Monthly Archives: September 2022

Age of AI and Big Data – Impact on Justice, Human Rights and Privacy Zoom event on September 28, 2022 at 12 – 1:30 pm EDT

The Canadian Science Policy Centre (CSPC) in a September 15, 2022 announcement (received via email) announced an event (Age of AI and Big Data – Impact on Justice, Human Rights and Privacy) centered on some of the latest government doings on artificial intelligence and privacy (Bill C-27),

In an increasingly connected world, we share a large amount of our data in our daily lives without our knowledge while browsing online, traveling, shopping, etc. More and more companies are collecting our data and using it to create algorithms or AI. The use of our data against us is becoming more and more common. The algorithms used may often be discriminatory against racial minorities and marginalized people.
As technology moves at a high pace, we have started to incorporate many of these technologies into our daily lives without understanding its consequences. These technologies have enormous impacts on our very own identity and collectively on civil society and democracy.
Recently, the Canadian Government introduced the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA) and Bill C-27 [which includes three acts in total] in parliament regulating the use of AI in our society. In this panel, we will discuss how our AI and Big data is affecting us and its impact on society, and how the new regulations affect us.
Date: Sep 28 Time: 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm EDT Event Category: Virtual Session
Register Here

For some reason, there was no information about the moderator and panelists, other than their names, titles, and affiliations. Here’s a bit more:

Moderator: Yuan Stevens (from her eponymous website’s About page), Note: Links have been removed,

Yuan (“You-anne”) Stevens (she/they) is a legal and policy expert focused on sociotechnical security and human rights.
She works towards a world where powerful actors—and the systems they build—are held accountable to the public, especially when it comes to marginalized communities.
She brings years of international experience to her role at the Leadership Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University [formerly Ryerson University], having examined the impacts of technology on vulnerable populations in Canada, the US and Germany.

Committed to publicly accessible legal and technical knowledge, Yuan has written for popular media outlets such as the Toronto Star and Ottawa Citizen and has been quoted in news stories by the New York Times, the CBC and the Globe & Mail.
Yuan is a research fellow at the Centre for Law, Technology and Society at the University of Ottawa and a research affiliate at Data & Society Research Institute. She previously worked at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society during her studies in law at McGill University.
She has been conducting research on artificial intelligence since 2017 and is currently exploring sociotechnical security as an LL.M candidate at University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law working under Florian Martin-Bariteau.

Panelist: Brenda McPhail (from her Centre for International Governance Innovation profile page),

Brenda McPhail is the director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association’s Privacy, Surveillance and Technology Project. Her recent work includes guiding the Canadian Civil Liberties Association’s interventions in key court cases that raise privacy issues, most recently at the Supreme Court of Canada in R v. Marakah and R v. Jones, which focused on privacy rights in sent text messages; research into surveillance of dissent, government information sharing, digital surveillance capabilities and privacy in relation to emergent technologies; and developing resources and presentations to drive public awareness about the importance of privacy as a social good.

Panelist: Nidhi Hegde (from her University of Alberta profile page),

My research has spanned many areas such as resource allocation in networking, smart grids, social information networks, machine learning. Broadly, my interest lies in gaining a fundamental understanding of a given system and the design of robust algorithms.
More recently my research focus has been in privacy in machine learning. I’m interested in understanding how robust machine learning methods are to perturbation, and privacy and fairness constraints, with the goal of designing practical algorithms that achieve privacy and fairness.
Bio
Before joining the University of Alberta, I spent many years in industry research labs. Most recently, I was a Research team lead at Borealis AI (a research institute at Royal Bank of Canada), where my team worked on privacy-preserving methods for machine learning models and other applied problems for RBC. Prior to that, I spent many years in research labs in Europe working on a variety of interesting and impactful problems. I was a researcher at Bell Labs, Nokia, in France from January 2015 to March 2018, where I led a new team focussed on Maths and Algorithms for Machine Learning in Networks and Systems, in the Maths and Algorithms group of Bell Labs. I also spent a few years at the Technicolor Paris Research Lab working on social network analysis, smart grids, and privacy in recommendations.

Panelist: Benjamin Faveri (from his LinkedIn page),

About
Benjamin Faveri is a Research and Policy Analyst at the Responsible AI Institute (RAII) [headquarted in Austin, Texas]. Currently, he is developing their Responsible AI Certification Program and leading it through Canada’s national accreditation process. Over the last several years, he has worked on numerous certification program-related research projects such as fishery economics and certification programs, police body-worn camera policy certification, and emerging AI certifications and assurance systems. Before his work at RAII, Benjamin completed a Master of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University, where he was a Canada Graduate Scholar, Ontario Graduate Scholar, Social Innovation Fellow, and Visiting Scholar at UC Davis School of Law. He holds undergraduate degrees in criminology and psychology, finishing both with first class standing. Outside of work, Benjamin reads about how and why certification and private governance have been applied across various industries.

Panelist: Ori Freiman (from his eponymous website’s About page)

I research at the forefront of technological innovation. This website documents some of my academic activities.
My formal background is in Analytic Philosophy, Library and Information Science, and Science & Technology Studies. Until September 22′ [September 2022], I was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Ethics of AI Lab, at the University of Toronto’s Centre for Ethics. Before joining the Centre, I submitted my dissertation, about trust in technology, to The Graduate Program in Science, Technology and Society at Bar-Ilan University.

I have also found a number of overviews and bits of commentary about the Canadian federal government’s proposed Bill C-27, which I think of as an omnibus bill as it includes three proposed Acts.

The lawyers are excited but I’m starting with the Responsible AI Institute’s (RAII) response first as one of the panelists (Benjamin Faveri) works for them and it’s a view from a closely neighbouring country, from a June 22, 2022 RAII news release, Note: Links have been removed,

Business Implications of Canada’s Draft AI and Data Act
On June 16 [2022], the Government of Canada introduced the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA), as part of the broader Digital Charter Implementation Act 2022 (Bill C-27). Shortly thereafter, it also launched the second phase of the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy.
Both RAII’s Certification Program, which is currently under review by the Standards Council of Canada, and the proposed AIDA legislation adopt the same approach of gauging an AI system’s risk level in context; identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks both pre-deployment and on an ongoing basis; and pursuing objectives such as safety, fairness, consumer protection, and plain-language notification and explanation.
Businesses should monitor the progress of Bill C-27 and align their AI governance processes, policies, and controls to its requirements. Businesses participating in RAII’s Certification Program will already be aware of requirements, such as internal Algorithmic Impact Assessments to gauge risk level and Responsible AI Management Plans for each AI system, which include system documentation, mitigation measures, monitoring requirements, and internal approvals.
…
The AIDA draft is focused on the impact of any “high-impact system”. Companies would need to assess whether their AI systems are high-impact; identify, assess, and mitigate potential harms and biases flowing from high-impact systems; and “publish on a publicly available website a plain-language description of the system” if making a high-impact system available for use. The government elaborated in a press briefing that it will describe in future regulations the classes of AI systems that may have high impact.
The AIDA draft also outlines clear criminal penalties for entities which, in their AI efforts, possess or use unlawfully obtained personal information or knowingly make available for use an AI system that causes serious harm or defrauds the public and causes substantial economic loss to an individual.
If enacted, AIDA would establish the Office of the AI and Data Commissioner, to support Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, with powers to monitor company compliance with the AIDA, to order independent audits of companies’ AI activities, and to register compliance orders with courts. The Commissioner would also help the Minister ensure that standards for AI systems are aligned with international standards.
…
Apart from being aligned with the approach and requirements of Canada’s proposed AIDA legislation, RAII is also playing a key role in the Standards Council of Canada’s AI accreditation pilot. The second phase of the Pan-Canadian includes funding for the Standards Council of Canada to “advance the development and adoption of standards and a conformity assessment program related to AI/”
The AIDA’s introduction shows that while Canada is serious about governing AI systems, its approach to AI governance is flexible and designed to evolve as the landscape changes.

