Monthly Archives: January 2022

Every Saturday we post a curated collection of our favorite articles and news from the week. But now that the years over, well curate 2021 as a whole. It was another wild one.

Tech companies continued to draw criticism for their roles in political and social scandals, most notably when whisteblower and former Facebook employee Frances Haugen testified to lawmakers. Undeterred, Facebook rebranded itself Meta and said it would now focus on building the metaverse. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey stepped down and likewise changed the name of his company Square to Block in a not-so-subtle nod to the blockchain.

Meanwhile, volatile cryptocurrencies set new records, their prices jumping and crashing on a tweet. NFTs, a once-obscure type of cryptoasset, went on an eye-watering tear as redditors pushed meme stocks skyward. It was also the year of ever-bigger AI. Machine learning models surpassed a trillion parameters, designed computer chips, and tackled practical problems in biology, math, and chemistry. Elsewhere, billionaires went to space, regular folks bought 3D printed houses, fusion power attracted billions in investment, gene editing trials hit their stride, and flying car companies hit the New York Stock Exchange.

For this years list of fascinating stories in tech and science, we sifted our Saturday posts and selected articles that looked back to where it all began, glanced ahead to whats coming, or otherwise stood out from the chatter to stand the test of time.

The Secret Auction That Set Off the Race for AI SupremacyCade Metz | WiredHow the shape of deep learningand the fate of the tech industrywent up for sale in Harrahs Room 731, on the shores of Lake Tahoe. [The auction for Geoff Hintons newly formed AI company] was the beginning of a global arms race, and this race would quickly escalate in ways that would have seemed absurd a few years before.

The Chase for Fusion EnergyPhilip Ball | NatureAn emerging industry of nuclear-fusion firms promises to have commercial reactors ready in the next decade. advocates of fusion technology say it has many parallels with the space industry. That, too, was once confined to government agencies but is now benefiting from the drive and imagination of nimble (albeit often state-assisted) private enterprise. This is the SpaceX moment for fusion, says [General Fusion CEO] Mowry, referring to Elon Musks space-flight company in Hawthorne, California.

The Gene-Synthesis RevolutionYiren Lu | The New York TimesIf the first phase of the genomics revolution focused on reading genes through gene sequencing, the second phase is about writing genes.Crispr, the gene-editing technology whose inventors won a Nobel Prize last year, has received far more attention, but the rise of gene synthesis promises to be an equally powerful development. Crispr is like editing an article, allowing us to make precise changes to the text at specific spots; gene synthesis is like writing the article from scratch.

The Profound Potential of Elon Musks New RocketRobert Zubrin | NautilusStarship wont just give us the ability to send human explorers to Mars, the moon, and other destinations in the inner solar system, it offers us a two-order-of-magnitude increase in overall operational capability to do pretty much anything we want to do in space.

Need to Fit Billions of Transistors on Your Chip? Let AI Do ItWill Knight | WiredGoogle, Nvidia, and others are training algorithms in the dark arts of designing semiconductorssome of which will be used to run artificial intelligence programs. This should help companies draw up more powerful and efficient blueprints in much less time.

Renewables Are Set to SoarJames Temple | MIT Technology ReviewNew renewable electricity capacity will set another record this year, at 290 gigawatts, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency. By 2026, global capacity from these carbon-free sources will rise more than 60% over last years levels, the intergovernmental research organization now projects. That will add up to some 4,800 gigawatts, on par with all the worlds fossil-fuel and nuclear plants today. In addition, renewables will account for 95% of the overall capacity growth in the power sector over that period.

3D Printed Home Technologies Scaling Up Around the WorldPayal Dhar | IEEE SpectrumDespite the high capital investment needed for automated 3D-printing construction compared to conventional technologies, there are concomitant advantages, Satish says, such as in terms of safety, speed, scale and design complexity. We still build using techniques and equipment and toolsthat someone building 100 years ago would be familiar with, Ruben says. It is the last major industry that hasnt embraced new technology as a way to increase productivity.i

Why Im a Proud SolutionistJason Crawford | MIT Technology ReviewDebates about technology and progress are often framed in terms of optimism vs. pessimism. Its tempting to choose sides. But this represents a false choice. History provides us with powerful examples of people who were brutally honest in identifying a crisis but were equally active in seeking solutions.

