Mitigating climate change requires transforming agriculture to minimize environ mental impact and build climate resilience. Regenerative agricultural practices enhance soil organic carbon (SOC) levels, thus improving soil health and sequestering carbon. A challenge to increasing regenerative agriculture practices is cheaply measuring SOC over time and understanding how SOC is affected by regenerative agricultural practices and other environmental factors and farm management practices. To address this challenge, we introduce an AI-driven Soil Organic Carbon Copilot that automates the ingestion of complex multi-resolution, multi-modal data to provide large-scale insights into soil health and regenerative practices. Our data includes extreme weather event data (e.g., drought and wildfire incidents), farm management data (e.g., cropland information and tillage predictions), and SOC predictions. We find that integrating public data and specialized models enables large-scale, localized analysis for sustainable agriculture. In comparisons of agricultural practices across California counties, we find evidence that diverse agricultural activity may mitigate the negative effects of tillage; and that while extreme weather conditions heavily affect SOC, composting may mitigate SOC loss. Finally, implementing role-specific personas empowers agronomists, farm consultants, policymakers, and other stakeholders to implement evidence-based strategies that promote sustainable agriculture and build climate resilience.

Silicon Valley billionaires and anti-poverty activists don't have a lot in common, but in recent years they've joined forces around a shared enthusiasm: programs that guarantee a basic income. Tech entrepreneurs like Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI, have promoted direct cash transfers to low-income Americans as a way to cushion them from what the entrepreneurs anticipate could be widespread job losses caused by artificial intelligence. Some local politicians and community leaders, concerned about growing wealth inequality, have also put their faith in these stipends, known as unconditional cash or, in their most ambitious form, a universal basic income. Dozens of small pilot projects testing unconditional cash transfers have popped up in communities around the country, from Alaska to Stockton, Calif. Andrew Yang, an entrepreneur, put the idea of 1,000 monthly payments for all adults at the center of his 2020 presidential campaign.

Amazon plans to begin delivering some packages by drone to homes in a few Northern California communities this year, the company said Monday. Residents of San Joaquin County farming towns Lockeford and Acampo, as well as parts of Lodi, will be able to order "thousands of everyday items" online and can expect a drone to drop them in their backyards in less than an hour, said Av Zammit, an Amazon spokesperson. The Amazon Prime Air drones can carry packages that weigh 5 pounds or less -- such as beauty and cosmetic items, office and tech supplies, batteries and household items -- and will typically be the size of a large shoebox, Zammit said. The company is building a facility in Lockeford from which the drones will launch. Though Amazon Prime Air received certification to commercially fly cargo in 2020, it is still seeking approval from the Federal Aviation Administration and county officials for its plans in San Joaquin County.

At George Mason University in Virginia, a fleet of several dozen autonomous robots deliver food to students on campus. At George Mason University in Virginia, a fleet of several dozen autonomous robots deliver food to students on campus. George Mason University looks like any other big college campus with its tall buildings, student housing, and manicured green lawns – except for the robots. This Northern Virginia university recently set up several dozen meal delivery robots from Starship Technologies to make it easier for students to access food. Multiple colleges across the country have deployed delivery robots – including University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif., and Northern Arizona University – but George Mason University is the first college in the United States to incorporate robots into its student dining plan.

At George Mason University in Virginia, a fleet of several dozen autonomous robots deliver food to students on campus. At George Mason University in Virginia, a fleet of several dozen autonomous robots deliver food to students on campus. George Mason University looks like any other big college campus with its tall buildings, student housing, and manicured green lawns – except for the robots. This Northern Virginia university recently set up several dozen meal delivery robots from Starship Technologies to make it easier for students to access food. Multiple colleges across the country have deployed delivery robots – including University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif., and Northern Arizona University – but George Mason University is the first college in the United States to incorporate robots into its student dining plan.

You're hungry, you're parched, you're terrified of the outside world, and the prospect of moving off of your bean bag is a true impossibility. What is there to do? Ladies and gents, meet the Snackbot. On Thursday, PepsiCo announced that is is rolling out a fleet of R2D2-lookin' robots at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif. The robots are basically cute vending machines that can roll around campus on their own. They look a lot like a cooler on wheels, and students can order the robots to deliver snacks to them from PepsiCo's Hello Goodness line via an app.

If walking to a regular vending machine seems too inconvenient, what if the vending machine came to you? PepsiCo is doing just that at the University of Pacific campus in Stockton, California with robots called "snackbots." Using a smartphone app, students can order quasi-healthy snacks like Baked Lays, Sunchips or a Starbucks Cold Brew (from PepsiCo's "Hello Goodness" vending platform), and have it delivered between 9 AM and 5 PM to one of 50 locations around the 175 acre campus. The autonomous snackbots, built by Y-Combinator startup Robby Technologies, can travel 20 miles on a charge, and are equipped with a camera, headlights and all-wheel drive to handle rough or wet terrain. Once it arrives, you simply release the lid, grab your snacks and close it to complete the sale. The app presumably takes care of the security and dispensing end of things.

Forget vending machines, PepsiCo is testing a way to bring snacks directly to college students. The firm says it will start making deliveries with self-driving robots at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. Students will be able to order Baked Lay's, SunChips or Bubly sparkling water on an app, and then meet the six-wheeled robot at more than 50 locations on campus. The Snackbots: PepsiCo says it will start making snack deliveries with the robots on Thursday. Students will be able to order Baked Lay's, SunChips or Bubly sparkling water on an app, and then meet the six-wheeled robot at more than 50 locations on campus.

In one of the iconic scenes from the teen movie "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," sun-baked stoner Jeff Spicoli has a double cheese and sausage pizza delivered to his classroom, boldly interrupting his uncompromising instructor mid-lecture. Spicoli was considered a mischievous airhead for flouting early-1980s dining etiquette, but he may actually have been way ahead of his time. More than three decades later, a California campus is embracing a kind of food delivery -- via robot. On Wednesday, students at University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif., will be able to order snacks and beverages for the first time from a bright-colored roving robot on wheels known as the "Snackbot." Its stout body perched atop six small wheels, the electric Snackbot resembles some combination of an Igloo cooler and a Volkswagen Microbus.

Snackbot is the first snack-delivering robot in the U.S. to be backed by a major food and beverage company. The snackbot is an outdoor, self-driving robot. Students at University of the Pacific are about to have a futuristic dream come true: a robot that delivers you snacks. PepsiCo's Hello Goodness brand, which was created in 2015 to provide healthier snacks and beverages to consumers on the go, partnered with the San Francisco Bay Area-based Robby Technologies to bring this self-driving snack robot -- or "snackbot" -- to life. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., students at the private university in Stockton, California, can order food and drinks to one of more than 50 locations across campus through the snackbot app.