In Mexico, a major liquefied natural gas export project raises environmental concerns
The gulf, also known as the Sea of Cortez, was described by French star explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau as "the world's aquarium" because it is home to around 900 fish species and 36 species of cetaceans. In Puerto Libertad, a liquefaction plant covering 607 hectares could potentially be built to enable LNG to be shipped by tanker to Asia. Construction costs are estimated at nearly $14 billion; the project ultimately aims to produce 15 million metric tons of LNG per year.
Whales could be the first victims, according to a study published in January by the Marine Mammal Research Program at the Autonomous University of Baja California, as nearly 200 ships are expected to dock annually in Puerto Libertad to load LNG. "The transit of LNG vessels through the Gulf of California threatens to become the main cause of death of large whales by collisions," the study concluded.
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LeMonde
5 days ago
- LeMonde
Isaac Asimov, Elon Musk and the replacement of humans by robots
Surprisingly, Elon Musk and French leftist politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon share common ground: Both are admirers of the work of American novelist Isaac Asimov (1920-1992). Considered one of the founding fathers of science fiction, this tireless writer published an astonishing 500 novels between 1939 and his death. Within this vast body of work, these two famous fans are especially fond of the Foundation cycle. This saga, widely regarded as the gold standard of science fiction, was initially launched as short stories in 1942, reworked into novels in the 1950s and then extended at the end of Asimov's life. As early as 1966, the series won the Hugo Award, a literary prize for science fiction, for "Best Series of All Time." It was a remarkable feat in a genre not lacking in masterpieces. Asimov had a scientific background, considered a prerequisite at the time for being recognized as a credible author in the genre. He was also a versatile, eclectic thinker. According to his autobiography I, Asimov (2000), his precocious brilliance set him apart from other children his age, leading him to retreat into reading. Gifted, by his own account, with a phenomenal memory, he retained everything he read. Musk's entourage said the same thing about him when talking about the American entrepreneur's childhood with his biographers, Ashlee Vance and Walter Isaacson. Aside from science, Asimov's great passion was history. Foundation tells the story of the fall and then the resurrection of a civilization. In the 13 th millennium, the empire Asimov imagined was at the height of its power, yet had already begun an irreversible decline. Asimov drew inspiration from a 1776 classic by Edward Gibbon (1737-1794): The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. According to the British historian, whom Asimov read countless times, Rome's fall was due to two causes: one external, the pressure of migration; the other internal, the rise of Christianity. Asimov's futuristic empire collapses under centrifugal forces, which is logical since it encompasses the entire galaxy. There are no external threats or borders. However, the loss of entrepreneurial spirit and love of innovation proves fatal. The empire suffocates under the weight of its own bureaucracy. Only someone like Musk could appreciate this kind of dramatic tension, despite Asimov's progressive views. Both Mélenchon and Musk were influenced by the character Hari Seldon, the inventor of a predictive science called psychohistory, who manages to influence humanity's future by wielding the law of large numbers. Asimov, who trained as a biochemist, was inspired by the kinetic theory of gases, as astrophysicist Roland Lehoucq of the French Atomic Energy Commission – a major science fiction enthusiast – wrote in the journal Bifrost in 2012. Universal reach As Asimov explained in the preface to his major opus, it's impossible to predict the motion of a single isolated molecule, but you can say with precision what quintillions of molecules will do. So he applied this principle to human beings. Foundation actually translates philosophical debates on historical determinism into science fiction narratives, making them accessible to everyone. Thanks to its universal scope, the series has remained in the science fiction bestsellers' top 10 and continues, generation after generation, to serve as an entry point into the genre. Due to its internal contradictions and the forces at play, the galactic empire in Foundation is destined to fail. Just as no one can escape climate change on Earth in the 21 st century. However, Seldon uses psychohistory to influence history, though not to reverse fate. With his plan for a foundation that preserves knowledge, he reduces the transition period between the empire's fall and its successor from 30,000 years to 1,000. In the story, this is viewed as a decisive push forward. In Marxist terms, Seldon would be considered a positive hero. Indeed, it was precisely because he found Marxism "a bit dry," in his own words, that Mélenchon became fascinated by psychohistory. Anticipating the crises that punctuate Foundation 's plot, Seldon recorded messages for his distant successors to view as holograms – effectively, oracles. The stage device used by Mélenchon in his 2017 presidential campaign was a nod to this gimmick from the saga. Although Musk has never used holograms for communication, many of his public