Your Face Is Not Your OwnKashmir Hill | The New York Times MagazineIt seemed entirely possible that Clearview AI would be sued, legislated or shamed out of existence. But that didnt happen. With no federal law prohibiting or even regulating the use of facial recognition, Clearview did not, for the most part, change its practices. Nor did it implode. Our growth rate is crazy, Hoan Ton-That, Clearviews chief executive, said.

Alternative Rocket Builder SpinLaunch Completes First Test FlightMichael Sheetz | CNBCThe company is developing a launch system that uses kinetic energy as its primary method to get off the groundwith a vacuum-sealed centrifuge spinning the rocket at several times the speed of sound before releasing. This is about building a company and a space launch system that is going to enter into the commercial markets with a very high cadence and launch at the lowest cost in the industry, SpinLaunch CEO Jonathan Yaney toldCNBC.

One Vaccine to Rule Them AllJames Hamblin | The AtlanticiA universal SARS-CoV-2 vaccine is step one, [Anthony] Fauci said. Step two would be a universalcoronavirusvaccine, capable of protecting us not only from SARS-CoV-2 in all its forms, but also from the inevitable emergence of new and different coronaviruses that might cause future pandemics. The race to create such a vaccine may prove one of the great feats of a generation.

The Facebook Whistleblower Says Its Algorithms Are Dangerous. Heres Why.Karen Hao | MIT Technology ReviewFrances Haugens testimony at the Senate hearing today raised serious questions about how Facebooks algorithms workand echoes many findings from our previous investigation. We pulled together the most relevant parts of our investigation and other reporting to give more context to Haugens testimony.

Kill the 5-Day Work WeekJoe Pinsker | The AtlanticPeople who work a four-day week generally report that theyre healthier, happier, and less crunched for time; their employers report that theyre more efficient and more focused. These companies success points to a tantalizing possibility: that the conventional approach to work and productivity is fundamentally misguided.

The Internet Is RottingJonathan Zittrain | The AtlanticThe glue that holds humanitys knowledge together is coming undone. By making the storage and organization of information everyones responsibility and no ones, the internet and web could grow, unprecedentedly expanding access, while making any and all of it fragile rather than robust in many instances in which we depend on it.

How Vulnerable Is the World?Nick Bostrom and Matthew van der Merwe | AeonSooner or later a technology capable of wiping out human civilization might be invented. How far would we go to stop it? We call this the vulnerable world hypothesis. The intuitive idea is that theres some level of technology at which civilization almost certainly gets destroyed, unless quite extraordinary and historically unprecedented degrees of preventive policing and/or global governance are implemented.

With This CAD for Genomes, You Can Design New OrganismsEliza Strickland | IEEE SpectrumImagine being able to design a new organism as easily as you can design a new integrated circuit. Thats the ultimate vision behind the computer-aided design (CAD) program being developed by theGP-write consortium. Were taking the same things wed do for design automation in electronics, and applying them to biology, says Doug Densmore, anassociate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Boston University.

How the Worlds Biggest Brain Maps Could Transform NeuroscienceAlison Abbott | NatureTo truly understand how the brain works, neuroscientists also need to know how each of the roughly 1,000 types of cell thought to exist in the brain speak to each other in their different electrical dialects. With that kind of complete, finely contoured map, they could really begin to explain the networks that drive how we think and behave.

Lost Passwords Lock Millionaires Out of Their Bitcoin FortunesNathaniel Popper | The New York TimesStefan Thomas, a German-born programmer living in San Francisco, has two guesses left to figure out a password that is worth, as of this week, about $220 million. The password will let him unlock a small hard drive, known as an IronKey, which contains the private keys to a digital wallet that holds 7,002 Bitcoin.

