable technology

Gr3n’s advanced recycling process leverages microwave technology and alkaline hydrolysis, providing an economically viable industrial approach to PET recycling, according to the company. The process reportedly breaks down any type of PET and polyester into two core components — PTA and MEG monomers — which can then be re-assembled to obtain virgin-like plastics and achieve endless circularity. The process has the potential to change how PET is recycled worldwide, with huge benefits both for the recycling industry and the entire polyester value chain, said gr3n.

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U.S. to rein in algorithms for Medicare Advantage coverage decisions

U.S. to rein in algorithms for Medicare Advantage coverage decisions

Judith Sullivan was recovering from major surgery at a Connecticut nursing home in March when she got surprising news from her Medicare Advantage plan: It would no longer pay for her care because she was well enough to go home.

At the time, she could not walk more than a few feet, even with assistance — let alone manage the stairs to her front door, she said, and she still needed help using a colostomy bag after her operation.

“How could they make a decision like that without ever coming and seeing me?” said Sullivan, 76. “I still couldn’t walk without one physical therapist behind me and another next to me. Were they all coming home with me?”

UnitedHealthcare — the nation’s largest health insurance company, which provides Sullivan’s Medicare Advantage plan — doesn’t have a crystal ball. It does have NaviHealth, a care management

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A New Technology Is Helping To Save The Florida Citrus Industry With A “Shot In The Arm”

A New Technology Is Helping To Save The Florida Citrus Industry With A “Shot In The Arm”

The Cambridge Dictionary defines the familiar idiom, “a shot in the arm” as “something that has a sudden, strong, positive effect on something.” It apparently came into popular language as early as 1916, long before the connection between a “shot” became the delivery method for immunization with the introduction of the polio vaccine in 1955. Putting aside the political controversies that have recently risen around getting an injection to prevent COVID infection, there are many beneficial human health therapies that are delivered through an injection (antibiotics, pain medications, cortisone…). There are also reasons that plants can benefit from “getting a shot,” but that has been difficult to do.

Plants get sick too, but unlike humans most of their diseases are caused by fungi

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