Charles Mandel’s June 16, 2022 article for Betakit (Canadian Startup News and Tech Innovation) provides an overview of the government’s overall approach to data privacy, AI, and more,

The federal Liberal government has taken another crack at legislating privacy with the introduction of Bill C-27 in the House of Commons.
Among the bill’s highlights are new protections for minors as well as Canada’s first law regulating the development and deployment of high-impact AI systems.
“It [Bill C-27] will address broader concerns that have been expressed since the tabling of a previous proposal, which did not become law,” a government official told a media technical briefing on the proposed legislation.
François-Philippe Champagne, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, together with David Lametti, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, introduced the Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2022. The ministers said Bill C-27 will significantly strengthen Canada’s private sector privacy law, create new rules for the responsible development and use of artificial intelligence (AI), and continue to put in place Canada’s Digital Charter.
The Digital Charter Implementation Act includes three proposed acts: the Consumer Privacy Protection Act, the Personal Information and Data Protection Tribunal Act, and the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA)- all of which have implications for Canadian businesses.
Bill C-27 follows an attempt by the Liberals to introduce Bill C-11 in 2020. The latter was the federal government’s attempt to reform privacy laws in Canada, but it failed to gain passage in Parliament after the then-federal privacy commissioner criticized the bill.
The proposed Artificial Intelligence and Data Act is meant to protect Canadians by ensuring high-impact AI systems are developed and deployed in a way that identifies, assesses and mitigates the risks of harm and bias.
For businesses developing or implementing AI this means that the act will outline criminal prohibitions and penalties regarding the use of data obtained unlawfully for AI development or where the reckless deployment of AI poses serious harm and where there is fraudulent intent to cause substantial economic loss through its deployment.
..
An AI and data commissioner will support the minister of innovation, science, and industry in ensuring companies comply with the act. The commissioner will be responsible for monitoring company compliance, ordering third-party audits, and sharing information with other regulators and enforcers as appropriate.
The commissioner would also be expected to outline clear criminal prohibitions and penalties regarding the use of data obtained unlawfully for AI development or where the reckless deployment of AI poses serious harm and where there is fraudulent intent to cause substantial economic loss through its deployment.
…
Canada already collaborates on AI standards to some extent with a number of countries. Canada, France, and 13 other countries launched an international AI partnership to guide policy development and “responsible adoption” in 2020.
The federal government also has the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy for which it committed an additional $443.8 million over 10 years in Budget 2021. Ahead of the 2022 budget, Trudeau [Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau] had laid out an extensive list of priorities for the innovation sector, including tasking Champagne with launching or expanding national strategy on AI, among other things.
Within the AI community, companies and groups have been looking at AI ethics for some time. Scotiabank donated $750,000 in funding to the University of Ottawa in 2020 to launch a new initiative to identify solutions to issues related to ethical AI and technology development. And Richard Zemel, co-founder of the Vector Institute [formed as part of the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy], joined Integrate.AI as an advisor in 2018 to help the startup explore privacy and fairness in AI.
When it comes to the Consumer Privacy Protection Act, the Liberals said the proposed act responds to feedback received on the proposed legislation, and is meant to ensure that the privacy of Canadians will be protected, and that businesses can benefit from clear rules as technology continues to evolve.
“A reformed privacy law will establish special status for the information of minors so that they receive heightened protection under the new law,” a federal government spokesperson told the technical briefing.
..
The act is meant to provide greater controls over Canadians’ personal information, including how it is handled by organizations as well as giving Canadians the freedom to move their information from one organization to another in a secure manner.
The act puts the onus on organizations to develop and maintain a privacy management program that includes the policies, practices and procedures put in place to fulfill obligations under the act. That includes the protection of personal information, how requests for information and complaints are received and dealt with, and the development of materials to explain an organization’s policies and procedures.
The bill also ensures that Canadians can request that their information be deleted from organizations.
The bill provides the privacy commissioner of Canada with broad powers, including the ability to order a company to stop collecting data or using personal information. The commissioner will be able to levy significant fines for non-compliant organizations—with fines of up to five percent of global revenue or $25 million, whichever is greater, for the most serious offences.
The proposed Personal Information and Data Protection Tribunal Act will create a new tribunal to enforce the Consumer Privacy Protection Act.
Although the Liberal government said it engaged with stakeholders for Bill C-27, the Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI) expressed reservations about the process. Nick Schiavo, CCI’s director of federal affairs, said it had concerns over the last version of privacy legislation, and had hoped to present those concerns when the bill was studied at committee, but the previous bill died before that could happen.
…

Now the lawyers. Simon Hodgett, Kuljit Bhogal, and Sam Ip have written a June 27, 2022 overview, which highlights the key features from the perspective of Osler, a leading business law firm practising internationally from offices across Canada and in New York.

Maya Medeiros and Jesse Beatson authored a June 23, 2022 article for Norton Rose Fulbright, a global law firm, which notes a few ‘weak’ spots in the proposed legislation,

…
… While the AIDA is directed to “high-impact” systems and prohibits “material harm,” these and other key terms are not yet defined. Further, the quantum of administrative penalties will be fixed only upon the issuance of regulations.
Moreover, the AIDA sets out publication requirements but it is unclear if there will be a public register of high-impact AI systems and what level of technical detail about the AI systems will be available to the public. More clarity should come through Bill C-27’s second and third readings in the House of Commons, and subsequent regulations if the bill passes.
The AIDA may have extraterritorial application if components of global AI systems are used, developed, designed or managed in Canada. The European Union recently introduced its Artificial Intelligence Act, which also has some extraterritorial application. Other countries will likely follow. Multi-national companies should develop a coordinated global compliance program.
…

I have two podcasts from Michael Geist, a lawyer and Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-Commerce Law at the University of Ottawa.

June 26, 2022: The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 132: Ryan Black on the Government’s Latest Attempt at Privacy Law Reform “The privacy reform bill that is really three bills in one: a reform of PIPEDA, a bill to create a new privacy tribunal, and an artificial intelligence regulation bill. What’s in the bill from a privacy perspective and what’s changed? Is this bill any likelier to become law than an earlier bill that failed to even advance to committee hearings? To help sort through the privacy aspects of Bill C-27, Ryan Black, a Vancouver-based partner with the law firm DLA Piper (Canada) …” (about 45 mins.)
August 15, 2022: The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 139: Florian Martin-Bariteau on the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act “Critics argue that regulations are long overdue, but have expressed concern about how much of the substance is left for regulations that are still to be developed. Florian Martin-Bariteau is a friend and colleague at the University of Ottawa, where he holds the University Research Chair in Technology and Society and serves as director of the Centre for Law, Technology and Society. He is currently a fellow at the Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society …” (about 38 mins.)

One of world’s most precise microchip sensors thanks to nanotechnology, machine learning, extended cognition, and spiderwebs

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I love science stories about the inspirational qualities of spiderwebs. A November 26, 2021 news item on phys.org describes how spiderwebs have inspired advances in sensors and, potentially, quantum computing,,

A team of researchers from TU Delft [Delft University of Technology; Netherlands] managed to design one of the world’s most precise microchip sensors. The device can function at room temperature—a ‘holy grail’ for quantum technologies and sensing. Combining nanotechnology and machine learning inspired by nature’s spiderwebs, they were able to make a nanomechanical sensor vibrate in extreme isolation from everyday noise. This breakthrough, published in the Advanced Materials Rising Stars Issue, has implications for the study of gravity and dark matter as well as the fields of quantum internet, navigation and sensing.

Inspired by nature’s spider webs and guided by machine learning, Richard Norte (left) and Miguel Bessa (right) demonstrate a new type of sensor in the lab. [Photography: Frank Auperlé]

A November 24, 2021 TU Delft press release (also on EurekAlert but published on November 23, 2021), which originated the news item, describes the research in more detail,

One of the biggest challenges for studying vibrating objects at the smallest scale, like those used in sensors or quantum hardware, is how to keep ambient thermal noise from interacting with their fragile states. Quantum hardware for example is usually kept at near absolute zero (−273.15°C) temperatures, with refrigerators costing half a million euros apiece. Researchers from TU Delft created a web-shaped microchip sensor which resonates extremely well in isolation from room temperature noise. Among other applications, their discovery will make building quantum devices much more affordable.

