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Jan 28, 2021

Facebook’s ‘Oversight Board’ overturns four of five cases in first rulings

Posted by in category: futurism

“The board’s first rulings concerned five cases in which Facebook had removed posts for violating its policies. And in four out of the five cases reviewed, the board voted to overturn Facebook’s original decisions. The board also called on Facebook to give users greater clarity over its policies and how it intends to enforce them.”


“For all board members, you start with the supremacy of free speech,” Alan Rusbridger, a board member and former editor-in-chief of The Guardian, said.

Jan 28, 2021

Frozen Fish Pileup in China Threatens Global Supply Chains

Posted by in category: food

A huge pile up of fish cargoes at a Chinese port risks impacting shipments of frozen food across the country and beyond.

Jan 28, 2021

The Dawn of CRISPR Mutants

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, cyborgs, genetics

An anthropologist dives into the world of genetic engineering to explore whether gene-editing tools such as CRISPR fulfill the hope of redesigning our species for the better.


The Mutant Project: Inside the Global Race to Genetically Modify Humans by Eben Kirksey. St. Martin’s Press, November 2020. Excerpt previously published by Black Inc.

Continue reading “The Dawn of CRISPR Mutants” »

Jan 28, 2021

Mysterious, 20-million-year-old tunnels in the ancient ocean floor came from 6-foot-long carnivorous worms, a study found

Posted by in category: futurism

Bobbit worms ambush prey from tunnels under the sand. A new study shows their ancestors haunted the ocean floor 20 million years ago.

Jan 28, 2021

Efficiently Converting Light Energy Into Surface Waves on Graphene

Posted by in categories: energy, nanotechnology, physics

Dotty graphene and doping: Whatever it takes for Russia’s record plasmonics to shine.

Physicists from MIPT and Vladimir State University, Russia, have achieved a nearly 90% efficiency converting light energy into surface waves on graphene. They relied on a laser-like energy conversion scheme and collective resonances. The paper came out in Laser & Photonics Reviews.

Manipulating light at the nanoscale is a task crucial for being able to create ultracompact devices for optical energy conversion and storage. To localize light on such a small scale, researchers convert optical radiation into so-called surface plasmon-polaritons. These SPPs are oscillations propagating along the interface between two materials with drastically different refractive indices — specifically, a metal and a dielectric or air. Depending on the materials chosen, the degree of surface wave localization varies. It is the strongest for light localized on a material only one atomic layer thick, because such 2D materials have high refractive indices.

Jan 28, 2021

Research finds blood pressure can be controlled without drugs after spinal cord injury

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Dr. Richi Gill, MD, is back at work, able to enjoy time with his family in the evening and get a good night’s sleep, thanks to research. Three years ago, Gill broke his neck in a boogie board accident while on vacation with his young family. Getting mobile again with the use of a wheelchair is the first thing, Gill says, most people notice. However, for those with a spinal cord injury (SCI), what is happening inside the body also severely affects their quality of life.

Jan 28, 2021

Congressional Panel: Please, Let Us Build Killer Robots

Posted by in categories: food, military, robotics/AI

“Don’t knock it until you try it” should be for tasting new foods, not building robots capable of ending human life.

Jan 28, 2021

Astronomers Find a Planet Like Jupiter, but It Doesn’t Have any Clouds

Posted by in category: space

Astronomers have found the first Jupiter-like exoplanet with no clouds or haze. It’s an ideal object for further study with the James Webb Space Telescope.


Can you picture Jupiter without any observable clouds or haze? It isn’t easy since Jupiter’s latitudinal cloud bands and its Great Red Spot are iconic visual features in our Solar System. Those features are caused by upswelling and descending gas, mostly ammonia. After Saturn’s rings, Jupiter’s cloud forms are probably the most recognizable feature in the Solar System.

Now astronomers with the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) have found a planet similar in mass to Jupiter, but with a cloud-free atmosphere.

Continue reading “Astronomers Find a Planet Like Jupiter, but It Doesn’t Have any Clouds” »

Jan 28, 2021

Has Google’s DeepMind revolutionized biology?

Posted by in categories: biological, robotics/AI

DeepMind figures out protein folding using artificial intelligence.

Jan 28, 2021

Remote Attackers Can Now Reach Protected Network Devices via NAT Slipstreaming

Posted by in category: internet

A new version of NAT slipstreaming allows cybercriminals an easy path to devices that aren’t connected to the internet.