【推荐3】Canada’s new Dark Vessel Detection program is using advanced satellite technology to find illegal fishing ships that attempt to steal fish from waters around the world. Illegal fishing is a major contributor to the decrease of fish and their habitat destruction.

It is said that illegal fishing accounts for about 30 percent of fishing activity worldwide. It means that u to 26 million tons of fish are caught at a cost to the global economy of more than $ 23 billion a year. Illegal fishing occurs both on the high seas and within the 200 mile limits of coastal states. It has an especially negative effect on coastal populations in undeveloped areas.

Now, the government’s Fisheries and Oceans Canada, in partnership with the Department of National Defense and MDA (Canada’s space technology maker), has started a new program that has already led to fines on five foreign ships. The $7 million Dark Vessel Detection program uses satellite technology to locate and track ships. Some illegal fishing ships have switched off their location transmitting (传输) equipment, in an attempt to avoid surveillance (监视) and control.

The program offers state-of- the-art satellite data to small island nations and coastal states around the world. The local economies of those places are often influenced by illegal fishing. Finding illegal fishing ships from space will allow these small island nations to focus on their investigations and protect their fish.

“Illegal fishing threatens the health of our fish population and takes resources (资源) away from hard- working, legal fishermen,” said Bernadette Jordan, the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, “This state -of the art system will help Ecuador and small island nations in the Pacific region deal with illegal fishing. Such illegal activity will do great harm to the Galapagos Islands and the food and economic security of its people,” she added.

【推荐1】You jerk(猛然一动)awake in the middle of the night in confusion. Is there a figure standing in the corner of the room? Your brain begs your legs to move, but nothing happens. The anxiety increases. Your eyes scan the room. Just as you’re about to hit peak panic, you sit up and the figure disappears.

You’ve just experienced sleep paralysis(瘫痪), which is the name experts give to all sorts of weird things that occur during sleep. It happens when the brain temporarily disables the body to prevent it from acting out the vivid dreams occurring during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. It often comes with a feeling of immobility, and a sense of choking. The good news is, it’s absolutely normal, even if it’s terrifying.

But when sleep paralysis happens outside of deep sleep—when a person is just dozing off—it can be “disruptive of the architecture of sleep,” said Baland Jalal, a researcher who investigates the phenomenon. That could lead to more sleep paralysis.

While not everyone who has sleep paralysis experiences hallucinations(幻觉), seeing a person or a ghost in the room is the most common vision, said Jalal. The mechanisms behind sleep paralysis remain unclear, but research indicates that certain risk factors may increase the likelihood of experiencing a jerk, including extreme exercise before sleep, inadequate sleep, emotional stress and worry, and excessive stimulant consumption (like caffeine and nicotine), especially later in the day.

“For most people, it is not indicative of any kind of disease. If you are really worried about it, regular sleep and other simple relaxation techniques, like meditation, deep breathing and yoga, may help,” said Dr. Nathaniel Watson, president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. While the experience feels frightening, the episodes last only a few seconds or minutes at most. Most people slip out of it as quickly as they fell into it, he said.

【推荐2】Wall-E, a popular robot from a Pixar film, has been brought to life by scientists in the form of a seed-planting robot. The A’ seedbot could wander around a desert to look for fertile(肥沃) lands. After finding one, it would send a report to researchers about its discovery. The autonomous robot could then change a once-abandoned area into a workable landscape ideal for farming.

Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation graduate Mazyar Etehadi created this robot farmer. It was a part of his graduation project with the Global Grad Show. This event presents solutions that tackle modern issues connected to the environment and society.

Etehadi said that he wished to see more plants and more greenery out there. The fresh graduate added that continuous desertification led him to develop a seed-planting robot. Later, he arrived at an innovative solution that would require less human participation.

According to a recent report, the farmer robot carries solar panels that can be charged even at night or day. In addition, the length of A’ seedbot is estimated to be 20cm long, and it could move within a 5km radius(半径). Etehadi said that it has 3D-printed legs that can travel in sandy areas to seek appropriate moisture(水分) levels. This would be a hint(迹象) for the robot to plant a seed.

Moreover, a distance sensor helps the machine relay reports to its user. The receiver on the other side can use data sent for further research. Additionally, it has a built-in collision(碰撞) avoidance system to help the robot for easy soil detection. “I think it was an easy solution to come up with, but no one had actually thought of it,” Etehadi said. He added that farmers, citizens, farming industries, and the government will benefit from the seed-planting robots.

Regarding these environment-friendly robots, Tadeu Caravieri of Global Grad Show said such creations would continue to appear in future programs. He believes that these robots will have a “big impact”. As another report says, because of those innovative robot designs, the year of AI has clearly arrived in today’s world.