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Firms make it easy to rent a friend, father of social media buddy
 In Japan, you can pay an actor to impersonate your relative, spouse, coworker, or any kind of acquaintance.

Money may not be able to buy love, but here in Japan, it can certainly buy the appearance of love—and appearance, as the dapper Ishii Yuichi insists, is everything. As a man whose business involves becoming other people, Yuichi would know. The handsome and charming 36-year-old is on call to be your best friend, your husband, your father, or even a mourner at your funeral.

His 8-year-old company, Family Romance, provides professional actors to fill any role in the personal lives of clients. With a burgeoning staff of 800 or so actors, ranging from infants to the elderly, the organization prides itself on being able to provide a surrogate for almost any conceivable situation.

Yuichi believes that Family Romance helps people cope with unbearable absences or perceived deficiencies in their lives. In an increasingly isolated and entitled society, the CEO predicts the exponential growth of his business and others like it, as à la carte human interaction becomes the new norm.

I sat down recently with Yuichi in a café on the outskirts of Tokyo, to discuss his business and what it means to be, in the words of his company motto, “more than real.”

Roc Morin: Just to be perfectly clear, you’ve come as yourself today, haven’t you?

Ishii Yuichi: Yes, at this moment I am only myself.

Morin: What was your very first role?

Yuichi: I had a single-mother friend, and she had a son. He was trying to enter a private school, but they denied him solely because he had no father. I wanted to challenge the unfairness of Japanese society, so I posed as his father.

Morin: Were you successful?

Yuichi: Not in that situation. But, it inspired the idea for this business.

Morin: When was your first success?

Yuichi: I played a father for a 12-year-old with a single mother. The girl was bullied because she didn’t have a dad, so the mother rented me. I’ve acted as the girl’s father ever since. I am the only real father that she knows.

“I always ask every client, ‘Are you prepared to sustain this lie?’”

Morin: And this is ongoing?

Yuichi: Yes, I’ve been seeing her for eight years. She just graduated high school.

Morin: Does she understand that you’re not her real father?

Yuichi: No, the mother hasn’t told her.

Morin: How do you think she would feel if she discovered the truth?

Yuichi: I think she would be shocked. If the client never reveals the truth, I must continue the role indefinitely. If the daughter gets married, I have to act as a father in that wedding, and then I have to be the grandfather. So, I always ask every client, “Are you prepared to sustain this lie?” It’s the most significant problem our company has.

Morin: So, you could be involved with her for the rest of your life?

Yuichi: It’s risky that she might discover the truth someday. In this company, one person can only have five families at a time. That’s the rule. It’s not only about secrecy. The client always asks for the ideal husband, the ideal father. That’s a very difficult role to maintain.

Ishii Yuichi (Roc Morin)

Morin: How do you determine what the ideal husband or father is?

Yuichi: There’s an order form where every possible preference is listed: hairstyle, glasses, beard, fashion sense ... Do you like classy or casual? Is he affectionate or stern? When he arrives, should he be talkative or tired from a long day at work?

Morin: What did the mother you mentioned earlier request on her form?

Yuichi: She wanted the father to be kind, very kind. He would never yell. She wanted the kind of father that would be able to deliver wise advice.

Morin: How did you create that persona?

Yuichi: I’m not married in real life. I have no kids. At first, I couldn’t really find in myself the kind of father that she wanted me to be. So, I watched a lot of movies about fathers, and I cultivated my persona through the movies.

Morin: Can you describe the sessions with your fake daughter?

Yuichi: Sometimes we dine together. We’ve been to theme parks, like Disneyland. We go shopping in Harajuku once a month. The mother pays about 20,000 yen per four hours, plus expenses. That’s about $200.

“It’s agonizing to be alone and just think, ‘Is this really me, right now?’”

Morin: What’s your cover story?

Yuichi: I told her I have my own family now, and that’s why I can’t see her often.

Morin: What happened to the real father?

Yuichi: Even the mother doesn’t know. There was a lot of physical violence. They divorced, and that was the end of it.

Morin: Did you take his name?

Yuichi: Yes, I use the father’s name—first and last.

Morin: How do you handle it when the daughter gets angry or sad?

Yuichi: I never yell, no matter what. That was in the order-form description. The girl was bullied also, if you remember, so her feelings can be very unsettling. There was also a rebellious time, in her teens. She was having difficulties with her mother. When she’s with me, though, she always asks, “Why do you have to leave now?” It’s unpleasant, but it is a reasonable emotion.

Morin: Does she love you?

Yuichi: She does. It’s easy to feel her love. She talks about her relationship with her mother, she shares sensitive feelings, she opens up to me.

Morin: Does any aspect of your real self seep in?

Yuichi: I don’t allow it to, otherwise I would become self-conscious.

Morin: Do you feel like you have a responsibility to the daughter, because of your connection to her now?

Yuichi: Depending on the situation, it’s different. The heaviness is different, but everywhere I go, I feel it—the responsibility.

Morin: When you’re working, is it purely acting, or do the feelings ever become real?

Yuichi: It’s a business. I’m not going to be her father for 24 hours. It’s a set time. When I am acting with her, I don't really feel that I love her, but when the session is over and I have to go, I do feel a little sad. The kids cry sometimes. They say, “Why do you have to leave?” In those instances, I feel very sorry that I’m faking it—very guilty. There are times, when I’m done with the work and I come back home, where I sit and watch TV. I find myself wondering, “Is this, now, the real me, or the actor?”

Morin: How do you answer that question?

Yuichi: I don’t think I have an answer. The person that used to be me—is he me now? I know that it’s common for actors to feel that way. If you’re a really good actor—if you’re in it all the time—it feels very unsettling.

“There’s no conflict, no jealousy, no bad habits. Everything is perfect.”

Morin: When do you feel the most like yourself?

Yuichi: When I’m with my family, my real family. It’s agonizing to be alone and just think, “Is this really me, right now?” The inner monologues are tough.

Morin: How do you know that your family hasn’t been hired?

Yuichi: That’s a good question! No one knows.

Morin: I have a project collecting dreams, and often work is a common theme. Do you dream about your work?

Yuichi: I dream about my client—when she cries because I have to leave. It’s a very emotional situation.

Morin: How is the dream different from reality?

Yuichi: Sometimes, in the dream, I tell her the truth.

Morin: What do you say?

Yuichi: I say, “I’m very sorry. I’m a member of the Family Romance corporation. I’m not your true father.” Right before she can respond—just as she opens her mouth to speak, I wake up. I am terrified of the answer, so I just wake up.

Morin: Are you ever someone else in your dreams?

Yuichi: In Japanese business culture, there is a situation where you have to visit a company and say I’m deeply sorry for what I did and just bow and bow. Occasionally, I dream about that.

Morin: How does that work when you’re hired to do that in real life?

Yuichi: Usually, I accompany a salaryman who made a mistake. I take the identity of the salaryman myself, then I apologize profusely for his mistake. Have you seen the way we say sorry? You go have to down on your hands and knees on the floor. Your hands have to tremble. So, my client is there standing off to the side—the one who actually made the mistake—and I’m prostrate on the floor writhing around, and the boss is there red-faced as he hurls down abuse from above. Sometimes, I wonder to myself, “Am I actually doing this?”

Morin: What do you feel?

Yuichi: I feel extremely uncomfortable. I’m just thinking, “I’m innocent!” I want to point at the actual culprit and shout, “He did it!”

Morin: Are you ever hired to apologize in other situations?

Yuichi: Yes, sometimes in relationships. Imagine there’s a married couple, and the wife cheats on the husband. When that happens, the husband often demands a confrontation with the other man. Naturally, this can be difficult to arrange, because the man usually runs away. In that case, they bring me instead.

Morin: What happens then?

Yuichi: There’s a manual for everything in this company. We use psychology to determine the optimal outcome. In this case, the standard tactic is to make me look like a yakuza [gangster]. Typically, I arrive with the wife, and the husband is there, and suddenly I will just bow then deeply apologize. Usually, the husband will berate me, but because I appear to be a yakuza, he won’t pursue the matter further.

Morin: I understand you work as a boyfriend too. Can you describe that experience?

Yuichi: Those clients are usually older ladies. It used to be primarily women in their 50s, but now there are even more women in their 30s.

Morin: Is this sexual or just platonic?

Yuichi: It’s a dating situation. It’s not about having sexual relations, although some women have expected that. Generally, the women just want to have fun with a younger man. They want to feel young again.

Morin: Why do you think these women hire you?

Yuichi: The women typically say that in a real relationship, you’re slowly building trust. It takes years to create a strong connection. For them, it’s a lot of hassle and disappointment. Imagine investing five years with someone and then they break up with you. It’s just easier to schedule two hours per week to interact with an ideal boyfriend. There’s no conflict, no jealousy, no bad habits. Everything is perfect.

Morin: You’ve been on so many fake dates—what is it like for you, in your own personal life, to go on an actual date?

Yuichi: I don’t have a real girlfriend right now. Real dating feels like work. It feels like work to care for a real person.

Morin: Do you plan on having a family someday?

Yuichi: Honestly, I’m full. I’m full of family, and I feel like it’s a lot to manage. Sometimes, a client asks me to be there in the room when she gives birth. One time, the client was a pregnant woman, and rather than ask her parents, she wanted me to be there. So, I went. Some women propose to me, and I say no, but it’s very hard for me to say no.

Morin: Why?

Yuichi: Many women say, “I want to marry you.” I say, “You’re in love with an order form. It’s not me—it’s the acting that you love.” If I married her, I’d have to keep acting. And, there are certain women who are wonderful, but the soul I have with them is not my real soul. So, I cannot and I would not.

