The data for the globe comes from SEDAC, NASA‘s Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center. Each spike represents the number of people living at that location. The populations are sampled at specific points, so the tallest spike doesn’t necessarily mean that area has the densest population. It could be that the spike just happened to coincide with the center of a city. Though having worked with world population data many times before, I’d say the spikes looks more or less as I would expect.Originally the populations were based on point samples. I’ve since updated the calculation to include the area around each point. The height of each spike now reflects the total population of the rectangular cell surrounding it (each cell measures 1.4° x 0.7°).
The graphic was made with WebGL, which, if you’re not familiar with it, is a relatively new and esoteric programming library for rendering 3D graphics. By sending instructions directly to your computer’s graphics card, it allows for web-based visuals that are far more complex than would otherwise be possible, opening new possibilities for visualizing data.
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The world’s population in 2015 (full screen version)
A study led by The University of Western Australia has found plants have far more complex and developed senses than we thought with the ability to detect and respond to sounds to find water, and ultimately survive.
In the study “Tuned in: plant roots use sound to locate water” published in Oecologia, UWA researchers found that plants can sense sound vibrations from running water moving through pipes or in the soil, to help their roots move towards the source of water. The study also revealed that plants do not like certain noises and will move away from particular sounds.
Lead researcher Dr Monica Gagliano from UWA’s Centre of Evolutionary Biology at the School of Animal Biology said water was a basic need for a plant’s survival, and the study showed that sound plays a significant role in helping plants cater to this need.
“We used the common garden pea plant (Pisum sativum) as the model for our study and put the plant into a container which had two tubes at the base, giving it a choice of two directions for the growth of its roots.
The original 1960s Star Trek series took place in a universe of the future with personal communicators, holograms, and the technology to send humans beyond our solar system. In many ways that future is here. We have smartphones, virtual reality, space travel — and now the tricorder.
In the show, the tricorder was a handheld medical device that could scan a patient, read his or her vital signs, and diagnose problems in minutes. A working prototype invented by a Philadelphia-based emergency room physician Basil Harris may not look like the ones used by Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy and Commander Beverly Crusher throughout the sci-fi series, but it’s advanced enough to offer a medical diagnosis in minutes and anyone can use it.
The device — which won top honors during the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE competition — still needs to undergo more testing and receive regulatory approval before it’s available to consumers. But Harris said that may happen in just a few years and he’s aiming to keep the price around $200.
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Brothers George, Basil and Gus Harris examine prop tricorders from the Star Trek series. Courtesy of XPRIZE
In a medical first, surgeons have used a robot to operate inside the human eye, greatly improving the accuracy of a delicate surgery to remove fine membrane growth on the retina. Such growth distorts vision and, if left unchecked, can lead to blindness in the affected eye.
Currently, doctors perform this common eye surgery without robots. But given the delicate nature of the retina and the narrowness of the opening in which to operate, even highly skilled surgeons can cut too deeply and cause small amounts of hemorrhaging and scarring, potentially leading to other forms of visual impairment, according to the researchers who tested out the new robotic surgery in a small trial. The pulsing of blood through the surgeon’s hands is enough to affect the accuracy of the cut, the researchers said.
In the trial, at a hospital in the United Kingdom, surgeons performed the membrane-removal surgery on 12 patients; six of those patients underwent the traditional procedure, and six underwent the new robotic technique. Those patients in the robot group experienced significantly fewer hemorrhages and less damage to the retina, the findings showed.
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The technique is being called “a vision of eye surgery in the future.” air009/Shutterstock
A 23-year-old Phoenix man has been charged with killing nine people in a series of shootings last year that stoked fear across the city and stymied police.
A tip from the community led investigators to Aaron Saucedo, 23, and detectives were able to link him to the string of attacks by analyzing surveillance video and witness statements and ballistics evidence — including a handgun he pawned, police said.
“Today is a good day in the city of Phoenix,” said Mayor Greg Stanton, praising the law enforcement task force that hunted the shooter for nearly a year.
“They had a clear mission: bring this killer to justice and get it right.”
The gunman’s targets included men, women and children, many of them ambushed near their homes in a working-class neighborhood from August 2015 to July 2016. A woman and her 12-year-old daughter were shot dead in one incident; a man and his 4-year-old nephew escaped unhurt in another.
A Dallas-area police officer who was fired after he shot and killed an unarmed 15-year-old boy will face a murder charge, authorities said Friday.
An arrest warrant for murder was issued for former Balch Springs officer Roy Oliver, who officials said fatally shot Jordan Edwards while the teenager was a passenger in a vehicle. The shooting occurred Saturday night and Oliver was fired Tuesday.