A 25-Year-Old Bet Comes Due: Has Tech Destroyed Society?Steven Levy | WiredMuch more than a thousand bucks was at stake: The bet was a showdown between two fiercely opposed views on the nature of progress. In a time of climate crisis, a pandemic, and predatory capitalism, is optimism about humanitys future still justified? [Kevin] Kelly and [Kirkpatrick] Sale each represent an extreme side of the divide. For the men involved, the bets outcome would be a personal validationor repudiationof their lifelong quests.

How AI Is Reinventing What Computers AreWill Douglas Heaven | MIT Technology Review[Todays computers are] smaller and faster, but theyre still boxes with processors that run instructions from humans. AI changes that on at least three fronts: how computers are made, how theyre programmed, and how theyre used. Ultimately, it will change what they are for. The core of computing is changing from number-crunching to decision-making, says Pradeep Dubey, director of the parallel computing lab at Intel. Or, as MIT CSAIL director Daniela Rus puts it, AI is freeing computers from their boxes.

Can Digital Reality Be Jacked Directly Into Your Brain?Adam Rogers | WiredThe idea of uploading a synthetic experience into a mind has been a load-bearing member in science fiction for at least 75 yearsBut in real life (thats what this is, right?), were a long way from a data port in the nape of every neck. Neuroscientists can decode the signal comingoutof the brain well enough to move a cursor or a robotic arm, though they cant achieve the fluid elegance of a biological connection. Signal goinginis even trickier.

What an Octopuss Mind Can Teach Us About AIs Ultimate MysteryWill Douglas Heaven | MIT Technology ReviewIts possible that one day there could be as many forms of consciousness as there are types of AI. But we will never know what it is like to be these machines, any more than we know what it is like to be an octopus or a bat or even another person. There may be forms of consciousness we dont recognize for what they are because they are so radically different from what we are used to.

The Worldview Changing Drugs Poised to Go MainstreamEd Prideaux | BBCThe psychedelic renaissance promises to change far more about our societies than simply the medical treatments that doctors prescribe. Unlike other drugs, psychedelics can radically alter the way people see the world. They also bring mystical and hallucinatory experiences that are at the edge of current scientific understanding. So, what might follow if psychedelics become mainstream?

Why Electric Cars Will Take Over Sooner Than You ThinkJustin Rowlatt | BBCThis isnt a fad, this isnt greenwashing. Yes, the fact many governments around the world are setting targets to ban the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles gives impetus to the process. But what makes the end of the internal combustion engine inevitable is a technological revolution. And technological revolutions tend to happen very quickly.

Image Credit:Faris Mohammed / Unsplash

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These Were Our Favorite Tech Stories From Around the Web in 2021 - Singularity Hub

Sophie Mak, a recent graduate of law and literature, had walked past the fiery orange monument between classes for five years. A month after her graduation ceremony at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), two nights before Christmas, workers erected barricades around the statue. Under the cover of darkness, they cut it down.

Its an absolute disgrace that HKU removed the Pillar of Shame so callously and so furtively, Mak says.

The pillar, a statue of bodies twisting towards the sky commemorating the victims of Beijings bloody 1989 crackdown on protesters in Tiananmen Square, had been a part of the campus for over two decades. Many saw it as a symbol of Hong Kongs wider political freedoms in contrast with mainland China, where the killings have been erased from public memory and remain taboo. Students were seen crying at the empty site on Christmas Eve.

Now that its gone, its incredibly hard to distinguish HKU from other universities in the mainland, a third-year student who wished to remain anonymous said. As a student its heartbreaking. A key piece of what made HKU so iconic is gone.

The same erasure happened within days at other campuses across the city. By Christmas, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) had removed a Goddess of Democracy statue from the entrance of its train station, and Lingnan University had stripped a Tiananmen massacre wall relief from its campus. A fourth university has requested its student union remove a statue.

The universities cited safety and unspecified legal risks in response to press inquiries. HKU and CUHK maintained that the statues had never been authorised. Both had nonetheless stood on the campuses for over a decade.

The universities swift removal of the Tiananmen massacre memorials, done in the dead of night without consulting students, now symbolises the freedoms the city has lost, observers say.