Morin: Do you ever prefer playing a role to being yourself?

Yuichi: I like playing the caring father. I play with the kids, even when I’m tired. It’s very tough when you're exhausted, but you still show up, and you try to create happiness. That’s the kind of father I admire, even when it’s me.

Morin: What is your favorite role?

Yuichi: It doesn’t happen often, but there are cases when I have to be a groom. There are situations where parents pressure a daughter to marry—if she’s a lesbian, for example. So, they have an entire wedding, and it’s a fake wedding, except for the client’s family. The friends, and everyone else are fake. My side is all fake. Fifty fake people all pretending it’s real. The cost is 2 million yen, for everyone.

“One man paid a huge sum just to fly with five employees to Las Vegas and take pictures for Facebook.”

Morin: How many times have you been married?

Yuichi: Three times.

Morin: And the brides—they never see you again?

Yuichi: We never meet again.

Morin: Do the brides get emotional—having to marry a stranger?

Yuichi: The women usually don’t like showing emotion to me, but sometimes I feel emotional. Everyone on my side is a coworker, and they’re all celebrating me. So, there is a moment when it does seem very real.

Morin: Why do you think this kind of business thrives in Japan specifically?

Yuichi: The Japanese are not expressive people. There is a communication deficit. In conversation, we do not express ourselves, our opinions, our emotions. Others come first, before our own desires. The family size is diminishing too. Families used to be larger. Now, you eat alone.

Morin: What do you predict for the future of your business?

Yuichi: The demand is increasing. More people, for example, want help to appear popular on social media. We had one man recently who paid a huge sum just to fly with five employees to Las Vegas and take pictures for Facebook.

Morin: Have you or any of your employees hired other actors for your own lives?

Yuichi: It happens. For instance, some employees hire actors to praise them in the presence of people they want to impress. Personally, when I throw speaking seminars, I often bring extras to bolster the crowd.

Morin: Is everyone in the world replaceable?

Yuichi: That’s a very good question. I’m not sure. There was one case of a man in his 60s. His wife died, and he wanted to order another copy of her. We provided that.

Morin: And he called the new woman by his wife’s old name?

Yuichi: Yes, the same name, and he wanted her to call him what his wife had. She called him Otōsan—it means father. In Japan, it’s pretty common to say father, even if you’re the wife.

Morin: Did she have the same memories as the wife?

Yuichi: There are certain memories, yes. There’s a blank sheet, and the client writes the memories that he wants the wife to remember.

Morin: When your employees mimic a strong emotional connection like that—is it ever a problem that they become too emotionally attached to their clients?

Yuichi: Attachment is a problem. So, there are rules. They cannot share personal contact information. If it’s a boyfriend or girlfriend scenario, they cannot be alone in a room. They can hold hands, but they cannot hug. No kissing. No sex.

“I believe the term ‘real’ is misguided.”

Morin: What makes your company different from competitors?

Yuichi: We have a huge variation of employees and the dedication to create an experience that surpasses reality. That’s why our motto is “more than real.” We had a case recently where a dying man wanted to see his grandchild, but it would not have been born in time. His daughter was able to rent an infant for the day.

Morin: What does it mean to be “more than real”?

Yuichi: There are less concerns. There is less misunderstanding and conflict. Our clients can expect better results.

Morin: You’re offering a more perfect form of reality?

Yuichi: More ideal. More clean.

Morin: Are there any requests that you’ve rejected?

Yuichi: Unless it’s a crime, we will accept any request. Some people with anorexia, for example, want to see people who are willing to eat in front of them. They just find relief in watching a person who eats a lot. We will even do that.

Morin: What does the word “real” mean to you?

Yuichi: I believe the term “real” is misguided. Take Facebook, for example. Is that real? Even if the people in the pictures haven’t been paid, everything is curated to such an extent that it hardly matters.

Morin: Do you believe that the concept of “realness” has become invalid?

Yuichi: I believe that the world is always unfair, and my business exists because of that unfairness.

Morin: So, you are correcting injustice?

Yuichi: A woman with a boyfriend doesn’t need to hire a boyfriend. A man with a father doesn’t need to hire a father. It's about bringing balance to society.

Morin: Is it possible to avoid the truth forever?

Yuichi: The truth does have to come out eventually. The happiness is not endless, but that doesn’t mean that it’s without value. The child had a father when she needed him most. It might have been a brief period, and she might know the truth now, but she had a meaningful experience at that time.

Morin: In your own personal life, what do you want that you don't have?

Yuichi: There is nothing more that I want. I've met so many clients. I've played so many roles with them. By doing my job, their dreams come true. In that way, my dreams come true as well. I feel fulfilled, just being needed.

Output: A company in Japan hires out actors to replace real people in situations as varied as large family weddings and even dates. Family Romance was founded eight years ago by Ishii Yuichi, and now calls on about 800 thespians to play a range of roles. Some clients have hired actors to replace their partner or act as a parent to their children on a long-term basis. American website Rentafriend, founded in 2009, provides fake friends for social media photos.


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China suspected of having a hand in Mugabe's fall
 A visit to Beijing last Friday by Zimbabwe’s military chief, General Constantino Chiwenga, has fuelled suspicions that China may have given the green light to this week’s army takeover in Harare.

If so, the world may just have witnessed the first example of a covert coup d’etat of the kind once favoured by the CIA and Britain’s MI6, but conceived and executed with the tacit support of the 21st century’s new global superpower.

Timeline Zimbabwe timeline: the week that led to Mugabe's detention Show 6 November 2017 Mugabe fires vice president Robert Mugabe fires his powerful vice-president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, clearing the way for his wife, Grace, to succeed him as leader of Zimbabwe. Grace had accused 75-year-old Mnangagwa, a former intelligence chief, of being the “root cause of factionalism” in the ruling Zanu-PF party. 8 November 2017 Mnangagwa defiant Mnangagwa reportedly flees to South Africa, but vows to return to Zimbabwe to lead party members. The party "is not personal property for you and your wife to do as you please," Mnangagwa tells Mugabe in an angry five-page statement. 13 November 2017 Army chief issues warning Zimbabwe’s army chief demands a halt to the purge in Zanu-PF, and warns that the military could intervene. “We must remind those behind the current treacherous shenanigans that when it comes to matters of protecting our revolution, the military will not hesitate to step in,” General Constantino Chiwenga told a media conference attended by about 90 senior army officers. 14 November 2017 Army denies coup A convoy of tanks is seen moving on the outskirts of the Zimbabwean capital but the military denies a coup. In an overnight declaration on state television, they say Mugabe is safe and they are "only targeting criminals around him". 15 November 2017 Mugabe detained Military vehicles take control of the streets of Harare in the early hours. South Africa says Mugabe has told its president, Jacob Zuma, by telephone that he is under house arrest but is "fine". Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.

China, Africa’s biggest foreign investor, has more at stake in Zimbabwe, and more political influence, than any other state. This is largely due to its extensive investments in the mining, agriculture, energy and construction sectors. China was Zimbabwe’s top trade partner in 2015, buying 28% of its exports. But the Chinese connection is about more than money.

The pre-independence guerrilla force led to victory by Robert Mugabe, the 93-year-old Zimbabwean president detained by the military on Tuesday night, was financed and armed by the Chinese in the 1970s. Close ties have continued to the present day.

When the US and EU imposed sanctions after Zimbabwe’s 2002 elections, China stepped in, investing in over 100 projects. Beijing also blocked UN security council moves to impose an arms embargo and restrictions on regime figures.

Xi Jinping, China’s president, visited Zimbabwe in December 2015 and has since promised a massive $5bn (£3.8bn) in additional direct aid and investment. He described China as Zimbabwe’s “all-weather friend”.

China’s president, Xi Jinping, shakes hands with his Zimbabwean counterpart, Robert Mugabe, in Harare in 2015. Photograph: Jekesai Njikizana/AFP/Getty Images

Xi’s personal support extended to providing $46m towards building a new parliament in Harare. The Mugabe family is reported to have savings and property assets squirrelled away in Hong Kong, a favourite shopping destination for Mugabe’s wife, Grace.

Aware of criticism from Mugabe’s opponents that Beijing is propping up a despotic regime, China has used soft power tools to win over public opinion. This included a $100m medical loan facility in 2011 and the construction of a new hospital in rural Zimbabwe. In 2015, state-owned Power Construction Corporation of China signed a $1.2bn deal to expand Zimbabwe’s largest thermal power plant. Chinese investors have also bought into farms seized from their former white owners and given to Mugabe cronies who subsequently neglected them.

China’s big bet on Zimbabwe is not all staked on Mugabe and his faction in the ruling Zanu-PF party. Military-to-military cooperation has continued since independence in 1980. China financed and built Zimbabwe’s National Defence College and the People’s Liberation Army has helped train the Zimbabwean army.

Gen Chiwenga, the armed forces chief, has had regular contacts with Chinese counterparts, most recently with a military delegation that visited in December. China’s defence minister, Chang Wanquan, who met with Chiwenga in Beijing last Friday, visited Harare in 2015. Reports suggest Chiwenga’s backing was instrumental in this week’s military intervention.

The takeover came shortly after Mugabe backers accused him of acting treasonably in warning of negative consequences arising from Mugabe’s decision to sack the vice-president, Emmerson Mnangagwa. China’s foreign ministry said Chiwenga’s meeting with Chang was a “normal military exchange”. But Beijing has not explicitly denied foreknowledge of the Harare coup. More significantly, perhaps, it has not condemned, or made any other comment, on Mugabe’s apparent removal from power.

