Sustainable spice
Back in the ’90s, Spice Girls told the world what they really, really wanted in their smash pop hit ‘Wannabe’: to zig-a-zig-ah. Fast-forward 20 years and the world has changed a lot – and now, so has the message behind ‘Wannabe’, which has been stylishly transformed into an anthem that stands up for global women’s rights.
It’s the work of Project Everyone, who’ve given the song’s video a 2016 update, bringing attention to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, which vow to tackle the many issues faced by girls and women as a result of global inequality and poverty.
Titled ‘#WhatIReallyReallyWant’, the video features artists from India, South Africa, Nigeria, the UK, US and Canada telling the world what they ‘really, really want’ – to end problems like violence against women, child marriage and unequal pay. Encouragingly, the video already has the support of some high-profile names, including original Spice Girl Victoria Beckham and Collectively hero Emma Watson.
San Fran sticks it to Styrofoam
After yesterday’s ban-athon news round-up (people are so over old cars and plastic bags), today’s banned headline comes to you from green-minded San Francisco, where the item to get the boot is troublesome Styrofoam. Well, technically, it’s polystyrene, but since everyone uses the branded Styrofoam name to refer to it, let’s stick with that for ease.
From January 1, 2017, the city’s residents will no longer be able to sip their decaf skinny soy chai latte from Styrofoam cups, after a ban passed unanimously by the San Francisco County Board of Supervisors. And it’s not just coffee shops who’ll have to change things up; it also means no shipping boxes, ice chests, beach toys or mooring buoys made from the stuff either.
All of which is good news for the planet and anyone who doesn’t like the thought of polystyrene taking several centuries to decompose in landfill.
(Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
The Google hive mind gets medical
Google DeepMind may sound like a new super-computer built to beat anyone in the universe at chess, but it’s actually the name of the ever-evolving search giant’s artificial intelligence research unit.
Now, DeepMind are collaborating with the National Health Service to build a system that can help prevent sight loss, by identifying eye conditions at an early stage.
As you might imagine, it’s all rather ridiculously clever and scientific, but the basics revolve around using ‘machine learning’ technology to analyse one million digital eye scans. This will help create an understanding of how to recognise early signs of degenerative eye conditions like macular degeneration. Which is just so much more useful than being good at chess.
(Photo: Flickr/Gordon Wrigley)
The post The Goods: Spice Girls’ ‘Wannabe’ gets an equality refix – and other stories everyone’s talking about appeared first on Collectively.