The Daily Populous

Saturday October 24th, 2020 night edition

image for Musk promises to reinvent batteries as Tesla reports record Q3 solar and storage deployments

Demand has exceeded supply for Tesla's utility-scale Megapack battery product, according to RJ Johnson, the company's head of commercial energy.

Limited battery cell production has curtailed production of multiple Tesla products, according to CEO and product architect Elon Musk, who spoke of the need to increase efficiencies and decrease costs.

Solar deployment also doubled, with 57 MW installed during Q3 after installations slowed in the first and second quarters of this year.

"We want to step back and rethink batteries from scratch, rethinking the fundamental physics," he said.

With this research and development effort, Musk said, he expects to produce batteries that cost half as much within a few years.

Musk predicted further growth for Tesla's Solar Roof, which he described as a "killer project" with promise to be realized next year.

He also hinted at a concept for a residential storage product that would incorporate energy storage and household heating and cooling "in a tight package.". »

US, Saudi Arabia and Uganda join forces to declare women have no intrinsic right to abortion

Authored by independent.co.uk

The Trump administration has joined 32 illiberal or authoritarian countries in declaring that women have no intrinsic right to abortion.

It adds: “There is no international right to abortion, nor any international obligation on the part of states to finance or facilitate abortion.”.

“Ultimately, this will impact the most vulnerable and marginalised women and girls the most, denying them access to life saving family planning and comprehensive abortion care.”. »

Pennington Biomedical Research Center

Authored by pbrc.edu

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana ­– A first-of-its-kind global survey shows the initial phase of the COVID-19 lockdown dramatically altered our personal habits, largely for the worse.

Our anxiety levels doubled,” said Leanne Redman, PhD, Associate Executive Director for Scientific Education at Pennington Biomedical Research Center.

The global survey evaluated the inadvertent changes in health behaviors that took place under the pandemic’s widespread restrictions. »

Texas Sees Highest Youth Voter Turnout in Country as Dems Aim to Win State for First Time in Over 40 Years

Authored by newsweek.com
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Texas has seen the highest voter turnout among youth voters across the U.S. as Democrats are seeking to win the state for the first time in over 40 years.

Following Texas is Florida, which has seen at least 257,720 youth votes cast and North Carolina, where 204,986 youth residents have cast ballots.

The number of early and absentee youth votes in Texas comes as Democrats look to win the state for the first time in 44 years. »

Overwhelmed by cases, North Dakota tells residents with COVID-19 to do their own contact tracing

Authored by grandforksherald.com

The state announced late Tuesday night that 50 soldiers from the North Dakota National Guard will be shifted from notifying close contacts to calling residents who have tested positive.

In the past, news of positive tests results was delivered exclusively by employees working on the contact tracing operation.

Grand Forks Public Health took the step of asking residents to act as contact tracers a day before the state. »