That an educational institution should remove a statue in the dead of night under such conditions [underlines] the dramatic deterioration in the freedom of academic thought and expression in todays Hong Kong, Louisa Lim, author of the The Peoples Republic of Amnesia, tells the Guardian following the removal.

The erasure of symbols of the massacre is the latest manifestation of a climate of uncertainty and self-censorship that has been growing on the citys campuses in the past 18 months, academics and students say.

There have been few public signs of protest against the removals from either students or staff, who are on semester break.

The silence is also telling of the state of debate on campus. You can feel that there is no longer serious academic discussion about the situation. Its pure bureaucracy, Harry Wu, a former professor of medical humanities at HKU, says.

Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong last year in response to months of pro-democracy protests, which were widely supported by university students. Authorities largely blamed the unrest on student-aged protesters and unverified claims of foreign interference.

Some universities have moved to distance themselves from their student representative bodies. In the past year, HKU and CUHK, the citys two oldest universities, have both cut ties with their student unions, while four student leaders have been arrested under the national security law for advocating terrorism.

The general atmosphere is one of fear. People have been very worried about what they can say, says one HKU professor, speaking to the Guardian on the condition of anonymity due to safety concerns.

Classrooms, both virtual and in person, are no longer safe spaces for debate, some say. Current students described uneasy exchanges in class discussions. Everyone is taking a precautionary approach, both the students and professors. So while we may be speaking our mind for now, it always ends with a nervous laughter because you never know who is going to take it personally, a third-year student at HKU says.

A month after the security laws enactment, prominent pro-democracy activist and scholar Benny Tai was fired from his role at HKU. The move set off alarm bells among his peers.

Wu, a medical humanities professor who taught at the university from 2015 to May 2021, said he had moved to Hong Kong because he believed the citys systems were robust. Last year, he realised that was no longer true. At the moment when Professor Benny Tai was sacked at HKU, I realised the system was not there any more.

Tais dismissal wasnt an isolated incident. In October, two adjunct professors with pro-democracy affiliations at Lingnan University were also sacked.

Authorities maintain that the city has lost none of its promised freedoms, which they say are enshrined in both the national security law and the Basic Law, the citys mini-constitution.

A HKU spokesperson said the university was committed to protecting academic freedoms. HKU always respects academic freedom and upholds it as one of our core values, it said. The university also expects that our staff and students, as of other members in the community, discharge their civil responsibility to abide by the law.

The CUHK media office did not reply to requests for comment.

Wu has since moved to Taiwans National Cheng Kung University, where he said he can enjoy free inquiry. While he was still teaching at HKU, he says he has removed Powerpoint slides from his teaching materials that may be more politically sensitive before uploading them to the schools computer system.

All of us, not only students but also teachers, became cautious, Wu says of the general unease on campus. And you dont feel that the university is a community it was gradual, you can feel that the university functions more like a corporation.

You could see more and more frequently the term senior management team, as if there were people behind it but you didnt know who these people were.

There were also rumours that some students had reported teachers to a dedicated police hotline for national security offences, Lokman Tsui, a former assistant professor of journalism at CUHK, says. Although unverified, they were enough to foster a sense of uneasiness in classrooms.

Everyone is aware that everyone else is watching. And nobody knows who will say what. You have the sense that people are watching, he says. Its not like everyone is paranoid and super scared. But after the national security law, it has definitely increased.

The shrinking space for academic inquiry may mean the type of research at the universities will be reduced to those that do not cross Beijings red lines. Before his contract ended with CUHK, Tsui published a paper on press freedom and reporting on Tibet. I dont know what would happen if I were to start that research today, he says.

Its not like there are clear instructions from higher up, its not quite whats happening on the mainland yet, but you do get your cues. If you were researching Tiananmen before, you may want to think twice now. If you were researching social movements before, you may want to think twice now.

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Atmosphere of fear: Hong Kong students lament loss of Tiananmen statues - The Guardian

Wondering what cruising will be like post-COVID? Nick Dalton journeys around Greece on Marella Discovery and reveals what to expect both before you depart and once onboard.

Sailing from island to island, wind in our hair, the sun on our shoulders, Im on a carefree Greek cruise just like the old days.

