Aspia Space A BSTRACT We present Dargana, a fine-tuned variant of the EarthPT time-series foundation model that achieves specialisation using < 3% of its pre-training data volume and 5% of its pre-training compute. Dargana is fine-tuned to generate regularly updated classification of tree canopy cover at 10 m resolution, distinguishing conifer and broadleaved tree types. Using Cornwall, UK, as a test case, the model achieves a pixel-level ROC-AUC of 0.98 and a PR-AUC of 0.83 on unseen satellite imagery. Dargana can identify fine structures like hedgerows and coppice below the training sample limit, and can track temporal changes to canopy cover such as new woodland establishment. Our results demonstrate how pre-trained Large Observation Models like EarthPT can be specialised for granular, dynamic land cover monitoring from space, providing a valuable, scalable tool for natural capital management and conservation.

They provide a home for birds and insects, keep soils healthy and even help the fight against climate change. Now, due to their importance to the English countryside, scientists have created the most comprehensive maps yet of England's hedges. The scientists used LiDAR – a technology that emits pulses of light to create 3D images – to identify the hedgerows' locations and measure their heights. According to the results, there are 242,000 miles (390,000km) of fully-grown hedges in England – enough to go around Earth nearly 10 times. Counties with the most hedges are Cornwall, Somerset and Derbyshire, while those with the least include Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire.

It is a debate sure to ruffle feathers, but anything beyond the Watford Gap really should be classed as the north of England, a study suggests. This is the critical line at which high street bakery Greggs, the beacon of northernness, becomes more popular than the southerners' sandwich shop of choice, Pret A Manger, an academic study has worked out using artificial intelligence. If the national consumption of steak bakes versus houmous-filled wraps and smashed avocado on toast were not convincing enough, the researchers also looked at the distribution of Morrisons and Waitrose supermarkets across England. This too put the north-south divide within two miles of the Watford Gap. Both calculations agree that Birmingham, Coventry and Leicester are technically in the north of England. But bizarrely, the Pret and Greggs dividing line shows that Cornwall is northern.

In the next few decades, Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be the biggest commercial opportunity in the world. As we gain access to an ever-richer tapestry of data and knowledge, the enhancement of deep learning through AI is intrinsically linked to the rise in commercial space and satellite activity. As the space and satellite industry in Cornwall county, UK scales at pace, so too does the region's AI capabilities. From edge AI for manufacturing, to AI algorithms being developed to remove cloud cover and unlock satellite data for business transformation – Cornwall is home to a hugely unique mix of companies tapping into the mutually beneficial relationship between the two technologies, in turn becoming a hub for innovation in AI applications. Spearheading Cornwall's acceleration towards becoming the UK's premier location for space manipulated AI and deep learning are the team at Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd, home of the UK's Space AI institute.

Artificial intelligence and machine thinking could have the answer to food poverty in Cornwall. One tech firm in the Duchy believes its artificial emotional AI Debbie will soon have the answer to everything in Cornwall including how to access local foodbanks or checking whether people are eligible to Universal Credit. "If you need to access services in Cornwall, this is a brand-new way to get the difficult stuff done," said Wo King, CEO and Founder of Hi9 Limited, which created Debbie the AI. He said the one of a kind piece of tech was created to help address this escalating issue of food poverty in the county. Since the start of the pandemic, more than 2.5 million people have accessed a foodbank in the UK.

The fund is aimed at pushing on projects that will help local areas recover from the impact of Covid-19. Goonhilly is working with the University of Oxford, University of Manchester, University of Leeds and University of Hertfordshire on the institute. It will include space for companies to come and use the facilities at Goonhilly and work with the team on ideas. The idea is that the mathematics involved in a number of fields, including radio astronomy, artificial intelligence and machine learning, are closely connected and so the team is using members' skills in each area to apply algorithms developed in one field to solve problems in another. Meanwhile the Receiver Factory is an advanced manufacturing facility that can be used to develop Goonhilly's own equipment, to make sure its services are at the leading edge of technology, and also to build products to print for third parties.

A 30ft-long whale that died after it became stranded in a Welsh estuary was a one-year-old male calf that was struggling to find food, an autopsy has revealed. The fin whale, named Henry by rescuers, is thought to have been recently weaned by his mother and started to live independently - as they stop receiving milk at around six to seven months old - before becoming beached. The young male died on the sands of the Dee Estuary, North Wales, on June 14. He had beached at least twice over the previous two days. A post-mortem was carried out by the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP) to identify the cause of death and find out why the whale ended up out of the sea.

A cutting-edge'social' robot designed to keep people company, is to hold bingo lessons for pensioners in a British care home as part of a study. Stevie the robot is so advanced he was recently named one of the best inventions of 2019 and featured on the cover of Time Magazine. There he will keep residents involved, entertained, and engaged - and rather bizarrely he will even be leading bingo sessions. Recently back from a visit to the States, Stevie has been placed into the care of experts from the University of Plymouth's Centre for Health Technology. Dr Conor McGinn, assistant professor at Trinity College Dublin, said: 'This pilot is the start of an exciting new relationship with the University of Plymouth.

Hours spent toiling away under the beating sun to harvest berries and fruit may soon be a thing of the past as robots look set to replace humans in the field. A £700,000 machine built by the University of Plymouth has succeeded in plucking a raspberry from a plant and carefully placing it in a punnet. The painstaking process takes a whole minute to get one berry because it requires a combination of soft robotics, clever AI and'deep learning'. It stands around six foot tall (1.8metres) and will combat a continued drop in the amount of migrant farm workers available for the arduous harvests. Fieldwork Robotics, a spin-off from the university dedicated to agricultural robots, built the machine and says it will be able to pick 25,000 fruits a day in the future.

An issue across every sector, from market research to employee engagement and government relations, is how to truly understand large groups of people across political, geographical, and cultural divides and amplify their collective voice. This problem is intensified when challenging issues arise and sending out a survey doesn't provide the opportunity to discover what you don't know to ask. On the other hand, focus groups don't represent enough people to justify action. We've come a long way in learning how to better understand massive groups of people utilizing artificial intelligence (AI). This piece outlines key advantages of AI in market research resulting from my work with a number of organizations facing the challenge of transitioning from traditional market research to modern representative intelligence; that is intelligence capable of engaging, understanding and authentically representing massive groups of stakeholders (customer, employees, citizens, etc.).