Profile Who is Emmerson Mnangagwa? Show Emmerson Mnangagwa was sworn in as president of Zimbabwe on 24 November, capping a dramatic few weeks that began when he was sacked as vice-president by Robert Mugabe on 6 November. Mnangagwa, a 75-year-old former intelligence chief, had been locked in a battle with the first lady, Grace Mugabe, to succeed her husband as president. His sacking – an attempt to clear Grace's path to power - was a tactical error that triggered a military takeover, Mugabe's impeachment by parliament, and his resignation. Mnangagwa has strong support within the security establishment and among veterans of Zimbabwe’s 1970s guerrilla war, when he earned the nickname “the crocodile”.

Despite allegations about his role in atrocities in the 1980s, much of the international community had long seen him as being the most likely figure in Zimbabwe to guarantee a stable transition and implement economic reforms. Photograph: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.

Mnangagwa, widely believed to be behind the plot to oust Mugabe and his most likely successor as president, is another long-time friend and collaborator with the Chinese. A former freedom-fighter, he received ideological and military training in Beijing and Nanjing in the 1960s.

According to Professor Wang Xinsong, a specialist in international development at Beijing Normal University school of social development and public policy, China has been monitoring infighting within the Mugabe regime and the country’s faltering economy for some time – and carefully weighing its options.

Beijing was particularly alarmed by an “indigenisation” law effectively seizing majority control of foreign-owned businesses and companies, many of them Chinese. “China’s political and economic stake in Zimbabwe is high enough to demand a close watch on developments,” Wang wrote in a prescient commentary in December last year.

Wang predicted Beijing would stick with Zanu-PF rather than switch support to opposition groups – but would not tolerate political and economic instability indefinitely. “Letting G40 [the faction around Grace Mugabe] and Mnangagwa fight each other in a post-Mugabe scenario would be too risky. Rather, through negotiation and economic leverage, China may try to ensure a peaceful power transition while the ageing president is still active enough to make such an important decision.”

Whether this is what is happening now, as talks about a transition continued in Harare on Thursday, remains unclear. Much depends on whether Mugabe accepts forced retirement and gives his blessing to his successor, or tries to resist instead. But one thing is certain. Whichever path Zimbabwe chooses next, it will be heavily influenced by its “all-weather” friends in Beijing.

Output: Zimbabwe's General Constantino Chiwenga's visit to Beijing on 10 November has led to suspicions that China had a hand in the military plot to try to oust President Mugabe from power. If that is the case, it marks the first known instance of a covert coup d'etat backed by the new world superpower. China has invested extensively in Zimbabwe's mining, energy, agriculture and construction sectors and is Zimbabwe's top trade partner. China has had political ties with the country since the 1970s when it armed Mugabe's pro-independence forces.


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Tesla unveils electric lorry and roadster
 Elon Musk has always dreamed big, and tonight he showed off his biggest reverie yet: the fully electric Tesla Semi. Powered by a massive battery and capable of hauling 80,000 pounds, it can ramble 500 miles between charges. It’ll even drive itself—on the highway, at least.1

And Musk promises production will start in 2019.

The big rig, which Musk unveiled at SpaceX’s Hawthorne, California headquarters Thursday night, is just the latest step in his mission to make humanity forget about planet-killing fossil fuels and embrace the gospel of electric power.

That is, of course, if he can convince the trucking industry it’s time for a new way of moving stuff around—and if he can actually make the thing.

The Truck for the Job

Musk believes that going after the big boys is the best way to have a real impact on climate change. In the five years since Tesla started producing its Model S sedan, it has sold about 200,000 cars. The US has more than 250 million passenger cars on the road, making the impact of this, roughly, zero. Even if Tesla scales up production of its “affordable” Model 3 sedan, it will still be a very long time before the Silicon Valley automaker can change the way humanity moves about enough for any dip in emissions to register as more than a blip.

Trucks offer a more effective way to do that, because they are particularly toxic. “Heavy-duty vehicles make up a small fraction of the vehicles on the road, but a large fraction of their emissions,” says Jimmy O’Dea, who studies clean vehicles at the Union of Concerned Scientists. In California, that category (which includes buses as well as trucks) accounts for 7 percent of total vehicles, but produces 20 percent of transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions and a third of all NOx emissions (those are the ones linked to asthma attacks and respiratory illnesses).

Every truck you move with electricity instead of diesel has an outsize effect on the health of the planet and everything living on it. Eighteen-wheelers are the ultimate force multiplier.

Musk has done the math. And while lots of players are moving into electric trucking space, none have the star power of Tesla, the kind of clout that makes the whole country pay attention.

Tesla

From the outside, the carbon fiber cab is all smooth lines. Aerodynamics are a real big deal when it comes to fuel economy and making every electron count, and Tesla promises the Semi will cut through the wind more efficiently than some sports cars.

Look inside the cab of the Semi, and there’s no doubt Tesla knows how to (re) design a vehicle. Like the famed McLaren F1 sports car (Musk owned one until he crashed it while driving around with Peter Thiel), the driver’s seat is now in the middle of the cab. (There’s a jump seat behind it, to the right.) Because it didn’t need to build around a bulky diesel engine, Tesla made the nose of the cab a vertical slab, and the main seat is so far forward, you can see the ground just in front of the vehicle. In a design touch that recognizes that truckers are human beings, there are overhead bins for storing stuff, and at least four cup holders.

Output: After a number of delays, Tesla has unveiled its first electric articulated lorry, challenging one of the last bastions of hydrocarbon fuel on the roads. The Tesla Semi will have a range of 500 miles on a single charge and will go into production in 2019. CEO Elon Musk also unexpectedly revealed a new Roadster, which he said would be "the fastest production car ever" made, with a range of almost 1,000 km (620 miles) and acceleration of 0-100 mph in 4.2 seconds. The new Roadster will be available from 2020.


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Chinese video game includes teachings of President Xi Jinping
 You’ve logged onto your favorite game, and you’re ready to shoot and kill your enemies. Before being parachuted into the battleground, you see a banner hanging over your head that reads: “Never forget why you started, and you can accomplish your mission.”

It’s Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s newest catchphrase, taken from his work report presented at a recently concluded Communist Party congress.

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Survival-shooter game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) is the hottest videogame of the year, selling over 13 million copies globally, and Chinese companies are racing against one another to create their own copycats of it. Chief among them is a mobile version titled Wildness Action, which recently took the top spot in China’s iOS store.

In the latest update of the game, released by gaming company NetEase this week, red banners with slogans reflecting China’s “core socialist values” are emblazoned everywhere from buildings to bridges to containers. Another slogan, “Safeguard national security, safeguard world peace,” can also be seen in the game.

It’s a vivid example of the Chinese Communist Party’s attempts to both expand and control the country’s tech sector and internet. As Xi noted in his work report, “East, west, north, or south, the Party leads everything.”

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NetEase added the slogans as part of its overhaul of the game’s narrative. Previously the game was about fighting to be the last survivor on a deserted island; now, it is presented as a military drill for soldiers who’ll be recruited for China’s peacekeeping operations. That said, the key elements of the play mode remain the same, and are still uncannily similar to that of PUBG.

The changes came after China’s media watchdogs took aim at PUBG and similar survival games, saying they are unlikely to get a license to officially launch in China because they contain too much blood and gore. The violent, competitive spirit behind such games is “against our country’s core socialist values… and bad for teenagers’ physical and mental health,” according to a notice from China’s official video copyright association in October.

In response, NetEase published a notice (link in Chinese) saying that the company would comply with official instructions to modify its own survival games, ensuring that they convey core socialist values.

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi—which also operates a PUBG-esque mobile game titled Xiaomi Gunfight—released a statement this week (link in Chinese) saying that it would work with censors to modify the game. “Our main theme is to safeguard world peace and defend the motherland,” the company said.

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Xiaomi Gunfight didn’t include slogans with socialist values in the game, but also changed the story to depict a military drill. In the latest version, players who are shot in head don’t die; they simply get “eliminated” from the training.

NetEase and Xiaomi didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment. In response to the Chinese regulator’s October notice, Chang Han Kim, CEO of PUGB Corp, a subsidiary of PUGB’s South Korean developer, said: “We respect the decisions of all review boards, and we look forward to working with them to bring PUBG to as many fans as possible around the world.”

Chinese social-media and gaming giant Tencent is also launching its PUBG-like mobile game this month—Glorious Mission: Mission Action has already garnered more than 4 million pre-registrations on its official site.

Output: A Chinese video game is now including the teachings of President Xi Jinping and slogans on socialist values. Players can take in his exhortations during on-screen shooting rampages in a recent update of the popular Wildness Action. Game maker NetEase has included red banners with slogans proclaiming China's "core socialist values" on everything from bridges to buildings and shipping containers. This marks a further example of the Communist Party's efforts to increase control over the tech sector and internet.


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Input:
Silicon Valley beats Detroit in the autonomous cars patents race
 The autonomous car race is heating up. After years in which auto innovation meant mostly new exterior trim, companies are vying to transform the nature of the vehicle itself. It’s not just parts manufacturers and automakers (although at least 64 have set up shop in Silicon Valley). It’s tech giants like Alphabet, Apple, and Uber.

The prize is a massive share of an evolving multi-trillion dollar market for mobility, much of it autonomous, electric and shared. To gauge this competition, patents are one of the easier things to track. Consulting firm L.E.K. examined US Patent and Trademark Office data on filings for autonomous vehicle technology. It has catalogued an enormous spike in the number of patents filed by major carmakers for autonomous technology since 2007. The majority are for Lidar (laser sensors), image processing, computer vision, vehicle-to-vehicle communication, and advanced driver-assistance systems.

