#breakthrough
By using CRISPR to insert an alligator gene into catfish, Alabama scientists radically increased their disease resistance.
Parallel to our efforts to build artificial intelligence are our efforts to understand natural intelligence. This research is going to be increasingly important as we approach AGI and contemplate the nature of consciousness.
This small, flexible, stretchable, wireless, battery-free device could help speed up the healing process.
This study shows that large-scale irrigation can have a significant cooling effect. Perhaps part of our toolkit for adaptation as climate changes.
A potentially crucial study that shows synthetic antibiotics could not only be effective but could solve the bacterial resistance problem.
This idea is to tap Yellowstone to harvest energy and stop a future eruption.
Scientists have developed a shapeshifting humanoid robot that can liquefy and reform itself. A critical technology for implementing the world sci-fi promised us.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon have found a new way to locate and map people in space using WiFi transmitters. Or, x-ray vision into people’s homes.
Messenger RNA technology is giving us some very unexpected vaccine opportinuties. HIV, meth and opiod addiction, malaria, nicotine.
The history of life on earth is sometimes framed as a battle between viruses, bacteria, and animals. Now, we’ve found a microorganism that eats viruses.
This study suggests (but does not confirm) a link between hydration and aging. Drink up.
NEAT aims to be for mental health as MRIs are to neuroscience. This technology claims to be able to determine the genuine intentions of patients.
I think we need more technological moonshots. World-changing innovations have become few and far between. Our most recent society-wide moonshot was mRNA vaccines for COVID-19. And now we already have cancer, malaria, and HIV vaccines within reach.
The team behind this study has managed to reconstruct the images a person is looking at, using non-invasive brain recordings. Bridging the gap between electronic and biological computers could be highly impactful.
NightWare, a digital therapeutic system that works with Apple Watch and iPhone, helping veterans experiencing nightmares and PTSD. It claims to be able to detect and stop nightmares without waking users up. Disclaimer: this source is a press release from Apple.
Imagine a world where blood doesn’t need to be donated in order to be transfused into a patient.
These scientists created a computer out of nerve cells.
Awesome study where experimenters were successfully able to communicate with people while they were dreaming.
This is an interesting read. In particular, the highlighted description of how these machines work is fascinating. Humanity has built some pretty amazing things.
I quit drinking in 2022 and have felt so much better for it. Recently, I acquired a bottle of Sentia, the non-alcoholic alcohol alternative that gets you tipsy by targeting the same GABA receptors as alcohol. I have since tried it and can confirm that it does get you tipsy!
Interesting profile of Electra, which is using renewable electricity to create steel without a coal-fired furnace. The approach they take is dramatically different to the traditional approach. This is inspiring to learn about because it shows there are creative solutions to the hard problems that remain regarding decarbonisation.
Astronomers estimate that there are tens of billions of super-Earths in habitable zones where liquid water can exist in the Milky Way alone. The closest is only six-lightyears away.
A great technical demo (and paper) from Meta. Using only the sensors in the Quest headset (and reinforcement learning) they can recreate the users pose.
Here’s something I never would’ve even considered a possibility. If we have vaccines for drug addiction in the future, the impact on society could be massive.
The aim is to create synthetic organs for transplantation — biotech is apparently the new frontier and this sounds like a pretty big development.