There’s now an app that lets you pick stocks based on your astrological sign

Art collective MSCHF, which aims to shock consumers by making fun of both products and customers, has launched Bull and Moon, a mobile app that applies the aesthetics of astrology to stock market investing. "We used the stars to outperform the market!" claims the astrological investment app.

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Nothing Lasts Forever. Not even on the internet

A Letter to the Editor that contemplates the future of the Internet. The author's main concern is the privitization of open public spaces and the design of these spaces, which fosters aggressive behavior and identity theft.

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L'expérience inattendue "Ganesh Yourself" ou comment simuler un Dieu

This blog post by anthropologist Emmanuel Grimaud tells the story of the "Ganesh Yourself" experiment. In India, a robot (named Bappa) which looks like the Hindu god Ganesh, answers questions from the faithful. Thanks to a dedicated interface, anyone can control Bappa, who takes on the features of his operator. The experiment explores concepts of belief and divinity.

Note from the archivist: Though Emmanuel Grimaud doesn't say as much here, he was behind the "Ganesh Yourself" experiment, which he turned into a 2016 documentary film.

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Your doctor’s computer may have suggested opioids because drugmakers paid to tweak the software, DOJ says

American start-up Practice Fusion, which sells professional software to doctors, was paid by unspecified drug companies to encourage physicians to overprescribe opioid painkillers at the height of the opioid crisis in North America. Practice Fusion paid a federal settlement but continues to sell its software.

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Amazon Choice label is being 'gamed to promote poor products'

The "Amazon's Choice" label is not attributed by employees. It is automatically awarded according to undiscolosed criteria including user reviews. Unscrupulous companies can generate fake reviews to "earn" this recommendation.

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How I hacked modern Vending Machines

Vending machines are sometimes equipped with software to manage user accounts. A hacker explains how he hacked his university's vending machines by taking advantage of vulnerabilities in the code to access unlimited funds. He then alerted the supplier.

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A rogue killer drone 'hunted down' a human target without being instructed to, UN report says

A United Nations report indicates that in Libya in March 2020, an autonomous military drone attacked a retreating adversary without human instruction to do so. Analysts recommend stricter regulation.

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Bacteria-sized robots take on microplastics and win by breaking them down

Scientists have developed microbots to eliminate potentially dangerous and difficult-to-filter microplastics. This first attempt has been deemed successful, though it takes a considerable amount of time.

Note from the archivist: But how do you filter out the microbots?

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A Bee Cloned Itself Millions of Times Over the Last 30 Years

A South African bee has "recloned itself" (it has really just laid eggs that are genetic copies of itself again and again) several million times over the past few decades. While scientists find this remarkable, they deplore the impact on colonies: bees that clone themselves just keep laying instead of working, slowly destroying the colony. The bees then migrate to a new colony, start laying again, and undermine the queen. One scientist referred to it as "transmissible social cancer".

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Experimental Brain Implant Lets Man With Paralysis Turn His Thoughts Into Words

Scientists placed a sensor on the surface (more specificially on the area tied to language) of the brain of a man who has been completely paralyzed for 15 years and unaple to speak. Using new equipment, they have been able to decode 50 words and have conversations with him via a screen that displays his decoded sentences. The vocabulary is still limited and the pace (15 words per minute) is slow, but the team is proud of the success of BRAVO (Brain-Computer Interface Restoration of Arm and Voice).

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