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Indigenous peoples patrolling the Peruvian Amazon equipped with smartphones and satellite data were able to drastically reduce illegal deforestation, according to the results of an experiment published Monday.

The study, which appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), showed that recognising indigenous people’s rights to their territory can be a powerful force against the climate crisis, the authors said.

The trial assessed the impact of indigenous forest community monitoring patrols in reducing deforestation when equipped with satellite-based alerts.  

It found a 52 percent drop in deforestation in 2018 and 21 percent reduction in 2019, in villages that were randomly assigned equipment and training compared to those that were not.

The reductions in forest loss were especially concentrated in communities facing the most immediate threats from illegal gold mining, logging, and the planting of illicit crops like coca plants used to make cocaine.

Though national governments have invested heavily in satellite-based monitoring, empowering indigenous peoples is a departure from the orthodox reliance on local law enforcement. 

What’s more, deforestation alerts rarely filter down to rainforest communities, which lack reliable access to the Internet – leaving villagers unaware of invaders clearing their land.

In local hands
The new study was led by Researchers from New York University and Johns Hopkins University in collaboration with Rainforest Foundation US (RFUS) and the Indigenous People’s Organization of the Eastern Amazon (ORPIO).

It was carried out in the indigenous Shipibo communities of Patria Nueva and Nueva Saposoa in the Peruvian Amazon, with photos supplied by Peru SAT-1, a satellite launched in 2016 that flies over the country 14 times daily.

Thirty-six villages were randomly assigned to the intervention, each identifying three representatives to conduct monthly patrols to verify reports of deforestation. They were paid $8 per patrol.

Thirty-seven villages were assigned as a control to maintain their existing forest management practices.

Once a month, couriers navigated the Amazon river and its tributaries to deliver USB drives containing satellite photos and GPS information to remote villages. 

The assigned monitors downloaded this information onto special such as when drug traffickers were involved.

“The whole point is to put the deforestation information into the hands of those most affected by its consequences and who can take action to stop it,” said Tom Bewick,  Peru country director for RFUS.

Over the course of the two-year study, the communities that carried out patrols using satellite data prevented the destruction of an estimated 456 hectares (1,127 acres) of rainforest, avoiding the release of more than 234,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions.

One-third of the Amazon rainforest falls within around 3,344 formally recognised indigenous territories.

“The findings make a strong case to increase investment to scale the model,” said Bewick. “It would be good for the future: not only for Peru, but for our planet.”

Preserving the Amazon’s five million square kilometers (two million square miles) of rainforest is seen as vital in the fight against global climate catastrophe.

Around 60 percent of the rainforest is located in Brazil, where rates of deforestation last year surged to a 12-year-high under President Jair Bolsonaro.


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Watch Neuralink’s First Brain-Chip Patient Playing Chess Using His Mind

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Watch Neuralink's First Brain-Chip Patient Playing Chess Using His Mind

Elon Musk’s brain-chip startup Neuralink livestreamed on Wednesday its first patient implanted with a chip using his mind to play online chess.

Noland Arbaugh, the 29-year-old patient who was paralyzed below the shoulder after a diving accident, played chess on his laptop and moved the cursor using the Neuralink device. The implant seeks to enable people to control a computer cursor or keyboard using only their thoughts.

Arbaugh had received an implant from the company in January and could control a computer mouse using his thoughts, Musk said last month.

“The surgery was super easy,” Arbaugh said in the video streamed on Musk’s social media platform X, referring to the implant procedure. “I literally was released from the hospital a day later. I have no cognitive impairments.

“I had basically given up playing that game,” Arbaugh said, referring to the game Civilization VI, “you all (Neuralink) gave me the ability to do that again and played for 8 hours straight.”

Elaborating on his experience with the new technology, Arbaugh said that it is “not perfect” and they “have run into some issues.”

“I don’t want people to think that this is the end of the journey, there’s still a lot of work to be done, but it has already changed my life,” he added.

Kip Ludwig, former program director for neural engineering at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, said what Neuralink showed was not a “breakthrough.”

“It is still in the very early days post-implantation, and there is a lot of learning on both the Neuralink side and the subject’s side to maximize the amount of information for control that can be achieved,” he added.

Even so, Ludwig said it was a positive development for the patient that they have been able to interface with a computer in a way they were not able to before the implant. “It’s certainly a good starting point,” he said.

Last month, Reuters reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspectors found problems with record keeping and quality controls for animal experiments at Elon Musk’s Neuralink, less than a month after the startup said it was cleared to test its brain implants in humans. Neuralink did not respond then to questions about the FDA’s inspection.

© Thomson Reuters 2024


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Government Eases Approval Process for FDI in Space Sector

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Government Eases Approval Process for FDI in Space Sector

India will allow 100% foreign direct investment in the manufacture of satellite systems without official approval and eased the rules for launch vehicles, a government statement said, aiming for a greater share of the global space market.

India’s space ambitions got a boost when it became the first country to land a spacecraft near the unexplored south pole of the moon in August – and the fourth to achieve a soft landing – just days after a similar Russian mission failed.

The government said in a statement late on Wednesday that foreign companies could invest in the manufacture of components and systems or sub-systems for satellites up to 100% without approval.

Foreign firms planning to build satellites in India would not require government approval up to 74% of the investment; for investment in launch vehicles, investment could go up to 49% without such approval, the statement said.

India has privatised space launches and is aiming for a five-fold increase in its share of the global launch market, which some expect to be worth $47.3 billion by 2032. India currently accounts for about 2% of the space economy.

The country hopes that liberalised rules for the space sector, long controlled by the government, will draw interest from Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, among others.

The foreign direct investment policy reform is expected to boost employment and will allow companies to set up manufacturing facilities in India, the government said in the statement.

“This will give India access to the latest tech advances and much-needed funds, not only from the country but from international investors too,” said A.K. Bhatt, director general of the Indian Space Association.

Space-related India stocks such as Paras Defence and Space Technologies , MTAR Technologies, Taneja Aerospace and Aviation and Apollo Micro Systems climbed 2% to 5% on Thursday.

© Thomson Reuters 2024


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Neuralink Switches Location From Delaware to Nevada

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Neuralink Switches Location From Delaware to Nevada

Elon Musk‘s brain-chip implant company, Neuralink, changed its location of incorporation from Delaware to Nevada, according to the business portals of both states.

The development comes about a week after Musk said Tesla would hold a shareholder vote to transfer its state of incorporation to Texas from Delaware after a judge invalidated his $56 billion (roughly Rs. 4,64,880 crore) pay package.

However, switching the state of incorporation for Tesla could come with hurdles such as investor lawsuits, particularly if it was seen as a move to secure his pay package, legal experts said.

Musk said last week that Neuralink had implanted its first brain chip in a human patient, who was recovering well after the procedure.

Neuralink did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

In September 2023, the company received approval from an independent review board to begin recruitment for the first human trial of its brain implant for paralysis patients.

Those with paralysis due to cervical spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis may qualify for the study, it said but did not reveal how many participants would be enrolled in the trial, which will take about six years to complete.

The study will use a robot to surgically place a brain-computer interface (BCI) implant in a region of the brain that controls the intention to move, Neuralink said, adding that its initial goal is to enable people to control a computer cursor or keyboard using their thoughts alone.

© Thomson Reuters 2024


Is the iQoo Neo 7 Pro the best smartphone you can buy under Rs. 40,000 in India? We discuss the company’s recently launched handset and what it has to offer on the latest episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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