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"The smart homes market was valued at USD 79.13 billion in 2020, and it is expected to reach USD 313.95 billion by 2026 and register a CAGR of 25.3% over the forecast period (2021 - 2026). Across real estate companies and the architect ecosystem, the 'new normal' defined through the social distancing results in a requirement to go back to the redesign basics and reinvent the residential real estate product by factoring in new-age designing, efficiency, and innovation. As the redesign happens, the need for a totally new set of amenities has resurfaced and gained prominence. What the customer will need in the 'new normal' has undergone a revolution in the crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is leading to a paradigm shift in residential spaces."

A flurry of recent announcements and ventures from Sber reflected on MarketScreener are just a few of the ventures that suggest Sber is working hard to establish itself as an international player at the intersection of finance and tech. The agile effort has apparently produced the following results: "product introductions increased more than fourfold, while the average time to market (from idea to implementation) decreased more than sevenfold." For a few of the more peripheral spinoffs, see: https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/PJSC-SBERBANK-6494829/news/PJSC-Sberbank-Currency-exchange-rates-at-SberBank-branches-now-on-2GIS-maps-36465221/ or https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/PJSC-SBERBANK-6494829/news/PJSC-Sberbank-Amazing-creatures-from-deep-sea-now-on-SberBank-Online-36463962/ or https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/PJSC-SBERBANK-6494829/news/PJSC-Sberbank-Sber-opens-multimedia-fountain-in-Lipetsk-36463963/

"The leaders of Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom announced last week the formation of a new trilateral security agreement called "AUKUS." The new security pact will oversee the development of a nuclear-powered submarine fleet in Australia and also focus on developing joint artificial intelligence, cyber warfare, and long-range strike capabilities."

We just moved years closer to viable quantum computers. A company has revealed the results of benchmarking experiments that demonstrate how an advanced error-suppression method increased the probability of success for quantum computing algorithms to succeed on real hardware. And the new method increased the likelihood of success by an unprecedented 2,500% The new results were obtained via several IBM quantum computers, and they also showed that the new quantum logic gates were more than 400 times more efficient in stopping computational errors than any methods seen before. "This is the most powerful error-suppression technology ever demonstrated, and delivers an enormous competitive advantage to users," said CEO and Founder of Q-CTRL Michael J. Biercuk, who's also a professor, in the release. "These simple-to-use techniques will likely enable organizations to achieve useful quantum computing years ahead of current projections."

he new Russian steel called Severkor for oil pipelines has been created by materials scientists at NUST MISIS in order to reduce the environmental risks of oil production and increase its efficiency due to increased corrosion resistance. A year ago, the first test pipe from the developed steel was installed at the Kokuysky oil and gas field in the Perm Krai territory in Russia. In the fall of 2019, Lukoil company has presented an expert opinion confirming Severkor's unique resistance to the aggressive environment of crude oil and salt solutions.

DRIVER-MATERIALS-INFRASTRUCTURE Municipal pipe market spending makes up 30 percent of overall utility CAPEX for water infrastructure. In part, to address aging pipes, bursts, and other leakage management issues, the pipe market is turning to new materials (plastic) and new technologies (trenchless). More than $234 billion (USD) of capital expenditures (CAPEX) are forecasted over the next decade to address aging municipal water and wastewater pipe network infrastructure, according to Bluefield's forecasts. Precipitated by decades of underinvestment, municipal utilities are under increasing pressure to address deteriorating linear assets at a faster pace. Water losses through leaks for U.S. utilities average 15 percent annually, with some cities, towns, and communities losing more than half of all water pumped and treated for distribution to customers. As a result, rehabilitation of existing pipes is the fastest growing spend category, increasing annually from $253 million in 2019 to $576 million by 2028. Network expansions, particularly in high population growth across the sunbelt states (e.g. Texas and Arizona), will drive the lion's share of spending on new build.

The new National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET) that the Department of Justice is forming will focus on investigating and prosecuting criminal misuse of cryptocurrency, but DOJ's history of working with federal regulatory agencies on high-profile civil enforcement actions shows that crypto businesses willfully violating regulatory requirements should be wary of the NCET as well.

