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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French startup promises cruelty-free foie gras, grown in a lab

French start-up Gourmey aims to deliver "the foie gras of the future"--grown in a laboratory. At the time the article was written, man-made meat was mostly used for burgers, but Gourmey wants to prove that it can also be used in gastronomical cuisine. One major advantage of this method is that tit circumvents the forced feeding of geese and ducks required for the production of traditional foie gras, which means it could be produced in countries where foie gras has traditionally been outlawed for animal curelty. In France, however, foie gras bears a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) label, and synthetic meat does not qualify.

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The UAE is Using Drones to Control Dubai's Weather

To modify Dubai's arid climate, the UAE has financed several projects to enhance rainfall. One of them is cloud seeding: specially designed drones shock rain clouds with electrical charges to create larger drops of water, which are more likely to resist evaporation and reach the ground in liquid state.

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Amazon will pay you $10 in credit for your palm print biometrics

As part of its plan to automate work, Amazon has rolled out stores with no checkout, no cash and no cards--only Amazon accounts. Since 2021, Amazon has used customers' handprints to connect them to their account via a biometric scanner in some stores. The company will pay you $10 in credit to scan your palm and add the data to your Amazon account. Data protection organizations have highlighted the fact that fingerprints and handprints are among the only identifying characteristics humans cannot change, and that normalizing their use is dangerous.

Note from the archivist: A success for Amazon: as Flat Eye near the end of development, Amazon has announced that palm recognition payment will be expanded to 65 of its Whole Foods stores in the United States.

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Molecular Farming Means the Next Vaccine Could Be Edible and Grown in a Plant

North American researchers believe that molecular agriculture is the next step in producing pharmaceuticals. A Canadian lab used the technique to produce a Covid-19 vaccine, but the article outlines broader potential uses with medicines grown inside plants, which could be stored as seeds or dried leaves and treatments that could be taken by simply eating a vegetable. It also suggests production would be easier to roll out than setting up a lab.

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Can artificially altered clouds save the Great Barrier Reef?

Australian scientists are developing technological solutions to save the Great Barrier Reef located just off the country's coast. One such solution involves using "cloud-brightening" machines, which release seawater mist into the air, to enhance cloud cover and cool the area by blocking sunlight. Forty-two other ideas are also being tested. A few other notable ideas from among the 160 original suggestions include cryopreserving coral or growing new varieties of coral in a lab to make them more resistant to rising temperatures.

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Animals ‘shapeshifting’ in response to climate crisis, research finds

A scientific study indicates that several warm-blooded animals have already begun to evolve to adaot ti global warming via "shapeshifting": larger beaks for certain birds and bigger wings for bats in warm climates.

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A Bioartificial Pancreas Could Substantially Enhance Type-1 Diabetes Treatment

A team of biomedical engineers has developed an artificial pancreas that functions autonomously. Since it operates using human cells, it does not require refilling and could potentially replace current Type 1 diabetes treatments like insulin pumps.

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Firm raises $15m to bring back woolly mammoth from extinction

In September 2021, a firm raised the funds necessary to launch a project which aims to reintroduce extinct wooly mammoths to the earth, in the Arctic. The team hopes to achieve this by mixing the genome of frozen mammoth specimens with that of an elephant. The first births are planned for 2027 if all goes well. The article highlights the many potential problems that could plague the project and its justifications.

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How a Bunch of Lava Lamps Protect Us From Hackers

Lava lamps are more than just kitsch decorations, they're also objects in constant, unpredictable motion. This is precisely why a hundred lava lamps cover a wall at tech company Cloudflare. The lamps are constantly being filmed, and the constantly changing image provides the company's encryption codes--Cloudflare provides website protection services. To make them even more random and harder to crack, a pendulum in London and a Geiger computer in Singapore also impact the encryption process.

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