Hitchhiking on evolution
Richard Norte and Miguel Bessa, who led the research, were looking for new ways to combine nanotechnology and machine learning. How did they come up with the idea to use spiderwebs as a model? Richard Norte: “I’ve been doing this work already for a decade when during lockdown, I noticed a lot of spiderwebs on my terrace. I realised spiderwebs are really good vibration detectors, in that they want to measure vibrations inside the web to find their prey, but not outside of it, like wind through a tree. So why not hitchhike on millions of years of evolution and use a spiderweb as an initial model for an ultra-sensitive device?”

Since the team did not know anything about spiderwebs’ complexities, they let machine learning guide the discovery process. Miguel Bessa: “We knew that the experiments and simulations were costly and time-consuming, so with my group we decided to use an algorithm called Bayesian optimization, to find a good design using few attempts.” Dongil Shin, co-first author in this work, then implemented the computer model and applied the machine learning algorithm to find the new device design.

Microchip sensor based on spiderwebs
To the researcher’s surprise, the algorithm proposed a relatively simple spiderweb out of 150 different spiderweb designs, which consists of only six strings put together in a deceivingly simple way. Bessa: “Dongil’s computer simulations showed that this device could work at room temperature, in which atoms vibrate a lot, but still have an incredibly low amount of energy leaking in from the environment – a higher Quality factor in other words. With machine learning and optimization we managed to adapt Richard’s spider web concept towards this much better quality factor.”
Based on this new design, co-first author Andrea Cupertino built a microchip sensor with an ultra-thin, nanometre-thick film of ceramic material called Silicon Nitride. They tested the model by forcefully vibrating the microchip ‘web’ and measuring the time it takes for the vibrations to stop. The result was spectacular: a record-breaking isolated vibration at room temperature. Norte: “We found almost no energy loss outside of our microchip web: the vibrations move in a circle on the inside and don’t touch the outside. This is somewhat like giving someone a single push on a swing, and having them swing on for nearly a century without stopping.”

Implications for fundamental and applied sciences
With their spiderweb-based sensor, the researchers’ show how this interdisciplinary strategy opens a path to new breakthroughs in science, by combining bio-inspired designs, machine learning and nanotechnology. This novel paradigm has interesting implications for quantum internet, sensing, microchip technologies and fundamental physics: exploring ultra-small forces for example, like gravity or dark matter which are notoriously difficult to measure. According to the researchers, the discovery would not have been possible without the university’s Cohesion grant, which led to this collaboration between nanotechnology and machine learning.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Spiderweb Nanomechanical Resonators via Bayesian Optimization: Inspired by Nature and Guided by Machine Learning by Dongil Shin, Andrea Cupertino, Matthijs H. J. de Jong, Peter G. Steeneken, Miguel A. Bessa, Richard A. Norte. Advanced Materials Volume34, Issue3 January 20, 2022 2106248 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202106248 First published (online): 25 October 2021

This paper is open access.

If spiderwebs can be sensors, can they also think?

it’s called ‘extended cognition’ or ‘extended mind thesis’ (Wikipedia entry) and the theory holds that the mind is not solely in the brain or even in the body. Predictably, the theory has both its supporters and critics as noted in Joshua Sokol’s article “The Thoughts of a Spiderweb” originally published on May 22, 2017 in Quanta Magazine (Note: Links have been removed),

Millions of years ago, a few spiders abandoned the kind of round webs that the word “spiderweb” calls to mind and started to focus on a new strategy. Before, they would wait for prey to become ensnared in their webs and then walk out to retrieve it. Then they began building horizontal nets to use as a fishing platform. Now their modern descendants, the cobweb spiders, dangle sticky threads below, wait until insects walk by and get snagged, and reel their unlucky victims in.
In 2008, the researcher Hilton Japyassú prompted 12 species of orb spiders collected from all over Brazil to go through this transition again. He waited until the spiders wove an ordinary web. Then he snipped its threads so that the silk drooped to where crickets wandered below. When a cricket got hooked, not all the orb spiders could fully pull it up, as a cobweb spider does. But some could, and all at least began to reel it in with their two front legs.
Their ability to recapitulate the ancient spiders’ innovation got Japyassú, a biologist at the Federal University of Bahia in Brazil, thinking. When the spider was confronted with a problem to solve that it might not have seen before, how did it figure out what to do? “Where is this information?” he said. “Where is it? Is it in her head, or does this information emerge during the interaction with the altered web?”
In February [2017], Japyassú and Kevin Laland, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Saint Andrews, proposed a bold answer to the question. They argued in a review paper, published in the journal Animal Cognition, that a spider’s web is at least an adjustable part of its sensory apparatus, and at most an extension of the spider’s cognitive system.
This would make the web a model example of extended cognition, an idea first proposed by the philosophers Andy Clark and David Chalmers in 1998 to apply to human thought. In accounts of extended cognition, processes like checking a grocery list or rearranging Scrabble tiles in a tray are close enough to memory-retrieval or problem-solving tasks that happen entirely inside the brain that proponents argue they are actually part of a single, larger, “extended” mind.
Among philosophers of mind, that idea has racked up citations, including supporters and critics. And by its very design, Japyassú’s paper, which aims to export extended cognition as a testable idea to the field of animal behavior, is already stirring up antibodies among scientists. …

It seems there is no definitive answer to the question of whether there is an ‘extended mind’ but it’s an intriguing question made (in my opinion) even more so with the spiderweb-inspired sensors from TU Delft.

Science POP launches Sept 12, 2022 and Science Literacy Week (in Canada) runs from Sept. 19 – 26, 2022

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I love the name for this science outreach/communication initiative being launched in Québec. You will need some French language skills to read this Government of Québec September 12, 2022 news release (or you can look at my very rough translation, which follows) announcing Science POP,

L’importance de faire circuler l’information scientifique entre chercheurs et chercheuses, mais aussi de favoriser le dialogue scientifique avec le public n’est plus à démontrer, tant pour partager les enjeux de santé majeurs que pour lutter contre la désinformation. C’est dans cette perspective que la nouvelle initiative de communication scientifique devant public Science POP, proposée par l’Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM) avec le soutien du Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQS), est officiellement lancée aujourd’hui, avec un appel aux établissements d’enseignement et de recherche qui souhaitent postuler pour y participer.
Sous forme de concours amical présenté devant public, Science POP mettra en présence les talents émergents de la science, les amenant à vulgariser leurs savoirs sous des formes aussi ludiques que digestes et intelligibles.
Description du concours
Dans une formule unique mise en place par l’IRCM, les universités, centres et instituts de recherche qui désirent participer à Science POP bénéficieront d’un accompagnement pour l’organisation d’une compétition interne à trois volets, chacun proposant à la relève étudiante des cycles supérieurs (étudiants et étudiantes à la maîtrise et au doctorat, postdoctorants et postdoctorantes) un défi distinct de communication scientifique :
Défi de vulgarisation : Expliquez un élément central de votre projet de recherche!
Défi de valorisation : Soulignez les retombées de votre projet de recherche!
Défi de mobilisation : Témoignez de votre engagement envers la santé durable!
Les participants et participantes seront jugés par un comité formé de citoyens et de citoyennes, de chercheurs et de chercheuses universitaires, ainsi que de spécialistes de différents domaines : philanthropie, journalisme, développement de partenariats, etc. Les finalistes de chaque concours interne accèderont à la finale québécoise, qui aura lieu dans la région métropolitaine de Montréal en mai 2023.
Appel à la participation
Le concours Science POP cherche à accueillir quinze 15) établissements, des quatre coins de la province du Québec, pour son édition 2022-2023. Consultez le site Internet du concours pour en découvrir tous les détails et invitez vos forces vives à se concerter autour de l’initiative : www.sciencepop.ca
Il est à noter qu’une séance d’information aura lieu le 19 septembre 2022, à 13 h, sur la plateforme Zoom.
Pour assister à l’événement
Lorsque vous serez prêts et prêtes à sauter dans l’aventure Science POP, votre établissement pourra soumettre une demande afin de s’inscrire à titre d’institution participante, et ce, dès le 3 octobre 2022, à partir de 12 h. Faites vite, les places étant limitées : premiers arrivés, premiers servis!
Dates à retenir
Séance d’information : 19 septembre 2022, à 13 h
Date de début – Inscription des institutions participantes : 3 octobre 2022, à partir de 12 h
Date limite – Inscription des institutions participantes : 31 octobre 2022, à 12 h
Ateliers de formation pour relever un défi : Mars 2023 (dates à venir)
Compétitions internes : Du 1^er au 30 avril 2023
Finale provinciale : Mai 2023 (date à venir)
Annonce des lauréats et lauréates de la finale provinciale : Juin 2023

I did mention my French is shaky, oui? Here goes my translation: Science POP is a province-wide science communication initiative and this news release launches that initiative and offers an invitation to education and/or research institutions focused on health and medical care to participate in a competition. There’s a Zoom information session on Sept. 19, 2022.

