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Cloud Atlas: A Sextet Of Artistic Genius, Daring Imagination And Profound, Multi-Layered Meaning

Fourteen years ago, I walked into a theater not knowing the film would haunt me.

I saw it on Saturday. Then I went back on Sunday.

#CloudAtlas is profound, artistic, brave, and brilliant, all at once. Six stories, six instruments, one piece of harmony moving through centuries. Comedy and tragedy. Drama and even farce. Past and future, unfolding at the same time.

Here is what stayed with me. The film refuses to hand you its meaning. It hides the treasure, scatters the clues, then makes you earn it. Most viewers will dismiss it for exactly that reason. The patient few get rewarded.

Movies are like music. We can all listen to the same tune, yet not all of us actually hear it. That is the real test of great #Storytelling, and few films dare to be this challenging.

So I gave it a verdict. A number I have handed to almost nothing else in all my years of reviewing film.

Continue reading “Cloud Atlas: A Sextet Of Artistic Genius, Daring Imagination And Profound, Multi-Layered Meaning” | >

Can Mind-Reading Tech Help People Hear Better?

From Vishal Choudhari, PhD, and the lab of Nima Mesgarani, PhD, at Columbia University’s Zuckerman Institute: A new tech monitors the brain to detect who you are listening to. It then amplifies that voice and quiets other voices nearby. Brain surgery patients recently tested the system in hospitals. They heard two overlapping conversations, one on each side. The volunteers then tried to focus on only one conversation. One video here shows a man listening to the overlapping conversations. Researchers ask him to focus on the conversation on his right. Controlled by his brain activity, the system adjusts the volume. In another experiment, he again focuses his attention on the right. The system notices, amplifying a conversation about bread. Then, researchers ask him to switch to the left conversation. The mind reading system turns about another conversation, about repairs. In a different experience, a volunteer can freely choose what to listen to. He starts on the right. A graph appears, showing the system monitoring his brain activity. What happens when he switches from right to left? The system spots his shift in attention and adjusts the volume. Scientists asked volunteers about the experience. “In the second section, what I was listening to was louder, and the other thing was quieter. And in the first section, they were both equally loud. That’s super dope.” “I think if you could really implement it in the hearing aids, if this is the goal, I think it would be really helpful to just be able to have someone who is hard of hearing be able to kind of pinpoint exactly the conversation they want to have, especially if you’re in a location with a lot of people.” “Well I just keep thinking about about Uncle Aaron. Can you imagine if this technology existed in a world that he could access it? He might actually live a much more peaceful… life.”

Nanotechnology: A New Frontier

Nanotechnology Explained.
Start learning today for FREE: http://brilliant.org/aperture.
Follow me on Instagram!: / mcewen.

Nanotechnology is ironically becoming larger by the day, but not literally. As a field, Nanotechnology impacts each and every one of us more every single day. What is Nanotechnology? Why should you care about it? Well, I have a few reasons.

Stay connected with Aperture:
Join the community Discord!: / discord.
Instagram: / theapertureyt.
Twitter: / theapertureyt.
Patreon: / apertureyt.

📖 Some of my favorite books:

Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space by Carl Sagan.
https://amzn.to/2T7YmAZ

A Universe from Nothing by Lawrence M. Krauss:

Continue reading “Nanotechnology: A New Frontier” | >

New energy-boosting quantum mechanism discovered in photosynthetic bacteria

Researchers have discovered how certain photosynthetic bacteria use a sophisticated quantum mechanism to increase their efficiency when capturing sunlight. The study, published today in the journal Nature Chemistry and led by Professor Jenny Clark, reveals that nature has been using a process called “singlet fission,” effectively a “two-for-one” energy deal, to optimize solar harvesting. The findings provide a new blueprint for green technology, particularly as engineers attempt to copy this mechanism to build next-generation solar panels and quantum technologies.

While scientists have long understood the basic rules of how plants and bacteria convert light into chemical fuel, the biological role of singlet fission has historically remained poorly understood.

New bacteria-based cooling material could help electronics and EV batteries run cooler

Next-generation electronic devices like newer computers and other high-power devices require more energy to run. When they are working hard, the intense heat they generate can limit their performance and reliability. That’s why scientists are trying to find better and more sustainable materials to help cool devices down.

Weinan Xu, an assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has developed a novel concept for the fabrication and processing of thermal interface materials based on synergistic microbial biosynthesis, which is a way of making useful materials with the help of microbes like bacteria.

Thermal interface materials are specialized substances inserted between electronic and cooling devices to eliminate tiny air pockets so heat can move out of the device faster. By changing how the bacteria are grown and how the material is processed, the material’s ability to move heat, known as thermal conductivity, can be adjusted.

How ‘peacemakers’ of the immune system could unlock long-term disease remission

“Peacemaker” immune cells could help treat diseases ranging from type 1 diabetes to neurodegeneration by restoring immune tolerance, according to a new paper in Frontiers in Science.

From cancer, diabetes and chronic infections to cardiovascular, neurodegenerative and reproductive conditions, inflammation is increasingly cited as a driver of a broad range of diseases. Immune cells called regulatory T cells (Tregs)—originally defined as “suppressor” cells that stop other immune cells from attacking the body—are being explored as “living drugs” that could eventually be adapted to target many diseases with an inflammatory component.

Such an approach, which aims to tailor Treg therapies to specific diseases and tissues, could support more precise control of immune responses. In autoimmune diseases and transplant rejection, Tregs could even help shift treatment from broad immunosuppression, which brings myriad risks, toward restored immune tolerance and longer-term disease control.

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