Courtesy of Nick Dalton

Marella Discovery is spearheading Mediterranean cruises for Brits after the pandemic pandemonium that left ships bobbing aimlessly for 18 months.

On the surface almost everything is the same but like a duck paddling furiously underwater Marella Cruises, part of the Tui travel empire, is working tirelessly to make things happen.

If the worst thing isyou cant creep in to catch the evening show finale because everyone is seated in a socially-distanced way at the start, its not really a problem.

And a daily moment at one of the thermal temperature testing gadgets scan your door card, stand close and hope for the green light isnt a trial.

Even sitting on my balcony as the sun disappears in a warm, pink glow over Turkeys distant mountains and finding in the following days programme a recommendation to tidy up as all cabins were to be fogged (using harmless chemicals sprayed from a special machine), doesnt detract from my burgundy.

The 24 Septemberdeparture from Corfu is the fourth since Marella started sailing here on 3 September 2021. There are only 880 guests out of a capacity of 1,800 but thats crept up from 600 on the first with numbers set to reach 85% in the coming months.

Everyone here (and Marellas passengers tend to be younger than the cruise norm) loves being aboard and knows its in the interest of themselves and everybody else to play by the rules.

Masks are worn, by and large, when walking around. You accept not being able to prop up the bar (the excellent all-inclusive drinks service helps with that). And you cant get your hands on the buffet in the Islands restaurant asthat comes with people to serve you.

READ MORE: Brilliant new cruise ships we can't wait to sail on

Of course, with travel arrangements changing all the time requirements can be confusing. We were asked to buy a tests package from a recommended company: pre-flight lateral flow/antigen test with a provided negative certificate, pre-return test and a two-day test for our return home, 125 in all.

But, having been asked to test after 9pm the day before departure, and told a certificate should arrivean hour or two after uploading a video of the test being taken, there was no response on waking at 3.30am for a 6.40am flight.

The airport check-in person shrugged and said all that was needed was a test result so, having brought a spare test, I (along with a string of other travellers) tested on the spot.

On landing the certificate was in my in-box with a reply from theproviderto my where is it? query that they shut up shop 8pm-8am.

Top tip: carry spare lateral flow tests with you.

Aside from that, it was flawless. At Corfu airport, despite a warning that extra health tests were a possibility, the immigration official simply said passport and form, the latter being the Passenger Locator which everyone has to fill in online and print for the Greek government before leaving home.

One glance and we were through and on our 15-minute transfer.

At the dock the cheery Marella official asked for boarding pass, passport, Passenger Locator and proof of double jabbing then I crossed the room for another antigen test. Within 10 minutes I was strolling along the quayside where the ships certainly werent socially distancing. Opposite Marella Discovery was Princess Cruises Crown Princess while two Holland America ships waiting to sail again snuggled at the end.

READ MORE: Latest COVID travel advice here

From that point on passengers, from couples in their 20s to those much older, lounged by the open-air pool, drank beer while chatting in the hot tub and, by and large, obeyed the Keep Me Free stickers on varied seats in the bars.

Courtesy of Nick Dalton

Signs around the ship got the message across with a light-handed touch such as Mind The Gap to keep us distanced andHold Your Horses on the floor at the back of a queue.

READ MORE: Amazing facts about cruise ships you might not know

It was a joyous affair, helped no end by Captain Chris Dodds, a blunt and amusing northerner. In his loudspeaker messages hereferred to the C word when addressing safety protocols and he let everything flow during an interview session in the Atrium.

He talked about the trials and tears of the past 18 months honestly and engagingly. He told about the time he and the crew spent just hanging around waiting for the world to get back to normal.

Marella Discovery was in Asia when Covid arrived and after all his passengers were flown home he and his team of 686 spent 83 days at sea going nowhere fast.

With the world at standstill they had to make their own entertainment.

The bands and musicians were all onboard and all the beer was going out of date so we had to dispose of that in the most environmentally-friendly way! But the time was also used productively withmore than 70 crew havinga go at steering their 12 to 14-hour shifts earning them certificates.

And even back in Britain there were months treading water, mostly off Torbay where residents arranged special events for the crew.