I think they are suggesting a set of preliminary student competitions be held within the participating institutions with the focus on three challenges: (1) making the research understandable and accessible to a general audience; (2) contextualizing the research within the current research environment; and (3) ensuring the communication about the research engages its audiences.

By May 1, 2023, the participating institutions are encouraged to have selected finalists for their trip to Montréal and a series of final presentations at the end of May 2023. To ensure the most comprehensive diffusion of the various student presentations, they will available online so anyone, anywhere in the province can see the work.

You can find the Science POP webpage, which has more information, on l’Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (ICRM) website; you can register for the Science POP information session here; and, you can find a French language guide (PDF) for participating institutions here.

By the way, there are prizes: First place is $1000; Second place is $500, and a special or honorable mention is $250.

Science Literacy Week (in Canada) from September 19 – 26, 2022

The week’s theme this year is Mathematics.

Here’s more about this year’s theme from the Science Literacy Week About page,

Mathematics is the language in which science is written. In its oldest forms, mathematics studies trajectories in space, solves equations, calculates probabilities, generates statistics, and much, much more. Today, mathematics is being used to power the next giant leaps in science and technology: we use algebra and number theory to secure the internet and protect confidential information. We use statistics, geometry, and optimization to produce artificial intelligence, and advances in probability and analysis are being used to create revolutionary quantum computers—just like we used logic and discrete mathematics to develop our earliest computers a century ago. We’re encouraging Canadians to explore mathematics, its modern applications and how this ancient science is the origin of all the technology we know and use today.
This text was developed in collaboration with the Canadian Mathematical Society.

This seems to be a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) science promotion effort and this year, the Events page filters are working quite well. It was very easy to find events near Vancouver, Canada; I am particularly intrigued by the Fibonacci’s Frogs workshop (offered by the Society for Canadian Women in Science and Technology [SCWIST]) but it is intended for schools, which leaves me out. (sigh) On the plus side, there are some other events for adults too. Enjoy—whatever your age!

Better recording with flexible backing on a brain-computer interface (BCI)

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This work has already been patented, from a March 15, 2022 news item on ScienceDaily,

Engineering researchers have invented an advanced brain-computer interface with a flexible and moldable backing and penetrating microneedles. Adding a flexible backing to this kind of brain-computer interface allows the device to more evenly conform to the brain’s complex curved surface and to more uniformly distribute the microneedles that pierce the cortex. The microneedles, which are 10 times thinner than the human hair, protrude from the flexible backing, penetrate the surface of the brain tissue without piercing surface venules, and record signals from nearby nerve cells evenly across a wide area of the cortex.
This novel brain-computer interface has thus far been tested in rodents. The details were published online on February 25 [2022] in the journal Advanced Functional Materials. This work is led by a team in the lab of electrical engineering professor Shadi Dayeh at the University of California San Diego, together with researchers at Boston University led by biomedical engineering professor Anna Devor.
…

Caption: Artist rendition of the flexible, conformable, transparent backing of the new brain-computer interface with penetrating microneedles developed by a team led by engineers at the University of California San Diego in the laboratory of electrical engineering professor Shadi Dayeh. The smaller illustration at bottom left shows the current technology in experimental use called Utah Arrays. Credit: Shadi Dayeh / UC San Diego / SayoStudio

A March 14, 2022 University of California at San Diego news release (also on EurekAlert but published March 15, 2022), which originated the news item, delves further into the topic,

This new brain-computer interface is on par with and outperforms the “Utah Array,” which is the existing gold standard for brain-computer interfaces with penetrating microneedles. The Utah Array has been demonstrated to help stroke victims and people with spinal cord injury. People with implanted Utah Arrays are able to use their thoughts to control robotic limbs and other devices in order to restore some everyday activities such as moving objects.
The backing of the new brain-computer interface is flexible, conformable, and reconfigurable, while the Utah Array has a hard and inflexible backing. The flexibility and conformability of the backing of the novel microneedle-array favors closer contact between the brain and the electrodes, which allows for better and more uniform recording of the brain-activity signals. Working with rodents as model species, the researchers have demonstrated stable broadband recordings producing robust signals for the duration of the implant which lasted 196 days.
In addition, the way the soft-backed brain-computer interfaces are manufactured allows for larger sensing surfaces, which means that a significantly larger area of the brain surface can be monitored simultaneously. In the Advanced Functional Materials paper, the researchers demonstrate that a penetrating microneedle array with 1,024 microneedles successfully recorded signals triggered by precise stimuli from the brains of rats. This represents ten times more microneedles and ten times the area of brain coverage, compared to current technologies.
Thinner and transparent backings
These soft-backed brain-computer interfaces are thinner and lighter than the traditional, glass backings of these kinds of brain-computer interfaces. The researchers note in their Advanced Functional Materials paper that light, flexible backings may reduce irritation of the brain tissue that contacts the arrays of sensors.
The flexible backings are also transparent. In the new paper, the researchers demonstrate that this transparency can be leveraged to perform fundamental neuroscience research involving animal models that would not be possible otherwise. The team, for example, demonstrated simultaneous electrical recording from arrays of penetrating micro-needles as well as optogenetic photostimulation.
Two-sided lithographic manufacturing
The flexibility, larger microneedle array footprints, reconfigurability and transparency of the backings of the new brain sensors are all thanks to the double-sided lithography approach the researchers used.
Conceptually, starting from a rigid silicon wafer, the team’s manufacturing process allows them to build microscopic circuits and devices on both sides of the rigid silicon wafer. On one side, a flexible, transparent film is added on top of the silicon wafer. Within this film, a bilayer of titanium and gold traces is embedded so that the traces line up with where the needles will be manufactured on the other side of the silicon wafer.
Working from the other side, after the flexible film has been added, all the silicon is etched away, except for free-standing, thin, pointed columns of silicon. These pointed columns of silicon are, in fact, the microneedles, and their bases align with the titanium-gold traces within the flexible layer that remains after the silicon has been etched away. These titanium-gold traces are patterned via standard and scalable microfabrication techniques, allowing scalable production with minimal manual labor. The manufacturing process offers the possibility of flexible array design and scalability to tens of thousands of microneedles.
Toward closed-loop systems

Looking to the future, penetrating microneedle arrays with large spatial coverage will be needed to improve brain-machine interfaces to the point that they can be used in “closed-loop systems” that can help individuals with severely limited mobility. For example, this kind of closed-loop system might offer a person using a robotic hand real-time tactical feedback on the objects the robotic hand is grasping.
Tactile sensors on the robotic hand would sense the hardness, texture, and weight of an object. This information recorded by the sensors would be translated into electrical stimulation patterns which travel through wires outside the body to the brain-computer interface with penetrating microneedles. These electrical signals would provide information directly to the person’s brain about the hardness, texture, and weight of the object. In turn, the person would adjust their grasp strength based on sensed information directly from the robotic arm.

This is just one example of the kind of closed-loop system that could be possible once penetrating microneedle arrays can be made larger to conform to the brain and coordinate activity across the “command” and “feedback” centers of the brain.

