News of the week selected by Impactscool – 29th October, 2018

Who teaches autonomous driving cars what is right?

A group of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, MIT, and the University of British Columbia conducted a study on millions of people from over 230 countries worldwide to try to set an ethical standard for self-driving cars. What should a driverless vehicle do in certain dangerous situations? The results, published in the scientific journal Nature, gave a very detailed picture, which photographed some similarities but also numerous differences: in particular, on the basis of the answers, the researchers highlighted three cultural macro-groups, West, East and South. The study showed, therefore, that the “ethical laws” that will define the behaviours of self-driving cars cannot be decided independently by engineers and experts: these innovations will have an impact on everyone’s life so it should be right that their ethical code is “written” with the active contribution of citizens.

Stop for single-use plastic from 2021

The European Parliament has said stop to the single-use plastic. The legislation, approved on October 24, could lead to the ban on sales, in the EU, of cutlery, cotton swabs, plates, straws and beverage mixers. However, the EU could add other products in the coming months. Some studies estimated that every year, Europe produced 26 million tons of plastic waste. A part of these ends in the oceans with dramatic results for the marine population, but not only: a recent study said that traces of microplastics are not present only in fish, but also in humans. The measures approved by the European Parliament will not have only a positive effect on the environment but also on the economic level, saving both the Union and consumers. The Earth has been crying for help for a long time now, so we hope that time has finally come for someone to hear it.

The water of Mars would have enough oxygen for life

The latest discovery on the Red Planet is coming from the California Institute of Technology: the water of Mars would have enough oxygen to allow life. Until now, the researchers thought that the air on the Planet was too rarefied to allow the development of living forms: this research, however, argues that Mars could be able to accommodate liquid environments capable of supporting aerobic metabolism. The study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, has led to the identification of some watery areas with sufficient levels of O2 for the development of life, especially at the poles. Among these, also the lake discovered by the Italian Marsis radar, of the European Mars Express probe. The presence of manganese-rich rocks has long led to the conclusion that in the past there were oxidant aqueous areas on Mars. The results of this research, however, offer new perspectives that will help us to understand the Red Planet, a declared destination for the space exploration of tomorrow.