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The attention, L.E.K. argues (pdf), is the result of two competing strategies to develop self-driving vehicles. One is the “iPhone” strategy: vertical integration of the entire ecosystem. Apple manufactures (or tightly controls) every dimension of the physical product and the software that runs on the iPhone. The alternate strategy is Google’s “Android” model, which promotes a ubiquitous, open-source operating system that manufacturers can install on any product.

Both have merits, and it’s not apparent which, if either, will dominate. Ford, GM, and Tesla are going the Apple route by choosing to make and tightly integrate the entire product. Alphabet’s Waymo and (ironically) Apple are taking the Android path by investing primarily in the operating systems and datasets for autonomous vehicles, according to L.E.K., citing Waymo’s, decision to scrap its own custom vehicles last year (it has partnered with Fiat-Chrysler), Tim Cook’s overhaul of Apple’s Project Titan (paywall) away from an Apple-branded autonomous vehicle, and Baidu’s choice to open-source its self-driving software platform.

But there’s one problem, says L.E.K. “In smartphones and PCs, there was only room for one successful integrated player: Apple. In autonomous vehicles, there are a number of players vying to be the dominant alternative to the Android model. Not all can succeed.”

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The lead, at least in terms of patents, clearly belongs to a tech company. Waymo has filed at least 2,118 patents since 2007, compared to about half that for its nearest rivals, GM and Ford. Automakers accustomed to more genteel, incremental innovation over decades, rather than the breakneck pace of digital technology, may find it hard to adapt.

Of course, patents don’t necessarily ensure innovation, says Rob Haslehurst, managing director at L.E.K. by email. They are a strong indication of interest in a technology amid a brewing battle of big companies defending their market territory. Those that fail to invest run the risk of losing out completely.

But some companies are skipping traditional patent protections for speed and agility. Take electric vehicle (EV) technology. Nearly 800 patents for EV charging were filed between 2014 and 2017, many of them by Qualcomm, Hyundai, Ford, and Mitsubishi, reports Netscribes. Tesla has open-sourced all its electric vehicle patents in 2014 to focus on what it calls its competitive advantage from hiring the best people that can improve its processes and operations. “Technology leadership is not defined by patents, which history has repeatedly shown to be small protection indeed against a determined competitor, but rather by the ability of a company to attract and motivate the world’s most talented engineers,” wrote Musk on the company’s website in 2014.

Output: Silicon Valley is filing far more patents relating to autonomous cars than traditional auto makers are, according to consultancy firm LEK. Alphabet division Waymo has filed more than 2,118 patents since 2007, against General Motors' 1,160 and Ford's 944. Two broad strategies have emerged among companies in the sector. Ford, GM and Tesla are taking an iPhone-type approach whereby one company makes all the hardware and software for a self-driving car. In contrast, Waymo and Apple are following an Android-type strategy by developing an operating system that can be installed on a variety of manufacturers' vehicles.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Keystone pipeline spills 210,000 gallons of oil in South Dakota
 Story highlights Nebraska officials will announce decision on Keystone XL Pipeline TransCanada says there are no threats to public safety

CNN —

A total of 210,000 gallons of oil leaked Thursday from the Keystone Pipeline in South Dakota, the pipeline’s operator, TransCanada, said.

Crews shut down the pipeline Thursday morning, and officials are investigating the cause of the leak, which occurred about three miles southeast of the town of Amherst, said Brian Walsh, a spokesman for the state’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

This is the largest Keystone oil spill to date in South Dakota, Walsh said. The leak comes just days before Nebraska officials announce a decision on whether the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline, a sister project, can move forward.

In April 2016, there was a 400-barrel release – or 16,800 gallons – with the majority of the oil cleanup completed in two months, Walsh said. About 5,000 barrels of oil spilled Thursday.

“It is a below-ground pipeline, but some oil has surfaced above ground to the grass,” Walsh said. “It will be a few days until they can excavate and get in borings to see if there is groundwater contamination.”

There were no initial reports of the oil spill affecting waterways, water systems or wildlife, he said.

The pipeline was shut down “within minutes” of the company discovering an irregularity, TransCanada said Friday. The spill has been controlled, the company said, with no further environmental impacts observed and no threat to public safety.

TransCanada said it was working with state and federal agencies.

Image of Amherst incident taken earlier today by aerial patrol as part of our initial response. For more updates, visit https://t.co/8yWI1Oq2EM pic.twitter.com/uRNtYUdVjL — TC Energy (@TCEnergy) November 16, 2017

“The safety of the public and environment are our top priorities and we will continue to provide updates as they become available,” the company said.

The Environmental Protection Agency is monitoring the situation and will provide resources and assistance if needed, a spokesman said.

“EPA is aware of the spill and is receiving periodic updates from the state of South Dakota, which is overseeing response activity at the spill site,” he said.

Concerns about the spill

The Keystone Pipeline system stretches more than 2,600 miles, from Hardisty, Alberta, east into Manitoba and then south to Texas, according to TransCanada. The pipeline transports crude oil from Canada.

The proposed Keystone XL Pipeline, which would stretch from Hardisty to Steele City, Nebraska, would complete the proposed system by cutting through Montana and South Dakota.

The sections of pipeline affected stretch from Hardisty to Cushing, Oklahoma, and to Wood River, Illinois, the company said.

The spill occurred in the same county as part of the Lake Traverse Reservation. The leak location is not on Sioux property, but it is adjacent to it and has historical value, said Dave Flute, tribal chairman for Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux Tribe.

“We want to know how long is it going to take to dig this plume of contaminated soil and how can we be reassured, without a doubt, that it has not and will not seep into the aquifer,” he said.

Flute, along with the tribal emergency management director and the manager of the tribal office of environmental protection, arrived Friday morning at the staging area of the leak site to meet with representatives from TransCanada. Flute said he was out there to offer assistance and to understand the cause of the leak and the environmental impacts it might pose.

“We want to find out, was there a crack in the pipe? We don’t know. We want to get that information,” Flute said. “More importantly, and to stay positive, they did clean up the site, they did contain it.”

Environmental activist group Greenpeace said the spill shows the new pipeline in Nebraska should not be approved.

“The Nebraska Public Service Commission needs to take a close look at this spill,” said Rachel Rye Butler of Greenpeace. “A permit approval allowing Canadian oil company TransCanada to build Keystone XL is a thumbs-up to likely spills in the future.”

New Keystone XL

In March, President Donald Trump’s administration officially issued a permit that approved construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline.

The approval followed years of intense debate over the pipeline amid hefty opposition from environmental groups, who argued the pipeline supports the extraction of crude oil from oil sands, which pumps about 17% more greenhouse gases than standard crude oil extraction. Environmentalists also opposed the pipeline because it would cut across the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the world’s largest underground deposits of fresh water.

Tar sands oil is much thicker and stickier than traditional oil, significantly complicating cleanup efforts. The fact it’s thicker also means it needs to be combined with other hazardous materials to allow it to be transported in pipelines.

Native American groups have argued the pipeline would cut across their sovereign lands.

Trump said the new pipeline will be a big win for American workers, but critics say it won’t be, because most of the jobs would be temporary.

Dakota Access Pipeline

TransCanada said Thursday that the section of the Keystone Pipeline that was leaking was isolated within 15 minutes after a drop in pressure was detected.

According to the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ website, this is the third pipeline spill in the state this year. Another came in April when about 84 gallons of crude oil leaked from the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline in Spink County.

That pipeline, which runs through both Dakotas and two other states, drew fierce resistance from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe in North Dakota, the tribe’s allies and environmentalists.

Opposition to the pipeline sparked monthslong protests, with as many as 10,000 people participating during the peak of the demonstrations. Clashes with police at the protests turned violent at times, with one woman nearly losing her arm after an explosion last November.

Output: The Keystone pipeline has spilled 210,000 gallons of oil (5,000 barrels) in South Dakota, the largest spill in the area, according to TransCanada, the company that operates the pipeline. This comes just days before a decision over whether the proposed Keystone XL pipeline can proceed. It is unknown yet whether the spill is affecting rivers, water systems or wildlife. The pipeline runs more than 2,600 miles from Canada to Texas.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Pop-up stores to feature in shopping centres
 Imagine a permanent house for pop-up shops.

That's what Simon Property Group , the largest mall operator in the U.S., is preparing to unveil next month at one of its properties on Long Island, New York.

The platform, known as "The Edit@Roosevelt Field," offers retailers early on in their businesses the opportunity to set up shop, typically on a quarterly basis, in spaces that span 20 to 200 square feet. All spaces will be enclosed in a dedicated portion of the mall.

"We needed to create a new product category to allow brands to come earlier on in their life cycle to physical retail," Zach Beloff, national director of business development at Simon, told CNBC. "Brands are looking for the ability to scale, and to scale quickly, and Simon is looking for ways to partner with brands to facilitate that ability to scale."

At Roosevelt Field, some of the first brands to be featured via Simon will include Raden Smart Luggage, menswear brand Vitaly, athletic apparel retailer Rhone, beauty brand Winky Lux, dessert company JARS by Dani, and contemporary art gallery Uprise Art.

In bringing the idea to fruition, Simon also partnered with Appear Here, a global marketplace for helping tenants find short-term retail space.

Just earlier this year, Appear Here announced it had raised $12 million in Series B funding — a round led by Octopus Ventures and including participation from Simon Venture Group.