Previously, the Dayeh laboratory invented and demonstrated the kinds of tactile sensors that would be needed for this kind of application, as highlighted in this video.

Pathway to commercialization

The advanced dual-side lithographic microfabrication processes described in this paper are patented (US 10856764). Dayeh co-founded Precision Neurotek Inc. to translate technologies innovated in his laboratory to advance state of the art in clinical practice and to advance the fields of neuroscience and neurophysiology.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Scalable Thousand Channel Penetrating Microneedle Arrays on Flex for Multimodal and Large Area Coverage BrainMachine Interfaces by Sang Heon Lee, Martin Thunemann, Keundong Lee, Daniel R. Cleary, Karen J. Tonsfeldt, Hongseok Oh, Farid Azzazy, Youngbin Tchoe, Andrew M. Bourhis, Lorraine Hossain, Yun Goo Ro, Atsunori Tanaka, Kıvılcım Kılıç, Anna Devor, Shadi A. Dayeh. Advanced Functional Materials DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202112045 First published (online): 25 February 2022

This paper is open access.

Invitation to join “Tell Your NR (Nano Research journal) Story”

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A September 9, 2022 Tsinghua University Press news release on EurekAlert celebrates a milestone for its Nano Research journal,

On September 9, 2022, the cumulative number of published papers of Nano Research exceeded 5,000! From 2008 to 2022, the number of published papers grows substantially from 54 to more than 1000. Looking back on the fifteen years of struggle, Nano Research could not have achieved great success without the support of its readers and authors!
Since every reader is a participant or witness to the growth of Nano Research, we sincerely invite you to participate in the “Tell Your NR Story” Activity which aims to give awards back to readers.
How to Participate: Leave a message in the WeChat comment area and tell your story about Nano Research. The editorial office would select 30 lucky participants and present exquisite gifts (as shown in the picture below). This activity starts on September 9 and ends on September 18. The list of winners will be announced on September 19, so stay tuned!
About Nano Research
Nano Research is a peer-reviewed, international and interdisciplinary research journal, publishes all aspects of nano science and technology, featured in rapid review and fast publishing, sponsored by Tsinghua University and the Chinese Chemical Society. It offers readers an attractive mix of authoritative and comprehensive reviews and original cutting-edge research papers. After 15 years of development, it has become one of the most influential academic journals in the nano field. In 2022 InCites Journal Citation Reports, Nano Research has an Impact Factor of 10.269 (9.136, 5 years), the total cites reached 29620, ranking first in China’s international academic journals, and the number of highly cited papers reached 120, ranked among the top 2.8% of over 9000 academic journals.

Caption: Leave a message in the WeChat comment area and tell your story about Nano Research. The editorial office would select 30 lucky participants and present exquisite gifts Credit: Nano Research

Good luck! (You can find a briefer notice September 8, 2022 notice about the contest which also has the QR code on this Nano Research webpage.)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Museum re-opens on October 2, 2022

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They have really gone to town (so to speak) with their new digs. Here’s more from a September 8, 2022 MIT news release (received via email),

NEW MIT MUSEUM OPENS TO THE PUBLIC ON OCTOBER 2, 2022
MIT Museum opens in a new building at 314 Main Street, Cambridge, MA
Cambridge, MA, September 8, 2022 — On October 2, 2022, the MIT Museum will re-open in a new location at 314 Main Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Reinvented with new exhibitions and programming, an enlarged Museum Store, and more, all within a 56,000 square foot space, the MIT Museum aims to make innovation and research available to all by presenting the best of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math).
The MIT Museum turns MIT inside-out, inviting visitors to take part in on-going research and demonstrate how science and innovation will shape the future of society. The opening exhibits are both informative and interactive, allowing visitors to write poetry with an artificial intelligence (AI) in one room while considering the impact of AI on the future of work nearby. Highlights throughout the galleries include: a prototype of Nobel winner Rainer Weiss’s Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), which proved Einstein’s theory of relativity; the NASA-MIT Starshade Rendezvous Mission star-shade petal designed by Sara Seager to allow photography of exoplanets; the 1892 diploma of pioneering architect and professor Robert Robinson Taylor, the first Black graduate of MIT; the Apollo Guidance Computer (Block II), critical to the success of Apollo missions; and selected photography including Edward Weston’s Jiddu Krishnamurti (1935) and Judy Dater’s Lovers (1964).
The Museum will offer free general admission to all Cambridge residents through its Cambridge Resident Membership program and will host a Cambridge Community Day on October 1, providing residents with an advanced look at the new Museum. Starting on October 2, the Museum will open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. In addition, a newly imagined Cambridge Science Festival will kick off the Museum’s opening programming from October 3-9. The MIT community is invited to preview the Museum first on September 23.
The Museum is now located in the heart of the Kendall Square Gateway of MIT’s campus, which provides easy access for the MIT community and the general public alike. The Museum, with three floors of space purposely designed by architects Höweler + Yoon Architecture, is located in the recently constructed multi-use building designed by Weiss/Manfredi Architecture / Landscape / Urbanism.
“The opening of the MIT Museum completes the trio of spaces – including the Welcome Center and the two acres of community greenspace – that make up the heart of the gateway to our campus,” said MIT Provost Cynthia Barnhart. “Open to the public and made possible by a generous group of donors and supporters, the Museum showcases MIT’s historical contributions to science and technology and makes the Institute’s art and artifacts accessible to the world. We look forward to welcoming the public to the Museum this fall to celebrate this significant milestone for MIT.”
Highlights of the Museum include freshly conceived exhibitions featuring objects from the Museum’s prodigious collections of over 1 million objects, along with loans of art and artifacts; The Exchange event and meeting space for public dialogue and conversation; and a hands-on Maker Hub, where audiences can experiment with putting scientific ideas into action.
“It is with great anticipation that we welcome the MIT community and the public to the new MIT Museum this fall,” said MIT Museum Director John Durant. “The MIT Museum is consciously standing at the interface between a world-famous research institute and the wider world. We plan to ‘turn MIT inside out,’ by making what MIT does visible and accessible to all. Visitors will see that we are focused on the question: what does all this intensive creativity, research, innovation, teaching and learning mean – not least, for the wider community of which we’re all part?”
For more information about the new Museum, you can read a Q&A with John Durant, the Mark R. Epstein (Class of 1963) Director of the MIT Museum.
“The new MIT Museum is planned as a place where you can really learn something new. The exhibits present high-level research in a way that is interactive and meets visitors where they are, whether they are entirely new to science or already experts,” said Phillip A. Sharp, MIT Institute Professor and Chairman of the MIT Museum Advisory Board.

