Washington DC (UPI) Jun 18, 2020 New research has revealed the origins of thorns, the rigid extensions that a variety of plant species use to protect themselves from herbivores. Not all plant spikes are thorns. The sharp needles found on cacti are called spines, while the spikes adorning rose, raspberry and blackberry bushes are known as prickles. Thorns are unique to plants such as bougainvillea, … Continue reading Yale biologist reveals how plants grow thorns

Accuracy means getting the right answer and precision is about getting the right answer, time after time. In a CRM situation an algorithm that gets the right answer is accurate and nice (we got the deal!), but if the business process supported by CRM has a lot of returns or unhappy customers, it’s not very precise.http://dlvr.it/RZ2Dnj Continue reading Time to Beef Up Your Algorithms

Online sales are projected to surge even after America reopens for business. “One of the first things companies will need to do is make sure their technology infrastructure is equipped to handle the increase in traffic,” Ryan Gellis, Founding Partner at RMG Media, told the E-Commerce Times. “The best marketing campaigns are only as good as the weakest infrastructure to support them.”http://dlvr.it/RZ1rVv Continue reading Sellers Prep for Continued Storm of E-Commerce Activity

Amazon is rolling out a system that combines artificial intelligence and augmented reality to help workers maintain social distancing in the workplace. The new system has been deployed at a handful of Amazon buildings, but the company plans to deploy hundreds of the units in the coming weeks. Augmented reality is used to create a magic-mirror-like tool that enables workers to see their physical distance … Continue reading Amazon’s Distance Assistant Keeps Workers Aware of Proper Social Spacing

Bangkok (AFP) June 18, 2020 Single-use plastic waste in Thailand ballooned during the coronavirus lockdown as demand for home food deliveries soared, activists say, setting back efforts to reduce the country’s dependency on the environmental scourge. The contagion has had mixed outcomes for Thailand’s environment, with dugongs, turtles and otters returning to beaches normally packed with tourists. But in urban arehttp://dlvr.it/RYy5Ln Continue reading Food deliveries during virus lockdown fuel Thailand plastic usage

San Francisco (AFP) June 18, 2020 The widespread protests against police brutality have created a buzz around a software shortcut letting people cue iPhones to start video recording during a traffic stop in case of misconduct by officers. The tech trick created by software developer Robert Petersen puts iPhones into action by telling Apple’s digital assistant Siri that “I’m getting pulled over.” “Siri police shortcut” … Continue reading ‘Hey Siri,’ shortcut put to use against police abuse

A new e-commerce partnership could bring 1,200 Shopify small business sellers to the Walmart Marketplace this year. Walmart’s top e-commerce priority for years was to build a marketplace customers would trust. The company has joined forces with Shopify, an all-in-one commerce platform used by more than 1 million businesses, to open the Walmart Marketplace to its sellers, said VP Jeff Clementz.http://dlvr.it/RYy5Dw Continue reading New Walmart-Shopify Partnership Stirs E-Commerce Waters

Ramat Gan, Israel (SPX) Jun 18, 2020 Israel’s Sheba Medical Center, Tel HaShomer will make history on June 18 as one of the world’s first hospitals to launch a bio-medical experiment in space. To help solve the worsening global problem of bacterial resistance to antibiotics, on this space mission Sheba will test its theory that microgravity in space affects antibiotic resistance acquisition by bacteria. The … Continue reading Space Mission Launches that will Carry Experiment Aimed at Solving Antibiotic Resistance

Tempe AZ (SPX) Jun 17, 2020 A team of researchers led by Arizona State University (ASU) School of Earth and Space Exploration professor Lindy Elkins-Tanton has provided the first ever direct evidence that extensive coal burning in Siberia is a cause of the Permo-Triassic Extinction, the Earth’s most severe extinction event. The results of their study have been recently published in the journal Geology. For … Continue reading Coal-burning in Siberia led to climate change 250 million years ago

Washington DC (UPI) Jun 17, 2020 Ever since scientists realized that rising greenhouse gas emissions were warming planet Earth, scientists have been trying to figure out what life will look like as temperatures rise. According to a new study, the Permian-Triassic mass extinction event, known as the Great Dying, can offer clues. Triggered by a combination of volcanic activity and dramatic greenhouse warming, thehttp://dlvr.it/RYtNVH Continue reading Survey of Permian-Triassic biodiversity offers vision of the future of climate change