statements refer to the idea of positively influencing sweeping changes around us. In 2017, he quoted Asimov almost verbatim at a TED conference in front of a captivated audience: "I look at the future from the standpoint of probabilities. It's like a branching stream of probabilities, and there are actions that we can take that affect those probabilities or that accelerate one thing or slow down another thing." "Philosophy underlying my actions. It's pretty simple and mostly influenced by Douglas Adams [another science fiction author] and Isaac Asimov," he wrote in 2018 on X. If Adams taught Elon Musk the art of questioning with his answer 42 in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, then Asimov taught him that every major turning point in humanity is always driven by a technical innovation. For those who claim to follow in Seldon's footsteps, there is only one way to influence history: through science. Although Asimov considered himself an optimist, his work reexamined the dichotomy between good and bad science established by British author Mary Shelley in Frankenstein (1821). When confronted with scientific progress, as with social and political organization, humanity is invariably torn between individual freedom and collective security. While Foundation remains his seminal work on determinism, his other major science fiction series, I, Robot, delves deeper into this contradiction. Replacement by robots In 1942, a particularly productive year for Asimov, he formulated his "Three Laws of Robotics." Intended to protect humans from a robot uprising, also known as the infamous "Frankenstein syndrome," in which a creation turns against its creator. These laws raise the question: Who counts as "human"? The individual, or humanity as a whole? To resolve this dilemma, Asimov's robots invent a fourth law, as Anne Besson explained on the French podcast C'est plus que de la SF ("It's more than SF"). This law prioritizes the species. One of the final stories in the series describes a revolt by humans that is suppressed "for their own good" by robots. As a rationalist atheist and staunch believer in evolution, Asimov did not believe that Homo sapiens was the ultimate stage of life. Whether it be astrophysics or the laws of evolution, recent scientific advances all indicate that the days of the human species on Earth are numbered. This bleak finitude pales in comparison to the space epics of Star Trek and Star Wars, with their hyperspace and distant galaxies. As always, Asimov was provocative when he predicted that robots would replace humanity. Far from being a cause for anxiety, he considered it a hopeful prospect, as he stated in an interview with Le Nouvel Observateur in 1985. He argued that robots would be the next step for humanity, more rational and unburdened by emotion. Musk, raised on dystopian visions like Terminator (1985) and The Matrix (1999), where robots and computers enslave humans in apocalyptic futures, has distanced himself – at least in his public statements – from his science fiction idol on this point. In 2017, essayist Ariel Kyrou recalled Musk clashing with Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder of Facebook. Musk accused Zuckerberg of being reckless about the risks artificial intelligence poses to humanity. Musk had already directed similar criticisms at Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the co-founders of Google, and he would later target his new nemesis, Sam Altman, his rival at OpenAI. By Musk's logic, his competitors are followers of transhumanist ideals, which claim that technology will allow humans to transcend their limitations, such as mortality and terrestrial life. Musk sees them as distant descendants of Dr. Frankenstein, ready to sacrifice humanity's interests. However, his critics argue that Musk's fratricidal attacks are motivated more by economic self-interest than genuine ethical concern. He often sounds the alarm when others are making advances without him. As Kyrou pointed out, with Neuralink, Musk has taken a position far closer to transhumanism than he admits. His company's neural implants are designed to eventually serve as an interface between human neurons and computers. They are named after Iain M. Banks (1954-2013), the Scottish author and creator of the celebrated series The Culture. In that saga, every humanoid is equipped with a "neural lace" that serves as a means of communication and ensures their safety. This lace connects them to intelligent machines that handle production and the distribution of resources. The machines perform the labor while the humanoids enjoy the pleasures of hedonism. "In a way, it is anarchism assisted by artificial intelligence," said Yannick Rumpala, a political science researcher who analyzes the relationship between politics and science fiction. Backed by these vast computational powers, Banks's utopia resembles a successfully executed "Gosplan" (a Soviet-style planning committee), with AI serving as a vast thinking infrastructure and omnipresent planning authority. As Rumpala points out, this vision would have appealed to Asimov, who, in Foundation, imagined another form of collective consciousness – more organic – with the planet Gaia. In 2018, Elon Musk described himself on X as a "utopian anarchist of the kind best described by Iain Banks," an avowed socialist who is no longer here to defend himself. As usual, Musk interpreted Banks's work through his own lens. He said, "The Iain Banks Culture
Euronews
6 days ago
- Euronews
Study sheds light on which potatoes raise the risk of type 2 diabetes