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“The warrant was issued due to evidence that suggested Mr. Oliver intended to cause serious bodily injury and commit an act clearly dangerous to human life that caused the death of an individual,” said Melinda Urbina, a spokeswoman for the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department.
Oliver was booked at the Parker County Jail on Friday but was released after posting bail, jail records show.
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His bond was set for $300,000.
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Fired Texas cop to face murder charge in shooting of boy, 15
The record-shattering mission of the U.S. Air Force’s robotic X-37B space plane is finally over.
After circling Earth for an unprecedented 718 days, the X-37B touched down Sunday (May 7) at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida — the first landing at the SLF since the final space shuttle mission came back to Earth in July 2011. The landing occurred at 7:47 a.m. EDT (1147 GMT).
“Today marks an incredibly exciting day for the 45th Space Wing as we continue to break barriers,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Wayne Monteith, the 45th SW commander, said in a statement. “Our team has been preparing for this event for several years, and I am extremely proud to see our hard work and dedication culminate in today’s safe and successful landing of the X-37B.”
Four Liberty Township, Ohio brothers, Nigel, Zach, Aaron, and Nick Wade, known as the “Wade Quads” are now being called, the “Ivy League Quads” now that they have all been accepted to two top elite colleges in the country.
“I was just stunned,” Nigel said. “I was speechless because I didn’t think, I couldn’t believe that it was actually happening and I actually got in.”
The 18-year-olds were in track practice the moment they received acceptance emails from Yale and Harvard University. When their parents got the word they had been accepted, they were overwhelmed.
“I was at work like always when they texted us with the news and then I was home, like, when the last one came in, you know,” said their mother Kim Wade. “And I remember I think reading that, “Oh, my goodness. All of them, you know, got in?”
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Quadruplets, from left, Zachary, Aaron, Nigel, and Nick Wade pose at Lakota East High School in Liberty Township, Ohio, on April 5. Greg Lynch / AP
In the world, human beings are facing various problems. People who are full of greed, anger, and ignorance are seen to be fighting with each other in words and deeds. As the fighting continues, various problems such as civil wars, wars of aggression, and wars of aggression are occurring. As world peace is being destroyed, humans are facing unbearable problems. Innocent children and women are not getting the rights they deserve and deserve. I can't think of one thing every time. What is it? The United Nations. If we look at the responsibilities and duties of the United Nations, I think it is not suitable for solving the problems that are happening in the world today. In fact, the United Nations and the World Security Council, such an organization must rule the world, must be able to give orders, and must have various ways to obey orders. There must be no organization that can influence more than that organization. There should be experts from each country. They can even dominate the superpowers like the US, China, and Britain. Only then will global peace be achieved quickly. Now, if a country with power develops more militarily, economically, or socially than its own country, then powerful countries will jealously seek out enemies and wage war. Or they will attack with fighter jets. In this, innocent people are losing their lives. No one understands the value of a life. You should think about how to achieve global peace by controlling these. If the US continues to be the permanent president of the UN, world peace will never be achieved. If you think carefully, no one sees that they are working for the common good, but for their own benefit, for the benefit of their own country. The permanent president of the UN and the Security Council has rejected this, As a young Rohingya, I have come to realize that only by electing the president and secretary from among the countries in the world through a secret ballot system and governing the world fairly can we achieve global peace. The United Nations and the Security Council are organizations in which any country must govern, give orders, and make them obey their orders. For example, only when a defendant is tried in court can we hold the leaders of the countries in check and control them, can we achieve global peace smoothly. Otherwise, it will not be easy for powerful countries to use various excuses to end this war every year, every year, for the benefit of themselves and their countries. No country's leaders pay any attention to the words of the United Nations and the Security Council. If we look at it in practice, look at the Rohingya issue. Myanmar is a small country. Even that country has been under siege for 8 years. What action can be taken? Why is the UN and the Security Council Powerless? Without such Power, how can the organization bring about global peace? Everyone should think about it. Whether there is a veto or a strong one, all countries in the world can only achieve global peace if they are subject to the UN and the Security Council. Seek peace in the quiet embrace of nature. Peace is an indispensable need of the human race. It is not as if one person can kill another person, and it is as if one country can attack another country, but instead of trying to build peace, we must try to destroy the peace now, and the world is getting hotter and is on the verge of collapse. I especially appeal to all the world experts to urgently try to bring about peace in all parts of the world. Mr, Noor Muhamed Arkhan Rohingya Youth Myanmar
Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.
The world’s population in 2015 (full screen version)
A captivating macro photograph of a bee
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Fired Texas cop to face murder charge in shooting of boy, 15
X-37B
