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Your WIRED daily briefing. Today, Virgin Group has invested an undisclosed sum in Hyperloop One, conservationists and US Navy dolphins have begun a last-chance effort to save the vaquita porpoise, Tesla has issued a voluntary recall for 11,000 Model X vehicles and more.
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Hyperloop One – one of the most prominent companies developing the high-speed vacuum-tube transit technology – has been renamed Virgin Hyperloop One following an undisclosed investment by Richard Branson's Virgin Group (The Guardian). In a statement, Branson said: "Ever since our creation, Virgin has been known for disruption and investing in innovative companies. From our airlines to our trains to our spaceline, we have long been passionate about innovation in transport too, especially the development of technology that could transform people’s lives."
Conservationists in the Gulf of California have begun the final attempt to save the critically endangered vaquita porpoise, of which only 30 are thought to remain in the wild (Science). Assembled by the International Committee for the Recovery of the Vaquita and the Mexican government, the scheme includes four trained US Navy dolphins, who will herd the vaquitas into a netted corral. From there, they can be transferred to a temporary sanctuary before being released into a protected conservation area.
Tesla has issued a voluntary recall of 11,000 Model X vehicles sold in 2016 and 2017 so that it can inspect them for a potential issue with a second-row seat adjustment cable (TechCrunch). The company believes that only 3 per cent of the cars are affected by the problem, which could cause the seats to fail to correctly lock back into place after being folded flat, potentially increasing risk if an adult was in one of the seats during an accident. Tesla is emailing customers directly to book appointments to examine their cars and, if required, apply a 10-minute fix.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has warned that it could lose up to 70 per cent of its staff when it's forced to leave the its London headquarters as a result of Brexit, which could cause a temporary freeze on European drug regulation (Nature). 19 cities across the EU have applied to be its new home, with the final decision to be made collectively by EU member states. The agency has warned that several of them are entirely unsuitable for both its staff and its operations, and deems Amsterdam the most appropriate new location.
Queueing – that greatest, and most shuffling of British traditions – is doomed (WIRED). Elram Goren, co-founder and CEO of CommonSense Robotics, is responsible. His company, which builds robots and artificial intelligence systems for urban micro-fulfilment centres, is dedicated to cracking the one hour delivery problem. Goren’s idea isn’t that complicated: take online shopping as we know it, and make it go faster. It’s takeaway for ingredients. It’s takeaway for whatever you want. Micro-fulfilment centres could be tucked away in underground car parks or in the basements of city-centre office blocks, moving distribution from out-of-town to right next to where people live.
Perfect for anyone looking to understand how the most innovative and creative minds are weaving technology into business and design, WIRED Live returns to Tobacco Dock in London on November 2 and 3 with a fantastic lineup of speakers. Join us and be inspired.
Today, the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite will launch to become the latest addition to the EU's Copernicus Earth observation project (BBC). Assembled in the UK and bearing a Dutch-designed pollution monitoring tool, S5P will create daily maps of pollution levels around the world. It's scheduled to launch at 10:27 BST today, Friday October 13, from Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome aboard a Rockot – an intercontinental ballistic missile converted into a rocket booster for space launches.
The automotive industry, according to a new study, is doing a terrible job conveying to the public how their newfangled systems work (WIRED). Engineers have specialised language for automation, a five-level system that explains what drivers are responsible for, and when. But this overly technical language has not caught on with everyone else. In a report published last month, Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers surveyed 450 participants about the functionality of semiautonomous features that are either currently available or about to come on the market. They found bewilderment. Outside the lab, that confusion could easily become dangerous, creating situations where drivers get into cars without understanding their responsibilities behind the wheel.
Sony has released its long-awaited Xperia Touch smart projector, which can turn any flat surface into a touchscreen, controlled by its internal ARM-based computer hardware (Ars Technica). Its spec is that of a glorified mobile phone, running Android Nougat with 3GB of RAM, 32GB storage and – most likely – a 1.6GHz Snapdragon 650 System-on-Chip. However, at $1,700, it's underspecified for the price, with a resolution of just 1366x768 resolution and only 100 lumens of brightness, although its touch interface reportedly works very well.
The BBC has announced a new series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio drama, starring members of the original cast including Simon Jones as Arthur Dent (BBC News). The sixth instalment of the series has been adapted from Eoin Colfer's And Another Thing…, a Hitchhiker's Guide sequel commissioned – to mixed fan reception – by the estate of late author Douglas Adams for the series' 30th anniversary, as well as previously unpublished notes by Adams himself. The new series is to be broadcast on Radio 4 next spring.
The European Space Agency and AirBorne Films has released a short film showing eight children's first experience of weightless flight (Sploid). Eight kids and two adults, all of whom live with disabilities, came from five ESA member countries as part of the Rêve de Gosse (Kid's Dream) project, along with ESA astronauts including the UK's Tim Peake. They went up aboard the French CNES space agency's Novespace micro-gravity flight project's specially equipped Airbus A310. The video shows both the spectacular parabolic arcs flown by the plane and footage of the children carrying out moves and experiments in zero-G.
Take a deep breath, London. A startling recent report revealed that every single area of London exceeds the guidelines for a dangerous type of air pollution, in the form of tiny particles that can settle in your lungs. London's new Toxicity Charge, or T-Charge, is the latest attempt to bring down pollution levels in the capital. But research shows more drastic action is needed.
How Microsoft got its groove back. This month we go inside Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's mission to transform one of the world's largest technology companies. We also report from Tokyo on art collective teamLab's unique creative process and its ambitious plan to turn the whole world into a canvas. And we visit adidas's new Speedfactory in Bavaria, where robots can make every single pair of shoes unique. Out in print and digital. Subscribe now and save.
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This article was originally published by WIRED UK