"We see Simon on the forefront of this space, building a community and experiences," said Elizabeth Layne, Appear Here's chief marketing officer. "Malls present a really interesting opportunity, with a high density of people."

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Fifth Wall Ventures, which is backed by big real estate names such as CBRE Group and Macerich , has made a "significant" investment in Appear Here, according to Brendan Wallace, Fifth Wall's managing partner.

Appear Here has already successfully worked with some of the biggest retail landlords in the United Kingdom, only just tapping into the New York market earlier this year. One of the company's key initiatives is to make it as easy as possible for incoming tenants to sign short-term leases, using a credit card online and without a broker.

More than 100,000 brands, including Coca-Cola , Spotify, Kanye West and Moleskine, have used Appear Here to find real estate.

Simon has made a significant investment in the Edit platform — something that's been under development for years, Beloff said. Shoppers visiting The Edit are expected to boost the entire mall "ecosystem" and drive sales to other stores, he added.

In an unorthodox way, the pop-up concept is beginning to find permanent homes and not only at Simon's malls.

Washington Prime Group , another U.S. mall landlord, is finalizing plans to launch a marketplace called Tangible.

"We take six to eight e-commerce purveyors, some may never want a permanent space, or it may just be a beta test for the next Lululemon ," WPG Chief Executive Lou Conforti told CNBC.

Every 45 to 60 days, he said, those retailers will rotate throughout the Tangible marketplace at a WPG property.

"In an interesting way, this is why TJ Maxx and Nordstrom Rack and Saks Off Fifth generally do quite well," Conforti said. "There's a treasure hunt aspect."

As many of America's biggest department store anchors struggle to grow sales, modular spaces with rotating up-and-coming retailers offer one solution to fill the gaps. With Appear Here now growing rapidly in the U.S., the future of retail looks to include more pop-ups.

Output: The largest mall operator in the US, the Simon Property Group, is set to unveil a permanent "pop-up shop" platform in one of its Long Island properties for smaller retailers. The platform, called "The Edit@Roosevelt Field", will initially feature brands such as Vitaly, Raden Smart Luggage and Uprise Art. Simon partnered with Appear Here, which has already worked with some of the biggest retail landlords in the UK and recently raised $12 million in a series B funding round, to make the platform a reality.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Full-page ad in WSJ warns about dangers of bitcoin short selling
 Thomas Peterffy, one of the world’s most successful derivatives traders, reiterated concerns Wednesday that bitcoin could lead to a financial crisis.

In an ad in the Wall Street Journal’s Nov. 15 issue, the Hungarian-born entrepreneur, who is the chairman of Interactive Brokers LLC, outlined his worries about an impending plan to launch a futures exchange tied to bitcoin in the coming weeks. The advertisement was an enlarged version of Peterffy’s open letter to Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo dated Nov. 14, and took up a full page in the WSJ’s print edition.

“Margining such a product in a reasonable manner is impossible,” Peterffy’s letter reads, referring to the use of leverage to augment returns in an investment. “While the buyer (the long side) of a cryptocurrency futures contract or a call option could be required to put up 100% of the value to ensure safety, determining the margin requirement for the seller (the short seller) is impossible,” he wrote.

Peterffy fears that exchanges will offer low margins to entice buyers to do business on their platforms, but the wild trading swings that bitcoin BTCUSD, -1.27% is known for could imperil both the trading platform and the investor who is shorting, or betting that they can profit from borrowing an asset whose value is expected to decrease in value.

So-called short sellers hope to return assets borrowed on margin, or on loan, at a lower value and then pocket the difference between where it was borrowed and its new price. However, the prospective losses in such a scenario, if an asset suddenly skyrockets, can be limitless and brutal.

And that is the deepest worry for the trader.

The CME Group CME, -3.44% kicked off a product to reference bitcoin prices a year ago, and announced a plan to launch futures contracts pegged to bitcoin as early as the second week of December, according to CME CEO Terry Duffy in an interview on CNBC on Monday.

Duffy said CME may institute trading halts at 20% swings in the value of bitcoin to smooth out some of its volatility. Peterffy, however, argues that that might not be sufficient to protect against severe moves within, which aren’t infrequent occurrences in bitcoin trade.

In an interview with Barron’s, Peterffy expressed similar misgivings. “The weaker clearing members charge the least. They don’t have much money to lose anyway. For this reason, most bitcoin interest will accumulate on the books of weaker clearing members who will all fail in a large move,” Peterffy said.

Peterffy advocates for isolating bitcoin clearing or trading in an exchange that only clears cryptocurrency transactions to mitigate possible systemic risk.

“Unless the risk of clearing cryptocurrency is isolated and segregated from other products, a catastrophe in the cryptocurrency market that destabilizes a clearing organization will destabilize the real economy, a critical equity index and commodity markets cleared in the same clearing organization become infected,” Peterffy wrote in the open letter Wednesday.

Bitcoin was up 9% late Wednesday in New York at around $7,220, while bitcoin rival ether tokens, trading on the Ethereum blockchain, were down about 2% at $331. Both assets have seen stratospheric moves in 2017. Bitcoin is up about 650% year to date, while ether tokens are up more than 4,000% so far this year.

Output: The chairman of Interactive Brokers LLC, Thomas Petterffy, has issued a warning about the market destabilisation potential of bitcoin in a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal, in particular, pointing to the difficulty of "determining the margin requirement" for short sellers. Petterffy wrote: "Unless the risk of clearing cryptocurrency is isolated and segregated from other products, a catastrophe in the cryptocurrency market that destabilizes a clearing organization will destabilize the real economy." Peterffy advocates isolating bitcoin clearing or trading in an exchange that clears only cryptocurrency transactions to mitigate possible systemic risk.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Wall Street Blockchain Alliance adds KPMG as member-director
 Source: Wall Street Blockchain Alliance

The Wall Street Blockchain Alliance (WSBA), an industry leading non-profit trade association, is proud to announce that KPMG LLP has joined as a corporate member.

Along with this membership, KPMG will also assume a seat on the board of directors.

“Blockchain is maturing toward the production phase and it is clear that it has the potential to dramatically impact financial services by improving outcomes critical to the industry such as cost of operations, capital consumption, customer experience and in some cases new business models and revenues,” said Eamonn Maguire, global leader for KPMG’s Digital Ledger Services.

“We are thrilled to be joining the WSBA and to have the opportunity to collaborate with some of the leading blockchain experts in the industry.” Ron Quaranta, Chairman of the WSBA states: “We are truly grateful to have KPMG join the WSBA family as a corporate member. As one of the world’s leading professional services companies, KPMG sits at the cutting edge of blockchain innovation across multiple segments of the global economy. We look forward to collaborating with them, as our global members and indeed the world, begin to implement blockchain innovations across financial markets and beyond.”

Output: Financial services non-profit trade association Wall Street Blockchain Alliance (WSBA) has added KPMG as a member and director. Eamonn Maguire, global leader for KPMG’s digital ledger services said: "Blockchain is maturing toward the production phase and it is clear that it has the potential to dramatically impact financial services."


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Fault in Amazon Key's camera allows couriers to re-enter houses
 Last month, the world was introduced to Amazon Key, a new service from the online shopping juggernaut that allows couriers to unlock your front door to deliver packages. One of the main concerns of the service is the central question of whether Prime customers trust Amazon enough to let the company monitor their homes and determine when it’s okay to unlock the door for someone who is, essentially, a stranger. The service relies on Cloud Cam and a compatible smart lock, and only grants permission for a courier to enter after they scan a barcode, which is checked against information in the cloud. A camera also monitors and records the drop-off so customers can check that nothing suspect happened.

Now security researchers have found that the camera can be disabled and frozen from a program run from any computer within Wi-Fi range, reports Wired. That means a customer watching a delivery will only see a closed door, even if someone opens the door and goes inside — a vulnerability that may allow rogue couriers to rob customers’ homes.

once the disabling program is run, the app shows the door remaining closed

"The camera is very much something Amazon is relying on in pitching the security of this as a safe solution," Ben Caudill, the founder of Rhino Security Labs told Wired. Researchers from the security firm uncovered the Amazon Key attack and replicated it. "Disabling that camera on command is a pretty powerful capability when you’re talking about environments where you’re relying heavily on that being a critical safety mechanism.”

The video demonstration of the attack shows a man dropping off a parcel inside a house. The Amazon Key app shows the delivery goes as normal and indicates the door is locked as the courier leaves. But once the disabling program is run, and the courier reenters the apartment, the app just shows the door remaining closed.

The demonstration is a proof-of-concept and a deauthorization technique. If the camera is turned off, even manually by the user, you do get a push notification a few minutes later saying it’s offline. Someone wanting to break into a home could follow an Amazon courier and wait for them to make a delivery. They could trigger a deauthorization command as the courier is leaving and cause Amazon Key to go offline, which would stop the door from locking.

But Amazon does have a process in place that’s meant to avoid these scenarios from happening; the courier has to unlock the door, leave, then manually relock, and the customer will get a notification when they do so. If a courier left and the door was not quickly locked again, the customer would know something is off, although an attack like this would prevent them from seeing exactly what happened. The courier also can’t move on to their next delivery, according to Amazon’s procedures, until the door has been locked and that step has been confirmed the cloud.

UPDATE November 16th, 12:41pm ET: A spokesperson from Amazon says: “Safety and security are built into every aspect of the service. Every delivery driver passes a comprehensive background check that is verified by Amazon before they can make in-home deliveries, every delivery is connected to a specific driver, and before we unlock the door for a delivery, Amazon verifies that the correct driver is at the right address, at the intended time. We currently notify customers if the camera is offline for an extended period. Later this week we will deploy an update to more quickly provide notifications if the camera goes offline during delivery. The service will not unlock the door if the Wi-Fi is disabled and the camera is not online.”

