Automating the Achievement of SDGs: Robotics Enabling & Inhibiting the Accomplishment of the SDGs

The role of robotics is rapidly growing in importance in the particular non-industrial application domains, affecting society, economy and the environment. Robot systems are typically developed to address a specific technical, service-type or economical need, but often their broader impact is insufficiently investigated, if at all. For robots to play a beneficial role at society-level in the future, it is important to identify the mainstream directions in the field that enable the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and encourage their development. Similarly, it is required to understand the negative impacts some applications can have on the achievement of the SDGs, and to ensure societies have the ability to prevent or mitigate them. Inspired by an exploration of the role of artificial intelligence in achieving the SDGs, this paper presents a preliminary version of a consensus-based expert elicitation process on the role of robots - as enabler or inhibitor - for a more sustainable future. For every SDG, the authors were able to identify potential positive and negative impacts of robotics. It remains difficult, though, to sketch a simple and comprehensive overview of the different ways in which robotic applications can unfold (direct or indirect) impact. Existing projects and studies are not intuitively comparable because they take many different directions and are not at the same level of abstraction, technological readiness, or implementation. Derived from the findings, recommendations on future policy developments are considered

The European Reference Genome Atlas: piloting a decentralised approach to equitable biodiversity genomics.

ABSTRACT: A global genome database of all of Earth’s species diversity could be a treasure trove of scientific discoveries. However, regardless of the major advances in genome sequencing technologies, only a tiny fraction of species have genomic information available. To contribute to a more complete planetary genomic database, scientists and institutions across the world have united under the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP), which plans to sequence and assemble high-quality reference genomes for all ∼1.5 million recognized eukaryotic species through a stepwise phased approach. As the initiative transitions into Phase II, where 150,000 species are to be sequenced in just four years, worldwide participation in the project will be fundamental to success. As the European node of the EBP, the European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA) seeks to implement a new decentralised, accessible, equitable and inclusive model for producing high-quality reference genomes, which will inform EBP as it scales. To embark on this mission, ERGA launched a Pilot Project to establish a network across Europe to develop and test the first infrastructure of its kind for the coordinated and distributed reference genome production on 98 European eukaryotic species from sample providers across 33 European countries. Here we outline the process and challenges faced during the development of a pilot infrastructure for the production of reference genome resources, and explore the effectiveness of this approach in terms of high-quality reference genome production, considering also equity and inclusion. The outcomes and lessons learned during this pilot provide a solid foundation for ERGA while offering key learnings to other transnational and national genomic resource projects.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Figure 9 from: Lima POV, Simone LRL (2018) Revision of Platydoris angustipes and description of a new species of Platydoris (Gastropoda: Nudibranchia) from southeastern Brazil based on comparative morphology. Zoosystematics and Evolution 94(1): 1-15. https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.94.14959

Platydoris angustipes (Mörch, 1863) is a common nudibranch in the Western Atlantic, ranging from Florida, USA, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In this study, we examined the anatomy of P. angustipes along its distribution, including its type material. Our analysis shows consistent differences between the Caribbean and Brazilian populations, mainly in the reproductive system, radular teeth and odontophore musculature. This strongly suggests that the two populations actually belong to distinct species. The Brazilian population is described herein as a new species, Platydoris guarani sp. n