Both captain and crew are over the moon to be back, determined to make these cruises a celebration. In the main restaurant, 47 Degrees, waiter Jayson, from the Philippines, tells of the frustration at his forced 18-month holiday with the children while his wife went out to work and his excitement at being able to do his job again.

Hotel director Danielle Rowley, just as upbeat, manages to see the lighter side. The thermometer machines sometimes accidently test the temperature of the coffee youre carrying one day early on both she and Captain Chris were caught, leading to a shipwide alert and worried phone calls.

Should anyone register above 38C,the medical team with antigen tests and a PCR machine is automatically alerted but over the first month no one failed the test.

Courtesy of Nick Dalton

Life on board is idyllic, the weeks cruise spending days on the isles of Crete, Rhodes and Mykonos, plus the isolated mainland spot of Katakolon (pictured), where there is a charming beach, but most people opt for a coach trip to Olympia, home of the Olympics) and Piraeus, theport town at Athens.

Stamatios Manousis/Shutterstock

Port procedure was barely different to any other time Greece has never had a rule (unlike Britain for a time, and other countries) that cruise visitors must be on an organised excursion.

And, given that this was a single-country cruise, we came and went with ease. Mykonos gaveus a swift temperature test as we stepped off the transfer boat, Crete giving us one, but only as we left.

And a midweek Covid test onboard was to satisfy Athens then new rule that everyone must have just tested negative. There was a handy onboard advice session over tests and Passenger Locators the day before going home and airport check-in was a doddle.

Courtesy of Nick Dalton

Dining was mostly as normal bearing in mind that ship restaurants required hand sanitisation two decades ago when the rest of the world had barely heard of it. The Islands restaurant featured the usual breakfast, lunch and dinner buffets but with staff serving. The Snack Shack a colourful beachfront atmosphere with fish and chips and burgers served people queueing as did the Glass House, the lunchtime spot by the indoor, glass-roofed pool.

There were several late-night deck parties, mostly featuring the 4 Tunes, a curious but wonderful Philippines beat combo.At the other end of the entertainment spectrum were ballroom dancing displays by Alexandra & Adrian, apparently rated No 11 in the world.

Covid has led cruises a merry dance for too long, but Marella is showing just what can be done to sail into the new world when the time is right for you.

For more information and to book visit Marella Cruises

Main image: Courtesy of Marella Cruises

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Sailing into the future: what to expect from a cruise in 2022 - loveEXPLORING

WITH a history of more than 200 years, the auction system may be the longest standing method of livestock marketing, and it may offer the only truly transparent and competitive marketplace for all classes of cattle and sheep available to UK livestock producers. But as we head into a time of extreme uncertainty, with input costs rocketing, support payments falling away, and public perception that livestock farming is the villain when it comes to climate change, what role does the auction mart play in the future of livestock production? asks Scott Donaldson, Managing Director at leading auctioneers Harrison & Hetherington.

Every type of agricultural produce, be it grain, fruit, vegetables, dairy, beef, sheep, or pork, relies on supply and demand to determine its value. We have been preached to for many years about our position in the global market and how supply no longer relies solely on whats happening on our shores and how floods in France, drought in Canada and huge yields in the Ukraine, all have a bearing on our farm gate prices here in the UK. But the defining factor in the successful marketing of any product is competition, and the auction system and every auction mart customer thrives on it.

With the stratified and hugely diverse nature of its make-up, the livestock industry in the UK does not lend itself to the integrated supply chain model. Farm businesses are predominantly family run, with immense variations in scale and types of production systems. Depending on the area and type of farm, from lowland arable to highland fell, there is a huge variety and range of breeds produced.

Much has been made of what the market wants and hitting the specification. The diversity of UK livestock production systems means that hitting the spec is not always straightforward. This is where the auction mart comes into its own. In the auction mart environment where competition is king, the customer determines whats in spec, and this has been played out in auction markets around the UK over the past months. Age and moves appear irrelevant at the present time, heavy lambs are in great demand and overweight cattle are breaking price barriers every week.