Output: Security researchers have identified a weakness in Amazon's new "Key" service that allows a third party to disable the camera from any computer within Wi-Fi range, potentially allowing rogue couriers to break into customers’ homes. An Amazon spokesperson said: "we currently notify customers if the camera is offline for an extended period. Later this week we will deploy an update to more quickly provide notifications if the camera goes offline during delivery. The service will not unlock the door if the Wi-Fi is disabled and the camera is not online”.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Vertical farms could be next step for Amazon after Whole Foods
 A few months ago, Amazon (AMZN) bought Whole Foods at a whopping $13.4 billion, with a promise to bring cheap, organic, nutritious, low carbon*, and pesticide-free food to the masses. Soon after the acquisition, Whole Foods cut prices by as much as 43%, bringing prices of organic food at or below non-organic food.

Currently, Amazon is well established in 13 countries. With this new acquisition, Amazon gained access to 460 Whole Foods stores scattered across the US, Britain, and Canada. A plan to extend further to be within 30 to 60 minutes away from as many people as possible is underway according to Mikey Vu, a partner at the consultancy Bain & Company who is focused on retail, as quoted by the New York Times.

What’s next for Amazon? Well, acquisition of vertical farm startups, drone delivery, and more. Let me explain.

It is no secret that Amazon got the logistics of warehouses and distribution down to a science, and I would argue that, after the Whole Foods acquisition, a natural next step for Amazon in order to have a complete ecosystem of organic food production, distribution, and sales would be to acquire local and/or international vertical farm startups, which are popping up all over the world at an ever-increasing rate.

Vertical farm startups like Plenty, AeroFarms, and Bowery recently received between $20 million to $200 million in investments from venture capitalists, including Jeff Bezos — more proof that vertical farming is on Bezos’ radar.

For those who are not familiar with vertical farming, here are some advantages:

Consumes 95% less water that traditional farming methods, by some estimates

Eliminates the need for pesticides

Year-round crop production

Eliminates agricultural runoff

High yield/acre

Reduces use of fossil fuels from farm machinery and transport of food

No weather-related crop failures

Creates new urban employment opportunities

Reduces the risk of infection from agents transmitted at the agricultural interface

Returns farmland to nature, helping to restore ecosystem functions and services

As to why Amazon would venture into vertical farming? First, as mentioned above, to close the cycle and have a complete ecosystem. Moreover, vertical farming is high tech and involves storage and logistics, which fits well with Amazon’s top-notch expertise in these domains.

Soon, you will be able to order a fresh salad, or any organic food, from your phone on Amazon, perhaps even automatically schedule delivery every day at a desired time and have it delivered by a drone or small robot directly to your door within 30 minutes. What an exciting time to be alive!

What are your thoughts on vertical farming and the future of food?

*Low carbon: Vertical farming is quite energy intensive. However, assuming that energy is coming from a renewable source, it will be low carbon.

Core reference: Vertical Farm

Output: Amazon may be looking at taking over vertical farming start-ups, following its acquisition of US grocery brand Whole Foods. Start-ups including Bowery, AeroFarms and Plenty offer year-round crop production in environments that require 95% less water than traditional farms and experience few weather-related problems. Owning the farms that produced the groceries it sold in Whole Foods could provide Amazon with new efficiencies, especially if coupled with its extensive supply chain capabilities.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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IOT-automated cricket farms will help solve world hunger: Cisco
 As the world population rises alongside mortality rates, we’ve reached a point where there are more humans alive on Earth at one time than ever before. Unfortunately, resources have remained relatively constant, meaning more people are vying for the same basic needs. Clean water, energy, medicine… and, of course, food.

There are plenty of companies that are trying to combat world hunger in various ways. Many investors are excited about the opportunity to grow meat in labs rather than taking it from cattle. Vertical farming could allow for us to grow far more crops with less resources, taking up less space. Organizations from The Hunger Project to Action Against Hunger and more are working on ways to combat starvation.

John Chambers, Executive Chairman of Cisco, has a different idea for how we will solve world hunger. Insects and the Internet of Things. According to a report from The Register:

As such [Chambers] has invested in the Aspire Food Group, based in Texas, which claims to run the world’s first automated cricket farm. He said: “The primary source of protein you will be having within your life, definitely within 20 years and maybe within 15, will be insects,” adding, “they’re the cleanest form you can produce at least challenge to the environment.” He reckons the tasty morsels will be consumed by everyone, and will be served in high end restaurants as will be used to solve world hunger. But wait, there is also a tech angle. Chambers believes that the move to transition to an orthopteran diet is tied up in the Internet of Things, robotic farming, and capturing the cloud data capability “to grow this faster and safer than we have done before.”

That’s quite the future to wrap your head around. While insects have been a source of protein for humans for thousands of years, as of late the practice has fallen off. Especially in Western societies, if it crawls we don’t eat it.

The Internet of Things, in my mind, has a much stronger case for solving world hunger. Here I can get behind Chambers. Robotic farmers can automate the process of growing crops (or meats) at a larger scale than local farmers. That isn’t to say local farmers should be cut out – we’ll need their centuries of insight passed down from generation to generation if we’re ever going to curtail hunger globally. But for the hard, long, necessary work inherent in farming, robots will be able to aide these farmers at a cheaper price while producing more yield.

Not to mention sensors. Internet of Things devices will be able to measure soil, water, and the amount of sunlight we use to grow crops in real time. If a problem arises, we’ll be alerted immediately. We can distribute the exact amount of nutrients at the precise time to generate the best return, and measure plants on a minute-by-minute basis to ensure they are receiving what they need.

I’m not sure if insects will be the future of fine cuisine. You’ll need a hell of a marketing department to convince Americans to munch on a thorax for lunch instead of a burger and fries. But whether it’s insects, crops, or lab-grown meat, Internet of Things has huge potential for the future of farming and food.

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Output: Cisco CEO John Chambers has expressed hope that a combination of automation, the internet of things (IoT) and cricket farming will help to solve future world hunger. Speaking at the Techonomy conference, Chambers outlined his own investment in the Aspire Food Group, which claims to run the world's first automated cricket farm. “The primary source of protein you'll be having within 20 years will be insects,” he said. Chambers argues that IoT, robotic farming and cloud data capability are all key to growing insect farming “faster and safer than we have done before”.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
'Nation' of Asgardia launched into space, elections to be held
 An odd but intriguing experiment in technology, diplomacy, governance and space exploration, among other things, has officially begun its journey.

After being delayed one day, an Orbital ATK Antares rocket carrying a cubesat named Asgardia-1 launched from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia early Sunday. The milk carton-sized satellite makes up the entirety of territory of the self-proclaimed "Space Kingdom" of Asgardia.

"Asgardia space kingdom has now established its sovereign territory in space," read an online statement.

Over 300,000 people signed up online to become "citizens" of the nation over the last year. The main privilege of citizenship so far involves the right to upload data to Asgardia-1 for safekeeping in orbit, seemingly far away from the pesky governments and laws of Earth-bound countries.

But if you really dig down into Asgardia's terms and conditions, you'll find that those privileges are still subject to earthly copyright laws -- they're set up under the laws of Austria.

As of now, Asgardia's statehood isn't acknowledged by any other actual countries or the United Nations, and it doesn't really even fit the definition of a nation since it's not possible for a human to physically live in Asgardia.

Not yet, at least. The long-term vision for Asgardia includes human settlements in space, on the moon and perhaps even more distant colonies.

For now, though, Asgardia is a tiny satellite inside a Cygnus spacecraft set to dock with the International Space Station Tuesday morning. There, Asgardia-1 will patiently wait while Orbital ATK completes its primary mission to resupply the ISS.

After about a month, the Cygnus will detach and climb to a higher altitude where the nation-in-a-box will be deployed into orbit.

We'll see if the activation of Asgardia-1 heralds the beginning of a new era of extra-planetary citizenship, or if it slowly fades into obscurity with each trip around our planet and its nearly 200 more conventional nations.

Crowd Control: A crowdsourced science fiction novel written by CNET readers.

Solving for XX: The tech industry seeks to overcome outdated ideas about "women in tech."

Output: A milk-carton sized "satellite nation", with over 300,000 "citizens", has been launched into space. The main privilege of citizenship in "The Space Kingdom of Asgardia" is currently the right to upload data to the satellite, called Asgardia-1, for safekeeping in orbit. However, the long-term vision for Asgardia includes human settlements in space, on the moon and perhaps even more distant colonies. For now, Asgardia's statehood is not officially recognised by the UN, since it's impossible for a human to physically live in Asgardia.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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NBC to live-stream daily Winter Olympics events for first time
 NBC Sports plans to livestream more than 1,800 hours of Winter Olympics coverage in February from Pyeongchang, South Korea — the most NBC Sports has ever done for the Winter Olympics.

The 1,800 hours will include all competitions across 15 sports and 102 medal events. During the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, NBC Sports aired 1,000 hours worth of livestreams. Two years ago during the Summer Olympics, NBC Sports livestreamed 4,500 hours from Rio — but the Summer Games are bigger, encompassing more than 35 sports.

For the first time at the Winter Olympics, NBC’s broadcast feed will be live streamed every day. This will be the second time after the Rio Olympics that the NBC broadcast network feed will be included among the livestreams and simulcasts. NBC’s total coverage spans five networks, including NBC, NBCSN, USA, CNBC and the Olympic Channel.