New York's attorney general ordered two unlicensed cryptocurrency lending platforms to cease operating in the state as authorities continue to clamp down on crypto firms over fraud concerns.

"The dirt beneath our feet is getting poorer and on many farms worldwide, there is less and less of it." "This article is part of a new multimedia series Follow the Food by BBC Future and BBC World News. Follow the Food investigates how agriculture is responding to the profound challenges of climate change, environmental degradation and a rapidly growing global population. Our food supply chains are increasingly globalised, with crops grown on one continent to be consumed on another. The challenges to farming also span the world."

The gap between the richest and the poorest U.S. households is now the largest it's been in the past 50 years - despite the median U.S. income hitting a new record in 2018, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

According to the new report released last week by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and Value of Water Campaign, the United States is underinvesting in its drinking water and wastewater systems, putting American households and the economy at risk. The report, "The Economic Benefits of Investing in Water Infrastructure: How a Failure to Act Would Affect the U.S. Economy Recovery," finds that as water infrastructure deteriorates and service disruptions increase, annual costs to American households due to water and wastewater failures will be seven times higher in 20 years than they are today -from $2 billion in 2019 to $14 billion by 2039.

"Researchers at the UAE University (UAEU) have invented a new desalination system that dramatically reduces energy consumption during the desalination process. By developing the new desalination system, scientists in the university's National Water and Energy Center have made an unprecedented scientific advance that has the potential to revolutionize the water desalination industry." They have been granted a US Patent and could potentially start implementation soon. 2025 (H1).

Princeton researchers have developed a new way to make fuel from cellulose-Earth's most abundant organic compound, found in all plant cells-speeding up a notoriously slow chemical process and in some cases doubling energy yields over comparable methods. Cellulosic biomass has long been seen as a key ingredient in curbing greenhouse gas emissions, providing the feedstock for a renewable and clean-burning transportation fuel. The U.S. Department of Energy has conducted a series of studies showing that at least one billion tons of biomass could be sustainably harvested each year in the United States without disrupting forests or food production to produce biofuels, largely from cellulose.

Mastering automation is a foundational skill required to safely operate any modern state-of-the-art aircraft. Under normal circumstances, automation reduces workload, creates efficiencies, and, to a fault, is highly dependable. On rare occasions, these highly reliable systems present pilots with an unexpected, obscure, or highly complex scenario that if mismanaged may quickly deteriorate and jeopardize the safety of flight. The article focuses on situations to where the human was unable to work with or override an autonomous system, resulting in lost of craft and life. This is a situation that will continue to rise in significance as we transition to more autonomy in our lives. We must understand the machines as we understand ourselves and others involved in our lives.

Google has launched a new website called Find Food Support, which puts important resources on how to locate free and affordable food in the US in one place. Perhaps the most useful feature the website can offer is a new Google Maps tool that can point you to the nearest food bank, food pantry or school lunch program pickup site.

"More than 2,400 families have started their own gardens, and seven new permanent market spaces have been created. Shorter, localised food supply chains help the city reduce carbon emissions by producing 2,500 tons of fruits and vegetables each year. Compared to imports, local food production has been shown to reduce emissions by 95 per cent."

structural steel beams set in concrete allowed them to frame tall buildings that were more fire resistant and more structurally sound than cast iron. Since that time, steel (an alloy made by combining iron and carbon) has not only become the best building material for commercial construction but closely tied to economic health. In fact, many experts look to the steel industry as an indicator of how well the economy is doing [source: Pamuk]. Steel has a long history in the construction industry, but is it still the best material for building?" While no one alternative has become a standard to replace steel, materials like engineered timber and metal composites are becoming more common in new construction projects. "Timber companies tout wood as a durable, renewable resource, and engineered timber is gaining some traction as an alternative to steel. For example, the new arts and media building at Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology in New Zealand used engineered wood in place of typical steel and concrete construction, and the company that worked on that building says that it's taking on more and more contracts that would have gone to steel construction companies [source: Nelson Mail]."