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CLARIN

Digital Oases For Cuba's Internet Revolution

The Internet stations are biodegradable cubes, with fake grass flooring and solar panels.
The Internet stations are biodegradable cubes, with fake grass flooring and solar panels.
Parawifi
Vivian Urfeig

HAVANACuba"s belated embrace of the Internet has people packing into places like the Plaza de la Revolución and the colonial fort Castillito, two of the island's just 114 public WiFi hotspots.

Overall, the number of Cubans who regularly access the Web is still relatively small. But things are changing, and quickly. The Internet revolution is just getting underway here.

So far, however, efforts to accommodate the growing number of cybernauts have been minimal. The few places that offer WiFi service are crowded and not particularly suited for typing and Web surfing.

With that in mind, a pair of graduates from Cuba's ISDI design school developed a concept for a Lego-like module where people can sit — in a friendly, comfortable and shaded place — and connect to the Internet, Vivian Urfeig reports in Clarín.

The designers, Luis Ramírez and Michel J. Aguilar, have already created a prototype and may soon get government permission to erect a trial Internet station in the capital. The concept was also chosen to represent Cuba at the London Design Biennale 2016 and bid_16, the Latin American design fair.

The Internet stations consist of easy-to-assemble biodegradable cubes, and can be larger or smaller depending on the space available. They have fake grass flooring and solar panels, allowing devices to be recharged. Segments will be designed to accommodate elderly or disabled users.

"We developed a meeting place that favors interaction and humanizes the city," says Ramírez.

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Green

Forest Networks? Revisiting The Science Of Trees And Funghi "Reaching Out"

A compelling story about how forest fungal networks communicate has garnered much public interest. Is any of it true?

Thomas Brail films the roots of a cut tree with his smartphone.

Arborist and conservationist Thomas Brail at a clearcutting near his hometown of Mazamet in the Tarn, France.

Melanie Jones, Jason Hoeksema, & Justine Karst

Over the past few years, a fascinating narrative about forests and fungi has captured the public imagination. It holds that the roots of neighboring trees can be connected by fungal filaments, forming massive underground networks that can span entire forests — a so-called wood-wide web. Through this web, the story goes, trees share carbon, water, and other nutrients, and even send chemical warnings of dangers such as insect attacks. The narrative — recounted in books, podcasts, TV series, documentaries, and news articles — has prompted some experts to rethink not only forest management but the relationships between self-interest and altruism in human society.

But is any of it true?

The three of us have studied forest fungi for our whole careers, and even we were surprised by some of the more extraordinary claims surfacing in the media about the wood-wide web. Thinking we had missed something, we thoroughly reviewed 26 field studies, including several of our own, that looked at the role fungal networks play in resource transfer in forests. What we found shows how easily confirmation bias, unchecked claims, and credulous news reporting can, over time, distort research findings beyond recognition. It should serve as a cautionary tale for scientists and journalists alike.

First, let’s be clear: Fungi do grow inside and on tree roots, forming a symbiosis called a mycorrhiza, or fungus-root. Mycorrhizae are essential for the normal growth of trees. Among other things, the fungi can take up from the soil, and transfer to the tree, nutrients that roots could not otherwise access. In return, fungi receive from the roots sugars they need to grow.

As fungal filaments spread out through forest soil, they will often, at least temporarily, physically connect the roots of two neighboring trees. The resulting system of interconnected tree roots is called a common mycorrhizal network, or CMN.

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