Science & Tech

 A company called Masimo has a patent for a technology that can measure blood oxygen levels using light. Apple took advantage of this technology to give its smartwatch a similar capability. She even recruited around 20 important employees of the company. As a result, Masimo filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple. Although the case is not yet concluded, the International Trade Commission (ITC) has made a decision that prohibits Apple from selling smartwatches in the US because they infringe on this patent.

It is a known fact that big technology companies are sensitive about patents. Apple has around 95,000 patents, Google has around 100,000, and Samsung has around 350,000. In fact, it is estimated that the technologies used in a smartphone are associated with around 250,000 patents. Generally, big tech companies settle rather than sue each other over the patents they hold. However, it seems that Masimo and Apple have not yet reached an agreement. If this agreement cannot be reached in a short time, it may not be possible to purchase an Apple Watch until Apple changes the design.

On the other hand, major technology companies continue to invest in wearable artificial intelligence technology, which they see as an easy way to stay in constant interaction with their customers. Recently, systems that can be interacted with in different ways have begun to come to the fore. For example, in addition to text and speech, devices are being developed that can understand and even interpret a picture or a graphic you draw.

In addition to smartphones, Apple has also targeted the smart glasses market with its Vision Pro model, which it introduced in recent months but delayed due to production problems. ChatGPT's developer, OpenAl, is developing a device other than a phone that could be called a "PocketGPT" and that people could carry with them at all times. They even announced that they were working with Apple's former chief designer on this issue. Microsoft is trying to patent the concept of versatile artificial intelligence on lightweight devices by adding an OpenAI-powered chatbot to its augmented reality glasses called HoloLens. Google has developed an artificial intelligence system similar to ChatGPT called Gemini Nano that can work on Pixel phones without connecting to the internet. Meta, on the other hand, is working to make the glasses they developed in collaboration with Ray-Ban appeal to more people. Although it seems like we spend every moment using technological products, when we look at these studies, it can be seen that new technologies can be more integrated into our daily lives.

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Newly Developed Materials:

Synthetic chemicals, nuclear waste, genetically modified organisms, and many other man-made materials are being released into the environment. The effects of many of these materials on the world system are not well known. There are many examples of synthetic materials used unconsciously in the past, only to later be realized of their harmful effects. For example, the environmental damage caused by DDTs used as insecticides or the effects of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used in a wide variety of technologies in the past on the ozone layer were only realized much later.

Ideally, materials that have unknown effects on the Earth system should not be released into the environment. Therefore, the limit value that should not be exceeded in order to prevent newly developed materials from being released into nature should also be "0".

There is no data on the number of materials released into the environment worldwide without being tested as safe. However, it is known that 80% of chemicals registered under the European Union's Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulations remain in use for more than ten years without undergoing any safety testing. An idea of ​​the magnitude of the problem can be obtained by looking at the REACH data, which only registers a small portion of the synthetic chemicals produced worldwide.

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Urgent Call for Action for Zoonotic Disease:

Researchers have claimed that some diseases transmitted from animals to humans could affect 12 times more people in 2050 than in 2020. Experts from United States biotechnology company Ginkgo Bioworks have called for "urgent action" to address the global public health risk. Researchers believe that epidemics caused by zoonotic diseases may be affected by climate change and deforestation and are poised to be more rampant in the near future.

The team's analysis looked at historical trends for four specific viral pathogens: filoviruses, which include Ebola virus and Marburg virus, SARS coronavirus 1, Nipah virus, and Machupo virus, which causes Bolivian haemorrhagic fever.

The study did not include COVID-19, which caused a global pandemic in 2020 and likely originated in bats. The study, published in the journal UN Global Health, examined more than 5,150 outbreaks between 1965 and 2019 and identified 75 outbreaks in 24 different countries. The database includes outbreaks reported by the World Health Organization, outbreaks that caused 50 or more deaths since 1963, and historically significant events, including the 1918 and 1957 influenza pandemics. Of these outbreaks, which caused the deaths of 17,232 people, 15,771 were caused by filoviruses and occurred mostly in Africa.

They say that diseases increased by almost 5% every year between 1963 and 2019, and deaths from them increased by 969. They also emphasized that if annual rates of increase continue at this rate, they expect the analysed pathogens to cause four times more spreading events and 12 times more deaths by 2050 than in 2020. According to the researchers, the low numbers are likely due to the strict criteria they apply when determining which pathogens are included in the analysis and the fact that they did not include COVID-19.