Uphill

Image: Uphill, this photo is available to licence on EyeEm.

#421

Friday, June 6, 2025

In This Edition:
Climate risks, EVs reduce brake dust by 83%, ML framework that includes emissions optimisation, hawk learns to use traffic lights when hunting, more or less in product positioning, & types of time travel!

The EPA's latest Climate Risk Assessment report identifies 115 risks for Ireland. This end section however really does illustrate the reason why emergency action is needed & is an answer to anyone who thinks Ireland is too small & shouldn't bother with Climate Action:

Climate change impacts experienced overseas pose risks for Ireland, highlighting how global factors and cross-border interactions shape national climate change risks. Such risks include the global impacts of climate change on food security, supply chains, economic stability, and migration which will need to be managed. The NCCRA identifies that:
• Risks to global food security pose a significant risk. Ireland relies heavily on imports for vegetables, fruits, grains, fertilisers, and animal feed. Disruptions in the supply of food, i.e., due to extreme weather events, can lead to shortages, increased food prices, and potential food insecurity, especially for vulnerable households.
• Climate change is increasingly recognised as a critical threat to global supply chains, impacting logistics, manufacturing, and energy networks. These disruptions can lead to significant economic losses and supply shortages worldwide, including in Ireland.
• Climate change poses significant risks to Ireland's economy by disrupting global financial systems where extreme weather events can increase financial exposure for insurance companies, banks, and investment firms, affecting Ireland's financial stability.

EVs Reduce Brake Dust By 83%

Image: Unsplash, Goh Rhy Yan

A study by EIT Urban Mobility and Transport for London has shown that EVs can reduce the amount of brake dust pollution emitted into the air by up to 83% thanks to their use of regenerative breaking.

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ML Framework That Includes Emissions Optimisation

Image: Marktechpost, META

CATransformers is a new machine learning framework developed by META AI that includes embodied and operational emissions as parameters to optimise for alongside latency, energy consumption, and accuracy.

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Hawk Learns To Use Traffic Lights When Hunting

Image: Frontiers, Dinets

Dr Vladimir Dinets from the University of Tennessee observed a Cooper’s hawk using a line of cars waiting at a red light to hide its approach when hunt smaller birds outside a house in his neighbourhood. Further observation revealed that the Hawk learned that when the pedestrian crossing signal was pressed, the lights stayed red for longer and resulted in a longer line of cars which made it easier for the hawk to stay hidden. As a result, the hawk only began its approach when it heard the audible pedestrian signal from the traffic lights.

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More Or Less In Product Positioning

Image: Unsplash, Claudio Schwartz

Jason Cohen shared a great A Smart Bear article from his archives that discusses positioning your product to offer more for more, more for less, or less for less, and the good and bad of each strategy.

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Types of Time Travel

Image: YouTube, minutephysics

Minutephysics published an interesting video discussion on the different types of time travel used in fiction, mostly movies, with some neat drawings to represent the time flows of each.

About Found This Week

Found This Week is a curated blog of interesting posts, articles, links and stories in the world of technology, science and life in general.
Each edition is curated by Daryl Feehely every Friday and highlights cool stuff found each week.
The first 104 editions were published on Medium before this site was created, check out the archive here.

Daryl Feehely

I’m a web consultant, contract web developer, technical project manager & photographer originally from Cork, now based in Liverpool. I offer my clients strategy, planning & technical delivery services, remotely & in person. I also offer freelance CTO services to companies in need of technical bootstrapping or reinvention. If you think I can help you in your business, check out my details on http://darylfeehely.com

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