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Myanmar
Myanmar Takes Opium Lead
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has released a new report revealing that Myanmar has overtaken Afghanistan as the world’s leading producer of opium. Opium, the primary ingredient in the hard drug heroin, comes from the poppy flower. Afghanistan’s production has dropped 95% since a ban on drugs imposed by the Taliban last year, while continued conflict in Myanmar has encouraged expanded cultivation as rebel groups use the profits to fund their war against Myanmar’s ruling military junta. While Myanmar’s production has grown the most, the UNODC report shows that opium cultivation is growing throughout the whole of the “Golden Triangle.” This region where the borders of Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand meet is historically one of the largest opium-producing areas in the world.
This map depicts the country of Myanmar and the increase in opium poppy production in four of Myanmar’s states from 2022 to 2023. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: Barron’s
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Belgium
EU New Artificial Intelligence Act
The European Union has drafted a set of provisional regulations to manage artificial intelligence (AI) use and development. The agreement uses a “risk-based approach,” meaning the higher risks an AI’s action poses, the more strictly it is regulated. Low-risk AI, such as spam filters, may only be required to notify the user that AI is being used, but higher-risk systems like medical devices, for example, have more regulations on the kind of data they use. Some AI applications, like those that affect human socialization or emotion, are banned completely. The AI Act is expected to be approved early next year and will take two years to take effect following that. Planned fines for violation of this act are as high as 35 million euros. The plan has gotten significant backlash, however, as some are concerned this legislation will prevent innovation.
This map depicts the global distribution of AI companies. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: S&P Global
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Space
Betelgeuse Occultation
The giant red star known as Betelgeuse will dim to certain parts of the world as it is eclipsed by Asteroid 319 Leona. Betelgeuse is a part of the constellation known as Orion the Hunter, making up one of his shoulders. A red super giant, Betelgeuse is located 700 light-years away from Earth. Despite being 10 million years old, younger than the Sun, it is 700 times bigger and 7,500 – 14,000 times brighter. Asteroid 319 Leona measures just 31 miles (50 km) in width, with an orbit between Mars and Jupiter. Depending on one’s location along the path, the occultation – when a celestial object passes in front of a more distant star – will occur for between 5 to 15 seconds. Scientists hope to use the occultation to further study Betelgeuse’s convection cells, which allow it to dim and brighten for months. The path of the occultation is projected from central Asia to southern Europe, reaching across the Atlantic to Mexico. In the US, the occultation will be seen over Miami and the Florida Keys.
This map depicts the path on which the occultation of Betelgeuse will occur on Earth. Click on the map to learn more.
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Q: The world’s largest waterfall is created by the interaction between what two oceans?
A: Atlantic and Arctic
The Denmark Strait cataract is the tallest undersea waterfall in the world. Located in the Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland, it plunges 2.2 mi (3.5 km) straight down from the Greenland Sea into the Irminger Sea and carries around 175 million cubic feet (5 million cubic meters) of water per second. This descent is over three times the height of Angel Falls, the world’s tallest waterfall on land. The temperature differential between the ultra-cold Arctic waters of the Greenland Sea and the warmer Atlantic waters of the Irminger Sea creates this waterfall. When the two seas converge, the Greenland Sea falls into the waterfall formation because the denser cold water slides right down to the bottom of the ocean, flowing over a huge drop in the ocean floor called the Greenland-Iceland Rise. This cataract provides one of the main inflows of North Atlantic Deep Water, a deep-water mass that is key to the thermohaline circulation of the world’s oceans, the great ocean conveyer belt that transports energy and mass around the globe and has a large impact on the climate of the Earth.
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Q: What is the name of the now-submerged area of land which connected Britain to continental Europe during the last Ice Age?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in tomorrow’s DailyGeo.
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