There are also details about the galleries and events,

THE GAMBRILL CENTER
The Museum’s three floors designed by Höweler + Yoon are situated in the Gambrill Center, which is located in the multi-use building at 314 Main Street, Cambridge designed by Weiss/Manfredi.
The Museum’s light-filled lobby connects it to campus through its glass facade and to the Kendall T stop and Main Street through an open space concept that dissolves the boundaries between store and soon-to-be opened cafe. Two broad staircases that function as amphitheaters and gathering areas lead visitors from the lobby to the second and third floors, surrounded by spacious galleries on each floor. Together with the stair sequence, the Museum’s exhibitions inform an architectural spiral bookended with explorations of cutting edge ideas in science, art and technology, bracketed by MIT’s current research and its historic contributions. Gathering spaces and MIT’s only public Maker Hub punctuate the galleries, making room for visitors to enjoy the inspiring, spontaneous encounters that spark innovation within the university. The exterior of the building shifts and changes as one approaches, a chameleon-like experience designed by Weiss/Manfredi that amplifies the Museum’s long-standing interest in questions of visual perception. The facade of the building emphasizes the Museum’s position as a permeable membrane between MIT, Cambridge and the wider world.
IN THE GALLERIES
A list of MIT Departments, Labs and Centers, Artists, Groups and Companies whose work is on view can be found here. The following exhibitions and installations are on view:
Essential MIT – A look at the experimental culture and collaborative spirit of the MIT community via an interactive exploration of groundbreaking projects and ongoing innovation. Whether encompassing global issues, ventures into space, or efforts to improve our daily lives, these are all stories of challenges addressed through innovation and collaboration. The Essential MIT exhibition is supported by the Biogen Foundation. Located in the Brit J. (1961) and Alex (1949) d’Arbeloff Gallery.
Gene Cultures – In the last twenty years genetic research and biotechnology have developed astonishing innovations that offer possible solutions to some of the most intractable problems facing society today, but also create new moral and ethical challenges. This exhibition presents contemporary genetic and genomic research in conversation with Bioart. Located in the Henri A. Termeer Gallery.
Tracing Threads – A thought-provoking installation on the shifting movement of people and goods in an increasingly globalized world. The movement of population clusters and shifting cultural identities define our times. The highlighted projects, American DNA from MIT’s Senseable City Lab, and the textile art installation Coring America from the MIT Future Heritage Lab and Azra Aksamija, show the effects of international migration on the genetic histories of the United States and the environmental and social impacts of forced displacement.
A Life in a Day – Designed by Random International, the collaborative studio for experimental studies, this experience will have visitors contemplating what it might feel like to share the world with other forms of intelligence. The projected “swarms” developed for the piece – continuations of the artist’s Swarm Studies, ongoing since 2008 – move across the walls of the gallery, reacting to the presence of visitors and evolving and adapting throughout the lifespan of the exhibition. Located in the Martin J. (1959) and Eleanor C. Gruber Gallery.
In Concert: Ganson and Cavatorta – Interdisciplinary by nature, the field of art-science embraces a wide spectrum of creativity that spans the areas of making, mechanics, play, technology, the sciences, and engineering-based disciplines. Built around the work of Arthur Ganson and Andy Cavatorta (a graduate of MIT’s Media Lab), this exhibition offers up a harmony of sound and motion and a physical embodiment of a relationship forged on the MIT campus. A selection of Ganson’s sculptures will be on view alongside the American debut of Cavatorta’s Whale (2022), which plays a 200-year-long song inspired by the compositions of Hildegard von Bingen and the music of bowhead whales. Located in the Martin J. (1959) and Eleanor C. Gruber Gallery.
AI: Mind the Gap – The ubiquitous presence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, from the home to robots in the workplace, compels us to ask questions about its potential and its risks, and about machine ability versus human ability. The contemporary and historical research presented in this exhibition spans computer science, mechanical engineering, neuroscience, and the social sciences.

To Look and Learn: The Creative Photography Laboratory at MIT presents the innovations and far-reaching influence of an unconventional curriculum and the photographer and educator behind it. The CPL taught scientifically-minded students to “see creatively” from 1965 to 1983 and left behind an expansive archive and visual collection. The exhibition features longtime director of the Lab, Minor White, as well as photographers such as Ansel Adams, Judy Dater, Emmet Gowin, Lotte Jacobi, Pirkle Jones, Milton Rogovin, and Edward Weston among others. Located in the Ronald A. (1954) and Carol S. Kurtz Photography Gallery.
MIT COLLECTS – objects from the Museum’s vast collection, arranged in topic areas: Located in the Edward O. Thorp Gallery.
    Technology and the Dream – Recordings of students, staff, researchers, and community members offer a sense of the Black experience at MIT.
Modeling Everything – A wide array of models for teaching, discovery, research, and documentation, from ships to crystal structures to architectural design.
    Virtual MIT – A virtual time capsule of MIT and the community that came together to create it.
    A Sequence of Actions – A look at historical components and artifacts from a critical era in programming during the mid-20th century.
    Totally Useless Things – Learn how curiosity is the fuel that discovery runs on.
Exhibition design by Studio Joseph
AND FEATURING
The Museum’s lobby will be a public and social hub: freely accessible to anyone, the space offers an opportunity to feature art installations, new technologies, and civic science. A Counting is the first of the offerings the space will hold. This art piece from the MIT Media Lab’s Ekene Ijeoma and the Poetic Justice Group of the MIT Media Lab uses sound and video to produce voice portraits of cities. A Counting is an evolving and participatory livestream linguistic portrait of the diverse spoken and sign languages of the Boston and Cambridge community in a count from 1 to 100, featuring the voice of each person and language for each number.
Spatial Frequencies – Connections between visual art, vision neuroscience and computational methods of representing and understanding human vision are in play in this work created through the MIT Museum Studio.

OTHER SPACES
MAKER HUB AND LEARNING LABS
A range of guided drop-in activities offered daily, free with Museum admission, along with group workshops in the fully-equipped education space. Located in the Ulf B. Heide (1960) Education Suite.
THE EXCHANGE
The Yuchun (1989) and Agustina Lee Family Exchange, a double-height space featuring a massive media wall, hosts face-to-face meetings including short talks, demonstrations, panel discussions, and debates.
COLLECTIONS WORKSHOP
A space where students and instructors, whether from MIT or elsewhere, can discuss subjects aided by close-up engagement with artifacts. Located in the Ann Chase Allen Workshop.
EVENT SPACE
The Museum’s event room, which is available to rent, accommodates meetings and other gatherings in its light-filled space. Located in the Phillip A. Sharp Room (made possible through the generous support of the Biogen Foundation).
OPENING EVENTS
MIT Community Day – September 23, 12-6:00 p.m. – preview for the MIT community including students, faculty, staff.
Cambridge Community Day – October 1, 12-5:00 p.m. – preview for all residents of Cambridge, MA, with the opportunity to register for Cambridge Resident Membership.
Cambridge Science Festival – October 3-9 – This week-long celebration will be action-packed with events, demonstrations, workshops and performances, many taking place at the MIT Museum and in the adjacent outdoor MIT Kendall/Open Space. Themes for the festival are Science + Climate October 6; Science + Food October 7; Science + Fashion in collaboration with Boston Fashion Week October 8; Science + Carnival October 9. Experience the magic of the Northern Lights right here in Cambridge with the experiential art installation Borealis by Dan Archer on October 6-9 each evening from 8pm-11pm (free admission).
Brain, Body + Breath – October 14 and 15 – Featuring three world premieres, a multisensory musical experience created by composer and innovator Tod Machover, Muriel R. Cooper Professor of Music and Media at the MIT Media Lab, for the opening of the new MIT Museum.
…
VISITATION
The MIT Museum will be open daily 10 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Its store is now open daily 10 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. For more information, including accessibility and amenities, please visit mitmuseum.mit.edu.
Address: 314 Mass Ave, MIT Building E28, Gambrill Center, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
Located next to the Kendall/MIT MBTA Red Line stop at the new Kendall Gateway to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Campus.

The MIT Museum website is here, the (US) Cambridge Science Festival (October 3 – 9, 2022) website is here, and the Borealis (Oct. 6 – 9, 2022) webpage is here.

Regulatory frameworks that include nanoplastics?

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A March 15, 2022 news item on Nanowerk suggests that nanoplastics should be regulated,

The regulation of plastics has emerged as a significant science-policy challenge, initiated by growing societal concerns regarding plastic pollution. A specific focus is now on nanoplastics, i.e., plastic particles smaller than 1000 nanometres in size. The need to include nanoplastics in existing regulatory frameworks arises from the increasing number of studies demonstrating the bioavailability and harmfulness of smaller plastic particles, compared to larger fragments of plastic.
…

This regulatory initiative is taking place in Europe, from a March 15, 2022 University of Eastern Finland press release (also on EurekAlert), which originated the news item,

