As tech changes the world, Ghana has the young experts to unlock the next industrial revolution, says the vice-president

As we see the artificial intelligence furore sweep across continents, one thing is clear: Africans have a goldmine at our fingertips. A rapidly growing population of 1.4 billion people, 70% under the age of 30, combined with huge growth in AI investments, creates a potent recipe for Africa. We will not sit back and wait for the rest of the world to reap our rewards.

Africa and the Middle East are set to see the fastest growth in AI spending worldwide, reaching $3bn (£2.4bn) this year and a predicted $6.4bn by 2026.

Scientists believe Ulva can become a staple crop via undersea farming – once people acquire a taste for it

Extreme weather events have been reducing crop yields across the world and many European countries that import a lot of their food could soon face a crisis. Politicians barely seem bothered about this but thankfully scientists think they have found a solution – undersea farming. This is not for fish but seaweed , which they call seawheat.

People have been eating seaweed for thousands of years but the scientists believe mass production of a species called Ulva, as a staple crop, will be necessary to keep Europe from food shortages. They realise that shifting people from eating wheat to seaweed is not just a technical question of the best way to mass production, but is a major cultural shift, and so have called in chefs to create recipes for salads, stir-fries and soups. They are tempting consumers with a green seaweed that has a “mild, slightly salty flavour with a nutty aftertaste”.

Among artist Georgia Gendall’s projects is a riotous annual competition to lure these creatures from the soil – hopefully shifting some local cliches with them

In a field in Falmouth, a crowd is preparing for battle. “I don’t hug my enemies!” one friend tells another as they register for the town’s third annual Worm Charming Championships. It’s a war on two fronts: between man and beast, as we attempt to lure recalcitrant earthworms out of the community centre sports pitch, and between the 100 plots, each occupied by a team hoping to win one of three invertebrate-themed trophies. It’s even going down between families. “Mum, I need to warn you we’re going to win,” my friend’s four-year-old daughter Hebe says seriously.

Worm charming – or grunting, or fiddling – is an age-old art and an established competitive sport of several decades: a notched wooden stick is scraped close to the earth, the vibrations mimicking the rhythms of rain to bring worms up to the earth, where they are harvested for bait. But on this bright blue Sunday afternoon in Cornwall, traditional methods pale in comparison with the unconventional (and it’s a peaceful operation: all worms caught will be returned to the wild). The teams file in to the festive sound of Gweek Silver Band and unload their arsenals. There are instruments, watering cans, graters; a musical saw, a lime green foam roller, papier-mache seagull feet; country dancers, croquet sets and one woman who produces an entire mini cocktail bar, her silver shaker her tool, its spoils perhaps more of a motivation than the official artist-made prizes.

Use of pesticides and fertilisers identified as most significant factor behind loss of 550 million birds from skies

The use of pesticides and fertilisers in intensive agriculture is the biggest cause of the dwindling number of birds in the UK and the rest of Europe, scientists have said.

Compared with a generation ago, 550 million fewer birds fly over the continent, with their decline well documented. But until now the relative importance of various pressures on bird populations was not known.

A l’heure où les problématiques de l’eau et de la durabilité de nos modèles agricoles sont plus que jamais d'actualité, les militants défendent « une des terres les plus fertiles d’Europe » selon Isabelle Goldringer, chercheuse en agroécologie.

Cet article A Saclay, une ZAD lutte contre l’artificialisation de 4000 ha d’espaces naturels et agricoles est apparu en premier sur La Relève et La Peste .

From farming and education to healthcare and the military, artificial intelligence is poised to make sweeping changes to the workplace. But can it have a positive impact – or are we in for a darker future?

In 1965, the political scientist and Nobel laureate Herbert Simon declared: “Machines will be capable, within 20 years, of doing any work a man can do.” Today, in what is increasingly referred to as the fourth industrial revolution, the arrival of artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace is igniting similar concerns.

The European parliament’s forthcoming Artificial Intelligence Act is likely to deem the use of AI across education, law enforcement and worker management to be “high risk”. Geoffrey Hinton , known as the “godfather of AI”, recently resigned from his position at Google, citing concerns about the technology’s impact on the job market . And, in early May, striking members of the Writers Guild of America promised executives: “ AI will replace you before it replaces us.”

With 20m people at the highest risk of famine for 25 years, farmers are desperately trying to kill the pests before vast swarms form

The northern “breadbasket” of Afghanistan is battling a potentially devastating outbreak of locusts that threaten to eat their way through up to a quarter of the country’s annual wheat harvest, the UN has warned.

After three years of disappointing, drought-afflicted harvests , Afghan farmers were expecting better this year – a much-needed boost for a country where nearly 20 million people are thought to be at the highest risk of famine in 25 years .

C’est fort de ce questionnement que l’Atelier paysan a commencé à rassembler des savoirs et savoir-faire paysans en matière d’outil. Puis, et pour pouvoir les mettre à la portée de tous, les ingénieurs ont procédé à la rationalisation et la simplification des outils dont certains étaient constitués de bric et de broc.

Cet article A l’Atelier Paysan, les agriculteurs construisent eux-mêmes leurs outils pour ne plus dépendre de l’industrie est apparu en premier sur La Relève et La Peste .

Discovery of ‘anti-cannibalism’ pheromone raises possibility of spraying crops with similar chemical as non-toxic insecticide

Locusts are voracious eaters with appetites that extend to members of their own species. Now scientists have discovered an “anti-cannibalism” pheromone used by the insects to protect themselves in dense swarms and which could pave the way for novel pest control strategies.

Scientists said the discovery raises a host of possibilities, including spraying crops with something similar to the protective pheromone as a non-toxic insecticide or finding a way to reduce its impact to turn locusts on each other.