“In this day and age, all content should be available to consumers across the board,” said Rick Cordella, evp and gm of digital media for NBC Sports Group. “The media landscape is shifting, and people are comfortable consuming on all these different devices — we’re now going to be on connected TV devices, whereas in the past we were not [for the Winter Olympics].”

Users will need to verify their cable, satellite or other pay-TV subscriptions to watch most of the livestreams. That said, NBC Sports offers a temporary free-viewing window, where users visiting an NBC Sports digital platform for the first time will be able to stream coverage for up to 30 minutes before having to sign in with their credentials. On later visits, these same users will be able to access an unauthenticated livestream for five minutes before they are required to log in.

“We stream more than 20,000 hours of content every year on the NBC Sports app, and it’s all authenticated, so this is nothing out of the ordinary,” said Cordella. “Now, in 2018, if you stream TV on the internet, you know what TV Everywhere is; you know what your credentials are.”

In 2014, NBCUniversal agreed to pay nearly $7.8 billion for the exclusive U.S. broadcast and digital rights to the Summer and Winter Olympics from 2022 through 2032.

Even at that price, the Olympics remain a profitable venture for NBCU, with the Rio Olympics bringing in more than $1.2 billion in ad sales, according to NBC Sports execs at the time. (About 10 percent of the company’s Olympics ad sales were for streamed content, and the company expects that number to grow.) This came despite the Rio Olympics bringing in a smaller linear TV audience, with the average prime-time audience dropping 18 percent to 24.9 million viewers when compared to the 2012 London Games.

NBC Sports said the total audience for the Olympics continues to grow, with the Rio Games averaging 100 million unique viewers, up 28 percent from 2012, and viewers streaming a total 3.5 billion minutes during the Games.

Connected TVs were a huge part of consumption during Rio, accounting for 40 percent of streaming that occurred during prime time, according to NBCU. It’s why Pyeongchang will also be the first Winter Olympics — and the second Olympics overall — to let users watch live coverage on connected TV devices.

NBC Sports is confident that the Pyeongchang Games will exceed total viewership for the 2014 Sochi Games, Cordella said. “We are bullish on what we think can happen based on what we saw in Rio,” he said.

All of NBC Sports’ Olympics coverage will be available on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app. In addition to the live competitions, NBC Sports will offer a library of on-demand clips, including highlights, news recaps, athlete profiles and other features, along with full-event replays. About 300 employees will be involved in NBC Sports’ digital coverage plans.

NBC Sports will also produce three digital shows and a social video series as part of its coverage. “Gold Zone” will offer a daily two-hour recap of the day’s competitions, “Olympic Ice” will review all of the figure skating news and highlights of the day, and “Off the Post” will be a live hockey studio show airing after each day’s final game. The social video series “Ever Wonder?” will explore interesting aspects of the Winter Games sports.

Previously, NBC Sports announced a partnership with BuzzFeed to again produce a limited-run daily Snapchat Discover channel, which will focus on the stories beyond the competitions.

Livestreaming coverage will begin Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. Eastern time and will run through the following 19 days.

Output: US broadcaster NBC will live-stream more than 1,800 hours of next year's Winter Olympics through its sports app, providing daily feeds for the first time at any winter games. All events and medal competitions across the 15 disciplines will be covered at the Pyeongchang, South Korea, games in February. That builds on the 1,000 hours net-cast from the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia. NBC Sports said Olympics online audience figures are growing. At the Rio 2016 summer games NBC live-streamed 4,500 hours and notched up an average 100 million unique views, up 28% on London 2012.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
UK ocean litter more than doubled in 2016
 There has been a dramatic rise in the amount of litter found on the seabed around Britain, according to new government data.

An average of 358 litter items were found per square kilometre of seabed in 2016, a 158% rise on the previous year, and 222% higher than the average for 1992-94.

Almost 78% of the litter is plastic, 6.3% rubber and 2.7% metal, according to the data published by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs.

The amount of seabed litter has fluctuated over the years, but has been in long-term decline since a peak of 1,300 items per square kilometre in 2003. Statisticians link the fluctuations to weather changes, but the rise in 2016 was the first after three years of reductions.

Tim Farron, the Lib Dem spokesman on the environment, said: “It is particularly worrying to see such a sharp rise in plastic litter polluting our seas. Unless we take action, in a few years Blue Planet will have to be renamed Plastic Planet.

“The government needs to get its act together and take urgent action to clean up our seas and countryside. The long promised 25-year plan to protect our environment needs to be published now, not simply kicked into the long grass.”

The publication of Defra’s 25-year plan was originally scheduled for the summer of 2016 but has repeatedly been delayed.

Hugo Tagholm, the chief executive of Surfers Against Sewage, said the increase in seabed plastic reflected what tens of thousands of volunteers were finding along the UK coastline.

“They are seeing more and more plastic in the tideline, particularly single-use plastic, which has grown exponentially in the last two decades,” he said.

Tagholm called for taxes and policy changes to increase recycling and reduce business and supermarket use of single-use plastics. He said Defra’s current consultation on deposit-return systems for plastic bottles was crucial.

“The upstream thinking is what’s vital to protect the seabed, the water column and our beaches,” he said. “Without weaning the public off their plastic addiction we’re not going to stop this increase. We really are at a crisis point, but unlike climate change we’re at the early stages. We can stop this and reverse this trend.”

Natalie Fee, the founder of the City to Sea campaign group, said: “This is sadly yet more evidence that the tide has yet to turn against plastic pollution and all the more of an incentive to really get the solutions embedded in mainstream culture.

“Joining the Refill movement and carrying a reusable water bottle or coffee cup in public, carrying a metal straw in your bag, switching to reusable menstrual products – these things spread a powerful message, we can choose to reuse.

“We don’t have to rely on supermarkets or government to make these simple choices for us, although it would help if they were more proactive in tackling this environmental disaster.”

The production of plastics is forecast to double in the next 20 years. A million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute, and 38.5 million are used every day in the UK. Only half are recycled.

Sewage plants also contribute to plastic pollution in the oceans, because they use plastic pellets known as Bio-Beads in wastewater treatment that spill into the UK’s coastal waters.

Academic studies have estimated that the damage to fishing equipment caused by anthropogenic sea litter costs UK fisheries £10m each year.

Output: An average of 358 litter items were found per sq km of seabed around the UK in 2016, a 158% rise on the previous year, according to the data published by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. Almost 78% of the litter was plastic, 6.3% rubber and 2.7% metal. The amount of seabed litter has been in decline since peaking at 1,300 items per sq km in 2003, and this year's rise - the first in three years - may have been a result of weather changes. A 25-year plan to protect the UK environment was scheduled to be published in the summer of 2016, but has repeatedly been delayed.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
NASA plans mission to explore why planets lose their atmosphere
 This artist's rendition shows MEME-X's dual spacecraft as they observe the aurora from an altitude like that of the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

A team of NASA scientists want to use Earth as a laboratory to understand how planets lose their atmospheres and has proposed a mission that the agency recently selected as one of five for further consideration as a possible NASA Explorer mission.

In the proposed mission that some believe is a potential keystone in the study of the Sun and its effects on planetary atmospheres, the team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is advancing a dual-satellite, polar-orbiting mission to study the universal processes that control atmospheric erosion and its interaction with stellar winds, the continuously flowing stream of charged particles released from the Sun's corona.

Called Mechanisms of Energetic Mass Ejection-Explorer, or MEME-X, the mission was one of five proposals that received Phase-A funding under NASA's Small Explorer Program. NASA also selected another Goddard mission, Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager [link to story]. Of the five, NASA is expected to select one or two for development and implementation.

Cross-Disciplinary Mission

"MEME-X has strong cross threads across NASA's scientific disciplines—planetary, heliophysics, astrophysics, and Earth science," said Thomas Moore, a Goddard scientist and the MEME-X principal investigator. In addition to providing details about the loss of mass in Earth's upper atmospheric layers, the mission could enhance scientists' understanding of the role that solar wind played in transforming Mars from a warm and wet environment that might have supported surface life on Mars to the cold, arid planet of today, he said.

To that end, MEME-X will focus on one principal question: How do particles escape from Earth's upper atmosphere into the magnetosphere—the protective bubble that shields the planet from incoming radiation from the Sun—and then further, out into space. "Atmospheric escape is a fundamental process with wide-reaching consequences across space and planetary sciences," Moore said.

Plasma, the dominant material in space, consists of negatively charged electrons and positively charged ions; that is, atoms that have lost their electrons. It is a fourth state of matter—not a gas, liquid, or solid—which conducts electricity and is affected by magnetic fields. On an astronomical scale, plasma is common. It's found in the Sun, in the constant stream of material that flows from the Sun—the solar wind—and throughout space. However, on Earth's surface, it's rare, found mostly in fires and in fluorescent and neon lights.

MEME-X's two spacecraft would fly in a polar orbit to find out how plasma escapes from Earth's ionosphere, which lies 50 to 620 miles above the surface, into the protective magnetosphere that shields the planet from potentially harmful solar wind and other space weather, and then out into space. Credit: NASA

For heliophysics, understanding the outflow of plasma from near-Earth space is particularly crucial, Moore added. The upflow of plasma from the high-latitude polar cap and auroral regions appears to affect the magnetosphere's response to variations in the solar wind and in turn influences space weather, which adds to the challenge of predicting space weather.