ADVERTISEMENT Eating three servings of French fries per week could raise your risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 20 per cent, a new study has found. But potato lovers need not despair. People who ate similar amounts of baked, boiled, or mashed potatoes were not at significantly higher risk of developing the chronic condition, according to the study published in The BMJ. 'The association between higher potato intake and increased [type 2 diabetes] risk is primarily driven by intake of French fries,' the Harvard University-led team said. Potatoes contain nutrients such as fibre, potassium, and vitamin C – but they also have a lot of starch, which is a type of carbohydrate that breaks down into energy-providing glucose. Potatoes have been linked to a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and weight gain. Yet the latest findings underscore that how we prepare our food matters quite a lot when it comes to our health. 'In nutrition it is not only what we eat that matters, but also what we stop eating when we do so,' Diana Díaz Rizzolo, a lecturer at the Open University of Catalonia - Barcelona, said in a statement. The study included more than 205,000 people in the United States, with researchers tracking their diets over more than three decades. Over that time, more than 22,000 people were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Compared with people who rarely ate potatoes, those who ate at least seven servings of potatoes per week had a 12 per cent higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, the study found. But people who ate French fries three times per week were at a 20 per cent higher risk of diabetes compared with people who rarely ate them. At seven servings per week, the risk rose to 27 per cent. The findings suggest people should prioritise whole grains and limit the amount of fried foods they eat, 'even when it comes to options that may initially seem 'healthy' such as potatoes,' said Cristóbal Morales, a specialist in endocrinology and nutrition at Vithas Sevilla Hospital in Spain who was not involved with the study. What the study means for healthy diets The study has some limitations. Overall, people who ate more potatoes tended to be less active, have less nutritious diets, and to eat more calories. Their diets were heavy in red meat, eggs, refined grains, and sugary drinks. The researchers tried to take lifestyle and demographics into account, but the results could still be skewed as a result of these factors. The report also does not establish that eating French fries actually causes type 2 diabetes – just that the two are related. The findings add to the scientific debate over potatoes' impact on our health. A similarly designed study from 2015 found that eating more potatoes was tied to a higher diabetes risk, but it did not differentiate between French fries and boiled, baked, or mashed potatoes. And in 2019, an expert panel recommended that people limit their potato intake to around 350 grams per week – roughly one large Russet potato. But other researchers have noted that potatoes are typically just one item on the plate – meaning they shouldn't get all the blame. Americans, for example, tend to pair potatoes with red or processed meat, which have also been linked to type 2 diabetes and other health issues. The latest findings reinforce the idea 'that we should not demonise whole foods without considering how they are prepared, what they are accompanied by, or what they are replaced with,' said Díaz Rizzolo, who was not involved with the study. Independent experts said people looking to maintain a healthy diet should consider both how potatoes are cooked and the alternatives on the table. For example, French fries are often ultra-processed, and these types of foods have been linked to poor health. Meanwhile, baked, boiled, or mashed potatoes are typically minimally processed. Overall, Morales said the study has 'a clear message: preventing type 2 diabetes starts with adopting and maintaining healthy lifestyles and nutrition'.
LeMonde
6 days ago
- LeMonde
Capturing CO₂ through cryogenics: Eiffage pioneers new technology to decarbonize its industry
The installation – a metal tower 11 meters high, flanked by a container and a tank, one for storing liquid nitrogen and the other for capturing carbon dioxide (CO 2) – would almost go unnoticed beside the two enormous lime kilns that continuously transform limestone, extracted from a quarry owned by Bocahut, into calcium oxide. This network of pipes and tubes, perpetually covered in white dust, is the demonstrator for the Lyon-based start-up Revcoo, which has developed a proprietary process for capturing CO 2. Since 2024, it has been tested on this 120-hectare open-air site, owned by French construction group Eiffage and located in Haut-Lieu (northern France), 25 kilometers south of Maubeuge. "For now, our pilot has a capture capacity of 1,000 metric tons of CO 2 per year. Our goal is to multiply that by 10 by 2027, then reach 80,000 to 100,000 metric tons in 2030 – the equivalent of the site's total emissions," explained Hugo Lucas, founder and president of Revcoo. The 33-year-old engineer founded the start-up in 2019 with the ambition of contributing to the decarbonization of heavy industry. His patented "CarbonCloud" technology is relatively straightforward: It captures smoke off the factory's chimneys, sorts out the CO 2 by freezing it, liquefies it, and then stores it in tanks. The entire process runs on electricity, with no water or solvents required.
