The Ukrainian capital is in the hundreds of the smartest cities in the world. The study took into account the level of health and safety, urban mobility and civic engagement.

In the rating Kyiv ranked 92 position. The studies were conducted by the Smart City Observatory of the IMD World Competitiveness Center and the Singapore University of Technology and Design.

The smartest cities in the world are: Singapore, Zurich (Switzerland), Oslo (Norway), Geneva (Switzerland), Copenhagen (Denmark).

Next to Kiev are Brazilian Sao Paulo, Colombian Medellin, South African Cape Town and Philippine Manila.

Facebook, which owns social networks Facebook and Instagram, plans to allow users regulate the amount of political and social advertising.

The tool is scheduled to launch in the summer of 2020 before the election in the United States of America.

Users will also be able to opt out of advertising that targeted their data, including email. At the same time, Facebook is not going to completely abandon targeted advertising.

Facebook has also announced an intensification of deepfake and other manipulative content.

The state of Vermont is considering a bill that bans young people from using smartphones until they are 21 years old.

The bill was introduced by Democrat Senator John Rogers, and he believes that people under 21 are not mature enough to safely own and use a cellphone. As an argument, the document cites the use of mobile phones as one of the leading causes of teenage death in the United States.

The bill states that people under 21 are still considered to be under-matured in some aspects. They are not allowed to own guns, smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol. As a punishment, the bill provides for up to one year in prison and a fine of one thousand dollars.

The German company Kaffeeform produces reusable cups of coffee grounds to reduce the use of plastic.

Currently, these cups are used by 20 Berlin coffee shops and 150 suppliers across Europe. The project was founded by Julian Lehner of Berlin. The idea to make coffee grounds came from when he was in design school and noticed that his peers consumed a lot of coffee every day. So he decided to reduce the use of plastic and recycle used coffee grounds.

First, the coffee grounds are dried and mixed with vegetable fibers, natural resins and beech seeds. This product is molded under the influence of heat and pressure. The six cups can be turned into one cup and saucer. The final product is 100% biodegradable. The material from which the dishes are made is also suitable for washing in the dishwasher.

As part of the Neon project, Samsung has created a humanoid robot that is equipped with artificial intelligence.

The avatar can be used for entertainment as well as for business, for example, it can work as a guide or administrator. Leading the project and scientist Pranava Mistri said that the code works, the creation is ready for demonstration in demo mode: it is able to smile, move and talk.

It is not yet known exactly how avatars express emotions and how they are programmed in general. Outwardly, the avatar is actually human-like, so Samsung’s development can be considered a huge step forward.

Scientists have discovered a new planet in a population of the same size as the Earth orbiting the star, and it could potentially have life.

Scientists say that the planet rotates with a period of 37 days around the red dwarf TOI 700, it receives 86% of the energy that the sun gives the Earth. NASA also said that within 11 months of observations on the star did not detect any outbreaks, which increases the chances of TOI 700 d to be on it.

In addition to the TOI 700 d, there are two other planets in the TOI 700 system, closest to the star – a stone planet that has a period of 10 days. The average planet is probably gas, its rotation period is 16 days.

China launches G8811’s first stand-alone high-speed train, which accelerates to 350 km / h.

The G8811 train can automatically start and stop, open and close doors, and prevent accidents. The train is equipped with 5G signal and wireless telephone charging. In addition, it has a playground for snowboarders and skiers who will participate in the Olympics in a few years.

The railway line connects two cities – Beijing and Zhangjiakou. Its mission is to accelerate traffic between cities. Thanks to the high-speed train, the travel time from one locality to another will be significantly reduced – from three hours to 47 minutes. The length of the railway is 174 km, and its construction lasted about four years.

The Pacific island state of Palau has become the world’s first country to ban suncreams.

Such creams are harmful to corals and the marine environment. From now on, it is forbidden to carry or sell in country suncream containing any of the 10 chemical ingredients that are characteristic of such creams. These include oxybenzone and octinoxate, which absorb ultraviolet light.

“We have to live and respect the environment, because the environment is the nest of life. When science tells us that such practices harm coral reefs, fish populations, or the ocean itself, our people take that into consideration, and our guests do so too”, – said Palau President Thomas Remengesau.

ByteDance, the owner of the Tik Tok social network, has developed the Face Swap feature that creates deepfakes.

The technology has not yet been launched for use, but experts have noticed that Tik Tok has code that asks users to draw a polygonal face image and then select the video to which they want to add their image.

The technology will ask users to click, nod, open and close their mouths, be indoors, to make sure that the person is scanning his or her face rather than using someone else’s photo, etc.

TikTok has denied that a social networking feature will appear on the social network. However, analysts said they found updated terms of use for the social network, which referred to the Face Swap option.

American designer Lucy McRae presented a collection of clothing designed to help survive in the post-apocalyptic future.

The collection was named Future Survival Kit. The survival kit has large dimensions and should be worn by the artist. In her survival kit, Lucy McRae included a mask to help hide from the real world, a variety of bedspreads, pillows and rugs that will give a person comfort.

“We are plunged into constant stress, the need to always be in touch … I propose to consider a future in which humanity will be able to escape from the negative impact of digitization,” said Macri.

Her survival kit will be on display at the Holon Design Museum in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Usually solar cells are made of crystalline silicon, which by itself does not transmit light.

Korean scientists have drilled many microscopic holes in a thin plate in a certain order, allowing sunlight to pass through. As a result, for the human eye, the photocell has become transparent and virtually colorless, since most of the area of ​​the material is occupied by openings with a diameter of about 100 μm each, which freely transmit light.

The rest of the surface is still capable of converting solar energy into electricity. According to the developers, their battery reaches 12.2% efficiency compared to the standard 20-25%. So scientists are going to replace the regular solar panels with new solar panels.

Google has added a new feature to the search service: users will be able to save movies and series to collections to watch later.

The Watchlist collection will allow the user to save the movie and TV shows he or she wants to watch, and the Watched collection to the ones he / she has already watched.

The Watchlist will store movie and television covers. If a search engine finds a video related to a movie on YouTube or Google Play Movies, Google will indicate the cost of the movie and a link to the platform where it can be purchased.

If the movie is now for rent, then the search engine will offer to buy tickets and show a schedule of sessions in the cinema.