"For 40 years, we've had a long-standing mystery about how a portion of the atmosphere is heated by a factor of a hundred or more and ejected into space, where it dramatically modifies the near-Earth environment," said Doug Rowland, MEME-X deputy principal investigator and a heliophysicist at Goddard. "MEME-X, with its pair of miniaturized spacecraft and advanced instrumentation, will finally give us the tools we need to solve this problem."

Equipped with plasma analyzers, which will be mounted on short booms extending along the spacecraft's spin axes, and other instruments developed in part with research-and-development funding, MEME-X would provide the first multipoint measurements of plasma to determine if the matter is being ejected by pressure, as in a geyser, or vacuumed away from Earth, as in a waterspout.

Atmospheric Evolution and Habitability

In addition to revealing the plasma outflow's effect on space weather, the mission could help answer important questions regarding the evolution of planetary atmospheres and planet habitability, Moore said.

A case in point is Mars. Once wetter and warmer, and possibly congenial for life, the planet now looks dead. It's a desert world, with a sparse atmosphere and virtually no protective magnetic field. NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission, recently discovered that most of the planet's atmosphere has been lost to space, violently scraped from the planet by solar wind.

The question scientists want to answer is the role of the magnetosphere in atmospheric loss, particularly as it relates to solar wind. "This is a quest to discover and characterize fundamental processes that occur within the heliosphere and throughout the universe," Moore said. "We want to use the Earth's atmosphere as a laboratory."

Output: Scientists at NASA have proposed a mission to examine how plasma from Earth escapes the magnetosphere – the protective layer blocking radiation from the Sun. The team at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland are developing the Mechanisms of Energetic Mass Ejection-Explorer (MEME-X) project, which uses two miniaturised spacecraft that are equipped with advanced tools to measure plasma ejections from the Earth into space, aiming to explore how they affect space weather.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Indian recruitment start-up uses AI to research job candidates
 Belong, a Bengaluru-based startup, is creating a “Google for people,” as co-founder Rishabh Kaul describes it.

The three-year-old recruitment firm is part of a new crop of companies using technology to simplify hiring processes, from sorting resumés to scheduling interviews. Belong, however, goes well beyond all that.

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It scours the internet to unearth publicly available information on any and all possible candidates, including scanning their Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, LinkedIn profiles, and more. ”Earlier, a resume was just like a balance sheet—what you declare about yourself at a given point of time,” explained Kaul. “Now, you have a rich stream of constant data.”

After gathering copious amounts of information, the platform ranks potential hires according to their suitability for a role at a particular company—much like how Google tailors search results for each user’s query.

Belong stands out also because it seems to have cracked the code by selling its product to an impressive clientele. This list spans e-commerce behemoths Amazon and Flipkart, telecom provider Airtel, ride-hailing services Ola and Uber, and online grocer BigBasket, among others.

Talent hunt

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Founded by Kaul, Vijay Sharma, Saiteja Veera, and Sudheendra Chilappagari, Belong’s basic proposition is simple: using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to curate data from social media activity, and from niche platforms such as GitHub, ResearchGate, and Muckrack. “The technology acts like a magnet, finding different pieces of data on every white-collar person,” said Kaul.

The system scans all profiles with uniform precision to match every candidate to a company’s search requirements and previous hiring patterns. Where there is no precedent—say, if the company is setting up a centre for a new technology like the Internet of Things (IoT), or is expanding into an unexplored geographical region—Belong works with the employer to manually feed in ideal candidate profiles.

As companies approve and reject suggestions, the machine learning algorithm learns from the choices and fine-tunes the results further. However, Belong’s system does not eliminate candidates, it only re-orders them. So, while the grunt work is done by technology, the decision-making still lies with the human resources (HR) managers. “We want to make them (the managers) into Ironmen and Ironwomen, so we are being the Jarvis,” said Kaul.

The main cash cow for Belong, which has raised $15 million so far, is annual contracts. Kaul did not reveal how much it charges but said, “typically we need (companies) to hire at least 30 to 40 lateral people in a year for it to make return-on-investment sense.”

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Between June 2015 and March 2016, Belong posted revenue of Rs83.2 lakh ($127,000), according to regulatory filings sourced by data platform Tofler. Overall, the company recorded a net loss of Rs6.41 crore ($979,000) during the same period.

Bigger and better

This technology-led process casts a wider net for talent and covers more volume in lesser time than humans can. Besides, it targets not just active jobseekers but even passive talent—those who haven’t even thought of quitting their jobs yet. And connecting with them is merely a matter of clicking a button.

AI can save recruiters between 15-20 hours of work each week

“Can a recruiter write a great email to a candidate to excite them? Yes,” said Kaul. “Can they do it for 500 people or send 3,000 emails? I don’t think so.” AI, though, can tailor messages for a multitude of applicants, saving recruiters between 15 hours and 20 hours of work each week while keeping things personal, Belong claims. The platform also tracks the right time to approach someone based on factors like appraisal cycles at their current company and how often they change jobs.

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“We have made offers for highly complex roles in about 10-14 days on the platform,” Abhinav Asthana, CEO and co-founder of tech company Postman, which has recruited via Belong for over a year, told YourStory. At health-tech firm Practo, Belong improved the offer acceptance rate by 65% while Tavant Technologies reported a 55% hike in candidate responses.

As AI becomes smarter, it could even conduct first-round interviews virtually, ensuring “better utilisation of a recruiter’s time and resources,” N Shivakumar, business head of recruitment process outsourcing at Teamlease Services, told Quartz. Overall, it’d help shorten hiring timelines.

Automation also helps curb biases, Kris Lakshmikanth, founder of HeadHunters India, told Quartz. Belong removes political affiliations, religious views, sexual orientation, and other extraneous factors. (The company includes gender so recruiters can exclusively search for women to up diversity. No company can search for only men, though.)

While the algorithm struggles at times—if a person’s Twitter name differs from the real name or if multiple social media pages appear for someone—Belong’s intelligent filtering mostly improves efficiency and saves time. It, however, falls short with personable traits.

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Cookie-cutter categories like college degree and technical skills are easy to track but AI is no match for experienced human managers with seasoned instincts when judging if a candidate will fit into the office culture or if they are a team player, HeadHunters’ Lakshmikanth added.

Still, Belong has made attempts to quantify ambiguous descriptors. “(To) make the word entrepreneurial into something mathematical that you can search for…the platform looks for people who’ve scaled something small into something big or people who’ve been with a company since founding,” Kaul explained.

Similarly, someone may be classified an early adopter based on when they joined Twitter. ”In 2007, being on Twitter was a big deal. No one knew about it,” said Kaul, “This person would have been on the lookout (for new technologies) rather than someone who joined in 2013, by which time even Amitabh Bachchan had joined.”

And just like human HR managers get better over time, Belong is betting that the machines will too.

Output: A Bengaluru recruitment start-up, Belong, has created an AI solution that its founder describes as "Google for humans". The technology is designed to simplify and streamline hiring processes by scheduling interviews, assessing CVs but also scouting the internet for appropriate talent. The AI tool tracks down information on candidates by scanning their Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, LinkedIn profiles and more. “A resume was just like a balance sheet – what you declare about yourself at a given time,” explained Belong co-founder Rishabh Kaul, “Now, you have a rich stream of constant data.” Belong's clients include Amazon, Ola and Uber.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
NASA goes to Arctic to develop a flying drone for Mars
 All robotic missions on Mars have been limited to the actual surface -- rovers like Curiosity are reliable, but their range is limited. While Curiosity has driven more than 10 miles on the Martian surface, it took more than five years. A flying drone aircraft could cover much more distance, but developing a Mars drone is no easy feat. NASA has partnered with several private organizations and nonprofits to test some flying machines in the most Martian landscape on Earth: a desolate island in the Canadian Arctic.

The new project is spinning up at NASA's Haughton Mars Project facility on Devon Island, which is the largest uninhabited island on Earth. It's uninhabited because of the harsh conditions -- it's what's known as a polar desert. The growing season is only a few weeks long, and the rest of the year it gets dangerously cold with temperatures as low as -58 degrees Fahrenheit. NASA set up a Mars test facility on Devon Island in the 1990s because of how similar the terrain is to the red planet. The site is located in the Haughton impact crater, a 14-mile depression that was created about 39 million years ago.

Joining NASA in this endeavor are the Mars Institute, the SETI Institute, and FYBR Solutions Inc. By sharing the workload with its partners, NASA hopes it will be able to develop a drone design on Earth that also works reliably on Mars. The surface of the Haughton impact crater is perfect for this testing, but it's still on Earth. Mars has a much thinner atmosphere that complicates unmanned missions. There's enough of an atmosphere that landers need protection from the heat of entry, but not enough to use parachutes or standard wing configurations.

One of the leading proposals right now is to develop an extremely lightweight helicopter that would carry a simply camera and instrument package as a "scout drone" for the Mars 2020 rover. It would need to have huge propellers in relation to its size, though. The drone could map terrain surrounding the rover to identify obstacles so operators can move the rover greater distances with each set of instructions. It could also help spot the interesting areas where the rover might be used to take samples and conduct research.

The 2020 rover is expected to be based on Curiosity, but it'll have more cameras . If the research at the Haughton Mars Project site pays off, it may even have its own little drone.

Output: At NASA’s Haughton Mars Project facility on Devon Island in the Arctic, work is underway on an airborne drone designed for use on Mars. NASA is partnering with the Mars Institute, the SETI Institute and FYBR Solutions to develop a drone design that can function in Mars's thin atmosphere. Currently, the leading proposal is to develop an extremely lightweight helicopter that would be deployed in tandem with the Mars 2020 rover, carrying a simple camera and instrument package, as a “scout drone” for the rover.