The Science Products Blog.

Most people of a certain age remember the Y2K problem that worried digitalists worldwide when we transitioned from 1999 to 2000 on the night of Dec. 31, 1999. What would happen to computers and systems when the last two digits on the date went from 99 to 00?

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An interpretable model to predict the sequential motions of interacting agents

Researchers at the University of California (UC), Berkeley, have recently developed a generative model that can predict the sequential motions of pairs of interacting agents, including self-driving vehicles as well as vehicles with human drivers. Their method, outlined in a paper pre-published on arXiv, is interpretable, which means that it can explain the logic behind its predictions, leading to greater reliability and generalizability.

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Off-the-shelf smart fabric helps athletic coaching and physical therapy

A computer science research team at Dartmouth College has produced a smart fabric that can help athletes and physical therapy patients correct arm angles to optimize performance, reduce injury and accelerate recovery.

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New 'blue-green' solution for recycling world's batteries

Rice University researchers literally have a solution to deal with the glut of used lithium-ion batteries left behind by the ever-increasing demand for electric vehicles, cellphones and other electronic devices.

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Laying the ground for robotic strategies in environmental protection

Along developed riverbanks, physical barriers can help contain flooding and combat erosion. In arid regions, check dams can help retain soil after rainfall and restore damaged landscapes. In construction projects, metal plates can provide support for excavations, retaining walls on slopes, or permanent foundations. All of these applications can be addressed with the use of sheet piles, elements folded from flat material and driven vertically into the ground to form walls and stabilize soil. Proper soil stabilization is key to sustainable land management in industries such as construction, mining, and agriculture; and land degradation, the loss of ecosystem services from a given terrain, is a driver of climate change and is estimated to cost up to $10 trillion annually.

* This article was originally published here

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Hundreds of cab drivers protest Uber in Warsaw

Hundreds of taxi drivers on Monday blocked downtown Warsaw in protest over a Polish draft law they see as favourable to ride-sharing app Uber as well as over US support for the American firm.

* This article was originally published here

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Robots created with 3-D printers could be caring for those in golden years

The world's elderly population is booming. The number of older people—those age 60 years or older—is expected to more than double by 2050 and is growing faster than all younger age groups across the globe.

* This article was originally published here