The auction market brings efficiency to the industry by bringing numbers of all categories of stock together in one place, so that the customer has the choice and the volumes they need to maintain the efficiency of their business. This allows for large numbers to be transported to their destination in one lift.

Auction marts have adapted and evolved numerous times during my career in the industry. In the eighties we moved from hand-written ledgers and clerking to a computer system which enabled us to produce computer printed cheques and bills instantly for customers. We embraced the passport system for cattle and the EID tag system for sheep, and introduced digital displays to give more information to our buyers. Primarily for primestock sales direct to abattoirs, in the early nineties, electronic auction systems were introduced by the leading UK auction companies, this was a huge step away from tradition at the time.

Live streaming of auction sales, and live on-line bidding began to emerge in and around 2015 and these have gone from strength to strength. The introduction of on-line timed sales of pedigree livestock was accelerated after lock-down, a medium the machinery specialists had been using for some time.

So, what innovation will auction markets champion next? Well, the modern auction mart is already a well-equipped agri-business centre. Large numbers of livestock are brought together in a facility specifically designed with animal welfare in mind, and state of the art technology works in tandem with the live-ring in an efficient and welcoming environment. The imminent introduction of Bovine EID reduces unnecessary handling and will improve the welfare of the cattle and the safety of customers and market staff. The Livestock Information Program (LIP) designed to replace BCMS will reduce paperwork and the whole package will improve efficiency, while at the same time, uploading health status and other husbandry information. The ringside will soon be a digitally interactive interface, providing buyers with all the information they require to make informed and accurate buying decisions from both the ringside or the farm office.

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Does the Auction Mart have a role to play in the future of livestock production? - News & Star

EMEKA NZE writes that despite preceding Nigerias main election year, the new year, 2022 is no less loaded with activities, ranging from two off-season elections to possible political chicanery and subterfuge by politicians

2023 general electionsThe countdown to 2023, Nigerias general elections year, has begun in earnest. By the calendar of the Independent National ElectoralCommission (INEC), barring unforeseen circumstances, the Presidential and National Assembly elections will hold Saturday February 18, 2023 and the governorship and state assembly elections in 30 states are expected to hold the following Saturday.

For 2023 polls, preparations are expected to terminate in the first quarter and elections and declarations of results will subsequently hold in the same first quarter to pave way for the swearing in May 29.

2022 as a preparation yearApartfrom the ongoing nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) which entered the third quarter this January, this year 2022 is equally loaded with activities.

One of such activities would be fine-tuning and sharpening INECs technologies for the general elections come 2023, using two major off-season polls of Ekiti and Osun states slated for this year as well as the bye elections and the Area Council elections in the FCT in February this year.

FCT Area Council, Ekiti, Osun and bye-electionsWhile the Area Councils election is slated for February 12, 2022, the Ekiti governorship election will hold on 18th June 2022 and the Osun governorship election is scheduled for 16th July 2022.

The Area Council election scheduled in 68 constituencies will produce six chairmen and vice chairmen for the six area councils and 62 councilors.

There are also eight pending bye-elections involving three Federal Constituencies (Jos North/Bassa in Plateau state, Akure North/Akure South in Ondo State and Ogoja/Yala in Cross River state) and five state constituencies (Shinkafi in Zamfara state, Ekiti East I in Ekiti state, Akpabuyo in Cross River state, Pankshin South in Plateau state and Giwa West in Kaduna state).

INECs year of enormous workAcknowledging the enormity of task ahead of the commission, INEC chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, at the recent meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners RECs in Abuja last month said, Next year (2022) is therefore going to be a very busy year for us.

From the explanations by the INEC chairman, preparations for the FCT elections have reached a crescendo.

Expressing delight on the readiness of the commission for the election he said, I am glad to report that all the PVCs (39,208 new PVCs) will be available for collection from 6th January 2022 until 4th February 2022. The FCT office of the commission will provide full details of the locations and procedure for the collection of the PVCs in earnest.

The INEC chairman also spoke on preparations for Ekiti and Osun elections at the meeting with RECs: You may recall that in June this year, the commission released the timetable and schedule of activities for the Ekiti governorship election holding on 18th June 2022 and the Osun governorship election scheduled for 16th July 2022.

