This Week: New Home Sales, Facebook Earns, Gdp

Spending time in graveyards and libraries may not be everyone’s idea of summer fun, but for those interested in finding their roots, collecting information about one’s ancestors is a “family” vacation. Sure, genealogy sites have made researching one’s ancestral history much easier with digitized document archives, family-tree-building software and community forums.

A group of national and Colorado organizations is suing to overturn Denver building codes intended to address the effects of climate change by limiting the use of natural gas in buildings. The lawsuit filed Wednesday in U. S. District Court in Denver takes aim at a city ordinance that prohibits natural gas furnaces and water heaters in new commercial and multifamily buildings. Also targeted is an ordinance that takes effect in 2025 and requires installation of electric systems when gas furnaces and water heaters are replaced in existing buildings and when if it is cost-effective. Other communities in Colorado and in other states have enacted similar bans as they push to electrify buildings to reduce the effects of climate change and improve air quality.

DETROIT — In January 2020, Robert Williams spent 30 hours in a Detroit jail because facial recognition technology suggested he was a criminal. The match was wrong, and Williams sued. On Friday, as part of a legal settlement over his wrongful arrest, Williams got a commitment from the Detroit Police Department to do better.

For the past year, two philosophy professors have been calling around to prominent authors and public intellectuals with an unusual, perhaps heretical, proposal. They have been asking these thinkers if, for a handsome fee, they wouldn’t mind turning themselves into artificial intelligence chatbots. John Kaag, one of the academics, is a professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Enlarge / A skeleton found during 1950's excavations at the Barman site. (credit: Université de Genève) Did ancient people practice equality? While stereotypes may suggest otherwise, the remains of one Neolithic society reveal evidence that both men and women, as well as locals and foreigners, were all equal in at least a critical aspect of life: what they ate. The Neolithic saw the dawn of agriculture and animal husbandry some 6,000 years ago.

Enlarge (credit: Petmal / Getty Images) As the world races to decarbonize everything from the electricity grid to industry, it faces particular problems with transportation—which alone is responsible for about a quarter of our planet’s energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. The fuels for transport need to be not just green, cheap, and powerful, but also lightweight and safe enough to be carried around. Fossil fuels—mainly gasoline and diesel—have been extraordinarily effective at powering a diverse range of mobile machines.