Currently, three important policy and legislative processes are on-going in parallel that will impact the future regulation of plastics in general, and of intentionally produced micro- and nanoplastics in particular. Firstly, the European Commission is considering the restriction proposal commissioned by the European Chemicals Agency on intentionally added microplastics. Secondly, there is a discussion about how to define polymers under the European Chemicals Regulation, REACH, so that polymers are not automatically exempted from registration and submission of health and environmental safety information. Thirdly, the European Commission is in the process of revising its proposed definition of nanomaterials.
In a viewpoint article published in Environmental Science & Technology yesterday [published online March 14, 2022],researchers address regulatory concerns related to intentionally produced nanoplastics and outline how the inclusion of the three above-mentioned policy and legislative processes could impact the future regulation of nanoplastics. The discussion in the paper is about whether nanoplastics could be classified as microplastics, nanomaterials, or polymers for regulatory purposes.
According to the researchers, there is no credible scientific reason not to include nanoplastics in existing regulations as they meet all the criteria of chemicals and nanomaterials. Emerging knowledge on the harmfulness of nanoplastics is a strong motivation for including intentionally produced nanoplastics in relevant regulations, as particle-specific hazards may be relevant.
The researchers point out that since molecular weight and particle size are inter-convertible, it doesn’t matter which parameter is chosen as the basis for regulation. However, given the huge effort that has already gone into shaping REACH for nanomaterials, the practical approach would be to include nanoplastics in the regulation of nanomaterials.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Can Current Regulations Account for Intentionally Produced Nanoplastics? by Fazel Abdolahpur Monikh, Steffen Foss Hansen, Martina G. Vijver, Esther Kentin, Maria Bille Nielsen, Anders Baun, Kristian Syberg, Iseult Lynch, Eugenia Valsami-Jones, and Willie J.G.M. Peijnenburg. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2022, XXXX, XXX, XXX-XXX DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c00965 Publication Date:March 14, 2022 © 2022 American Chemical Society

This paper appears to be open access.

Regenerative architecture and Michael Pawlyn (a keynote speaker at Vancouver’s [Canada] Zero Waste Conference)

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Michael Pawlyn who founded Exploration Architecture, an architectural practice with a focus on regenerative design will be in Vancouver during the Zero Waste Conference, September 28 -29, 2022. A keynote speaker (from his speaker’s page),

Michael Pawlyn has been described as an expert in regenerative design and biomimicry. He established his firm Exploration Architecture in 2007 to focus on high performance buildings and solutions for the circular economy.
Prior to setting up Exploration, he worked with Grimshaw for ten years and was central to the team that designed the Eden Project.
Michael jointly initiated the widely acclaimed Sahara Forest Project. In 2019, he co-initiated ‘Architects Declare a Climate & Biodiversity Emergency’ which has spread internationally with over 7,000 companies signed up to addressing the planetary crisis.
Since 2018 he has been increasingly providing advice to national governments and large companies on transformative change. He is the author of two books, Biomimicry in Architecture and Flourish: Design Paradigms for Our Planetary Emergency, co-authored with Sarah Ichioka.

You can find out more about Pawlyn and biomimicry in a November 17, 2011 interviewe by Karissa Rosenfield for archdaily,

…
Why were you drawn to biomimicry? As a teenager I was torn between studying architecture and biology and eventually chose the former. I was also quite politicized about environmental issues in my early teens after a relative gave me a copy of the Club of Rome’s “Blueprint for Survival”. When I joined Grimshaw to work on the Eden Project, I realized that there was a way to bring these strands together in pursuit of sustainable architecture inspired by nature.
…
What are some of the most interesting examples, apart from the Eden Project, of existing architecture that uses biomimicry as its guiding principle? Pier Luigi Nervi’s Palazzetto dello Sport, an indoor arena in Rome, is a masterpiece of efficiency inspired by giant Amazon water lilies. Many of Nervi’s projects were won in competitions and the secret to his success was his ability to produce the most cost-effective schemes. In a satisfying parallel with the refining process of evolution, the combination of ingenuity and biomimicry led to a remarkable efficiency of resources.
The Eastgate Centre in Harare, Zimbabwe by Mick Pearce, is based on termite mounds. It manages to create comfortable conditions for the people inside without air-conditioning in a tropical environment.
…

If you’re curious about the conference, it’s the 2022 Zero Waste Conference—A Future Without Waste: Regenerative and waste-free by design on September 28 & 29 in Vancouver, BC.

China and nanotechnology

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it’s been quite a while since I’ve come across any material about Nanopolis, a scientific complex in China devoted to nanotechnology (as described in my September 26, 2014 posting titled, More on Nanopolis in China’s Suzhou Industrial Park). Note: The most recent , prior to now, information about the complex is in my June 1, 2017 posting, which mentions China’s Nanopolis and Nano-X endeavours.

Dr. Mahbube K. Siddiki’s March 12, 2022 article about China’s nanotechnology work in the Small Wars Journal provides a situation overview and an update along with a tidbit about Nanopolis, Note: Footnotes for the article have not been included here,

The Nanotechnology industry in China is moving forward, with substantially high levels of funding, a growing talent pool, and robust international collaborations. The strong state commitment to support this field of science and technology is a key advantage for China to compete with leading forces like US, EU, Japan, and Russia. The Chinese government focuses on increasing competitiveness in nanotechnology by its inclusion as strategic industry in China’s 13th Five-Year Plan, reconfirming state funding, legislative and regulatory support. Research and development (R&D) in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology is a key component of the ambitious ‘Made in China 2025’ initiative aimed at turning China into a high-tech manufacturing powerhouse [1].
…
A bright example of Chinese nanotech success is the world’s largest nanotech industrial zone called ‘Nanopolis’, located in the eastern city of Suzhou. This futuristic city houses several private multinationals and new Chinese startups across different fields of nanotechnology and nanoscience. Needless to say, China leads the world’s nanotech startups. Involvement of private sector opens new and unique pools of funding and talent, focusing on applied research. Thus, private sector is leading in R&D in China, where state-sponsored institutions still dominate in all other sectors of rapid industrialization and modernization. From cloning to cancer research, from sea to space exploration, this massive and highly populated nation is using nanoscience and nanotechnology innovation to drive some of the world’s biggest breakthroughs, which is raising concerns in many other competing countries [3].
…
China has established numerous nanotech research institutions throughout the country over the years. Prominent universities like Peking University, City University of Hong Kong, Nanjing University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Soochow University, University of Science and Technology of China are the leading institutions that house state of art nanotech research labs to foster study and research of nanoscience and nanotechnology [5]. Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST) and Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics (SINANO) are top among the state sponsored specialized nanoscience and nanotechnology research centers, which have numerous labs and prominent researchers to conduct cutting edge research in the area of nanotechnology. Public-Private collaboration along with the above mentioned research institutes gave birth to many nanotechnology companies, most notable of them are Array Nano, Times Nano, Haizisi Nano Technology, Nano Medtech, Sun Nanotech, XP nano etc. [6]. These companies are thriving on the research breakthroughs China achieved recently in this sector.
Here are some of the notable achievements in this sector by China. In June 2020, an international team of researchers led by Chinese scientists developed a new form of synthetic and biodegradable nanoparticle [7]. This modifiable lipid nanoparticle is capable of targeting, penetrating, and altering cells by delivering the CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing tool into a cell. This novel nanoparticle can be used in the treatment of some gene related disorders, as well as other diseases including some forms of cancer in the brain, liver, and lungs. At the State Key Laboratory of Robotics in the northeast city of Shenyang, researchers have developed a laser that produces a tiny gas bubble[8]. This bubble can be used as a tiny “robot” to manipulate and move materials on a nanoscale with microscopic precision. The technology termed as “Bubble bot” promises new possibilities in the field of artificial tissue creation and cloning [9].
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In another report [13] it was shown that China surpassed the U.S. in chemistry in 2018 and now leading the later with a significant gap, which might take years to overcome. In the meantime, the country is approaching the US in Earth & Environmental sciences as well as physical sciences. According to the trend China may take five years or less to surpass US. On the contrary, in life science research China is lagging the US quite significantly, which might be attributed to both countries’ priority of sponsorship, in terms of funding. In fact, in the time of CORONA pandemic, US can use this gap for her strategic gain over China.
Outstanding economic growth and rapid technological advances of China over the last three decades have given her an unprecedented opportunity to play a leading role in contemporary geopolitical competition. The United States, and many of her partners and allies in the west as well as in Asia, have a range of concerns about how the authoritarian leadership in Beijing maneuver [sic] its recently gained power and position on the world stage. They are warily observing this regime’s deployment of sophisticated technology like “Nano” in ways that challenge many of their core interests and values all across the world. Though the U.S. is considered the only superpower in the world and has maintained its position as the dominant power of technological innovation for decades, China has made massive investments and swiftly implemented policies that have contributed significantly to its technological innovation, economic growth, military capability, and global influence. In some areas, China has eclipsed, or is on the verge of eclipsing, the United States — particularly in the rapid deployment of certain technologies, and nanoscience and nanotechnology appears to be the leading one. …
[About Dr. Siddiki]
Dr. Siddiki is an instructor of Robotic and Autonomous System in the Department of Multi-Domain Operations at the [US] Army Management Staff College where he teaches and does research in that area. He was Assistant Teaching Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering in the School of Computing and Engineering at University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC). In UMKC, Dr. Siddiki designed, developed and taught undergraduate and graduate level courses, and supervised research works of Ph.D., Master and undergraduate students. Dr. Siddiki’s research interests lie in the area of nano and quantum tech, Robotic and Autonomous System, Green Energy & Power, and their implications in geopolitics.