He outlined other activities associated with the elections thus:A major activity for the two governorship elections is the conduct of primaries by political parties for the nomination of candidates for the election. For Ekiti state, the exercise begins in the next 2 weeks on 4th January 2022 and ends on 29th January 2022.

In the case of Osun state, party primaries begin on 16th February 2022 and ends on 12th March 2022.

Parties, politicians and intriguesOn their part, the parties and the politicians are putting finishing touches to their strategies to emerge first as flag bearers of their parties and then winners at the elections.

The year 2022 preceding the general elections year, politicians are expectedly oiling their machineries, intensifying their scheming, manipulations and manoeuvering to gain prominence, dominance and popularity in their parties and areas of authority and constituencies.While the emerging aspirants would struggle to gain more popularity and dominance to topple the status quo in both primary and inter party elections, the incumbent would play to resist and diminish the emerging power of opposition to retain political supremacy.This is with the view to putting themselves in a position to first emerge as standard bearers within their parties and then make the coast clear to win the opposition in the inter-party contests. It is indeed a year and season of intrigues, political chicanery and horse trading.This explains the spillover crises in the major parties into 2022, as a result of unresolved disagreements during congresses conducted to elect the officers last year.Despite the constitutional provisions that party chieftains must exhaust internal crisis resolution mechanisms, till now, cases are still pending in courts on who should preside over the affairs of some of the parties in the states.Expectedly, given the brand of politics in this clime, conflicts and clashes may be inevitable due to the crisis within the parties and polity may be heated up. The conflicts may be carried over to the primaries when parties would nominate their candidates.

INEC cautions parties on primariesBearing this in mind, Prof Yakubu warned: The Commission wishes to remind political parties that in choosing their candidates for these elections, they must abide by the provisions of the law, INECs regulations and guidelines as well as their Constitutions and guidelines.INEC will monitor the primaries as required by law. Political parties must therefore hold themselves to the same high standard of free, fair, transparent and credible elections that they expect from INEC during general elections.Any political party that fails to conduct democratic primaries within the timeframe provided in the commissions timetable and schedule of activities cannot be expected to submit the names of candidates to INEC for elections.With the adoption of new technologies by the INEC to make the electoral system full proof devoid of manipulations, many of the politicians who are used to the old ways of election manipulation might also try to put some of their boys to task to devise possible ways of thwarting or circumventing INECs innovations with a view to infiltrating the system for their selfish ends.

Responding to this scenario, a key officer of INEC said, 2022 provides INEC, another ample opportunity to sharpen and finetune its systems and strategies, preparatory to the 2023 general elections.The commission is not be sleeping. All year round, the Election Management Body (EMB) is now fully engaged in the conduct of off-season elections, bye elections coupled with Area Councils elections in the Federal Capital Territory and it has already hit the ground running.Ekiti and Osun states governorship polls this year are veritable grounds to further test run and consolidate gains of INECs new found technologies.The INEC chairman during the meeting with RECs last month harped on technologies and ways to improve them, The BVAS has replaced the Smart Card Reader for verification and authentication as part of our improved voter accreditation process.The new technology was designed in-house by INEC engineers.Like every new technology, glitches were observed and important lessons learnt. We wish to assure Nigerians that the commission has reviewed the performance of the BVAS in Anambra state and there will be a tremendous improvement leading to optimal performance in future elections.The BVAS has come to stay. So too is the uploading of polling unit results on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal in real-time on Election Day.We are convinced that the introduction of technology in voter accreditation and result management is better than the best entirely manual process.It also increases public confidence in the process. We will continue to deepen the use of technology in our elections.While reminding the RECs of the enormous task in 2022, the INEC chair said, In addition to these off-cycle elections, we must also continue to prepare for the 2023 General Election.We have so many physical facilities to rebuild, materials to replace, regulations and guidelines to work on, consultations with stakeholders to strengthen, capacity of our staff to enhance and several aspects of election administration to improve upon.

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2022: Year of fine-tuning INEC's procedures, political chicanery - Blueprint newspapers Limited