As you can see in the article, there are anxieties over China’s rising dominance with regard to scientific research and technology; these anxieties have become more visible since I started this blog in 2008.

I was piqued to see that Dr. Siddiki’s article is in the Small Wars Journal and not in a journal focused on science, research, technology, and/or economics. I found this explanation for the term, ‘small wars’ on the journal’s About page (Note: A link has been removed),

…
Small Wars” is an imperfect term used to describe a broad spectrum of spirited continuation of politics by other means, falling somewhere in the middle bit of the continuum between feisty diplomatic words and global thermonuclear war. The Small Wars Journal embraces that imperfection.
Just as friendly fire isn’t, there isn’t necessarily anything small about a Small War.
The term “Small War” either encompasses or overlaps with a number of familiar terms such as counterinsurgency, foreign internal defense, support and stability operations, peacemaking, peacekeeping, and many flavors of intervention. Operations such as noncombatant evacuation, disaster relief, and humanitarian assistance will often either be a part of a Small War, or have a Small Wars feel to them. Small Wars involve a wide spectrum of specialized tactical, technical, social, and cultural skills and expertise, requiring great ingenuity from their practitioners. The Small Wars Manual (a wonderful resource, unfortunately more often referred to than read) notes that:
Small Wars demand the highest type of leadership directed by intelligence, resourcefulness, and ingenuity. Small Wars are conceived in uncertainty, are conducted often with precarious responsibility and doubtful authority, under indeterminate orders lacking specific instructions.
The “three block war” construct employed by General Krulak is exceptionally useful in describing the tactical and operational challenges of a Small War and of many urban operations. Its only shortcoming is that is so useful that it is often mistaken as a definition or as a type of operation.
…
Who Are Those Guys?
Small Wars Journal is NOT a government, official, or big corporate site. It is run by Small Wars Foundation, a non-profit corporation, for the benefit of the Small Wars community of interest. The site principals are Dave Dilegge (Editor-in-Chief) and Bill Nagle (Publisher), and it would not be possible without the support of myriad volunteers as well as authors who care about this field and contribute their original works to the community. We do this in our spare time, because we want to. McDonald’s pays more. But we’d rather work to advance our noble profession than watch TV, try to super-size your order, or interest you in a delicious hot apple pie. If and when you’re not flipping burgers, please join us.

The overview and analysis provided by Dr. Siddiki is very interesting to me and absent any conflicting data, I’m assuming it’s solid work. As for the anxiety that permeates the article, this is standard. All countries are anxious about who’s winning the science and technology race. If memory serves, you can find an example of the anxiety in C.P. Snow’s classic lecture and book, Two Cultures (the book is “The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution”) given/published in 1959. The British scientific establishment was very concerned that it was being eclipsed by the US and by the Russians.

Citizen science, empowerment, and global challenges

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An August 25, 2022 news item on phys.org suggests that citizen science is becoming a more important component in scientific endeavours, Note: Links have been removed,

Citizen science is increasingly recognized as an important vehicle for democratizing science and promoting the goal of universal and equitable access to scientific data and information. IIASA [International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis] researchers actively contribute to the development of this scientific approach and have recently published a primer aimed at both established and aspiring practitioners of citizen science to highlight key issues and how to address them.
Citizen science has a long history and interested volunteers have participated in scientific inquiry for centuries, leading to some of the most extensive datasets and sources of information on among others, public health, pollution monitoring, and ecology and biodiversity tracking. Today, it offers unique opportunities to join science and research across the globe, empowering people to participate in the scientific process, to gather and share data and information, and to be equipped to contribute to collective action to address important challenges that we face locally and globally today.
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An August 25, 2022 International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) press release (also on EurekAlert), which originated the news item, proposes better integrating citizen science into scientific practice,

IIASA is well known for developing innovative research methods to address global problems and citizen science is no exception. A new IIASA-led article just published in Nature Methods Reviews Primers, highlights how citizens can contribute meaningfully to scientific research, thereby becoming an integral part of integrated and evidence-based knowledge creation needed to address some of today’s most pressing challenges, including environmental pollution, food security, biodiversity loss, or the climate crisis. The authors also call attention to the impacts and great potential of citizen science for monitoring progress on ambitious global efforts like the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), large-scale data collection, and as a viable means to close data gaps and support inclusive decision-making.
“Nature Methods Reviews Primers articles are high-quality, introductory review articles describing the current state-of-the-art for applying a specific scientific method. Being invited to write a primer on citizen science is important in two main ways. First, it underlines that the field is earning recognition within the scientific establishment as a valid and valuable approach. Secondly, it offers the opportunity to showcase the breadth and depth of citizen science possibilities to a wide range of scientists and researchers who are not yet familiar with it,” explains co-lead author Gerid Hager, a researcher in the Novel Data Ecosystems for Sustainability Research Group of the IIASA Advancing Systems Analysis Program.
One of the big advantages of citizen science is the fact that it promotes open data practices. In this way, the approach contributes to science innovation by opening science up to society and advancing collaborations between various actors, including citizens, which helps to make science more participatory and inclusive.
“When designed optimally, beyond addressing the data gaps to create effective policies and achieve sustainable development, citizen science can help establish more inclusive data ecosystems that empower individuals and communities, especially those that are hard-to-reach and marginalized,” notes co-lead author Dilek Fraisl, a researcher in the same group at IIASA.
In conclusion, the authors point out that the fields of application for citizen science methods and approaches continue to broaden in terms of subject matter and deepen in terms of the advancement of methodologies as more examples of citizen science research enter the mainstream scientific literature. The principles described in their primer have been successfully applied to a wide range of research domains, particularly in biodiversity research, earth observation and geography, climate change research, or environmental monitoring, which in turn contribute further to the development of both best practice and novel approaches within the ecological and environmental sciences.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Citizen science in environmental and ecological sciences by Dilek Fraisl, Gerid Hager, Baptiste Bedessem, Margaret Gold, Pen-Yuan Hsing, Finn Danielsen, Colleen B. Hitchcock, Joseph M. Hulbert, Jaume Piera, Helen Spiers, Martin Thiel & Mordechai Haklay. Nature Reviews Methods Primers volume 2, Article number: 64 (2022) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43586-022-00144-4 Published: 25 August 2022

This paper appears to be open access.

I don’t usually include the Abstract here but I particularly like the way this one is written,

Citizen science is an increasingly acknowledged approach applied in many scientific domains, and particularly within the environmental and ecological sciences, in which non-professional participants contribute to data collection to advance scientific research. We present contributory citizen science as a valuable method to scientists and practitioners within the environmental and ecological sciences, focusing on the full life cycle of citizen science practice, from design to implementation, evaluation and data management. We highlight key issues in citizen science and how to address them, such as participant engagement and retention, data quality assurance and bias correction, as well as ethical considerations regarding data sharing. We also provide a range of examples to illustrate the diversity of applications, from biodiversity research and land cover assessment to forest health monitoring and marine pollution. The aspects of reproducibility and data sharing are considered, placing citizen science within an encompassing open science perspective. Finally, we discuss its limitations and challenges and present an outlook for the application of citizen science in multiple science domains.

If you are interested in IIASA itself, the website can be found here.

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