Dude has guts.

Originally shared by HACKADAY

It takes guts to pop a pill containing a genetically engineered virus to cure lactose intolerance. But did it work?

Would you pop a homemade pill containing genetically engineered virus particles just so that you can enjoy a pizza? Not many people would, but then again, if you’ve experienced the violent reaction to lactose that some people have, you just might consider…

http://hackaday.com/2018/02/14/biohacking-lactose-intolerance/

Here’s another piece on the densified wood discovery, with a link to the original paper in Nature.

Originally shared by HACKADAY

Wood as strong as steel? Just remove the lignin, squish, bake, and serve!

Wood is surely one of the most versatile materials available. It can be found in a huge variety of colours and physical properties depending on the variety of the tree that grew it, and it has been fashioned into all conceivable devices, products, and…

http://hackaday.com/2018/02/12/need-strength-its-modified-wood-you-want/

We take beds for granted, but they’re a relatively recent phenomenon, historically. Also, without artificial light, people tend to sleep in two sessions rather than one, with a kind of meditative interval in the middle.

https://daily.jstor.org/how-the-age-of-the-bed-changed-the-way-we-sleep/

Reading, writing, and erasing memories as if they were records in a database. It’s been examined in SF plenty of times (including my own flash story “Forget You”: http://dailysciencefiction.com/science-fiction/virtual-reality/mike-reeves-mcmillan/forget-you).

But, scarily, it may not actually remain impossible.

Originally shared by Singularity Hub

Here’s the Tech That Could One Day Track, Boost, or Erase Human Memory http://suhub.co/2nd7nWn

Cognitive tests help us compare AIs to humans (and improve them). This could be one way to measure the progress of AI.

It could also make for an interesting scene in a story – perhaps an AI reaching the point where it tries to fool the tests.

Originally shared by Singularity Hub

Why Google DeepMind Is Putting AI on the Psychologist’s Couch http://suhub.co/2EjG8AT

So, charging interest is prohibited? Where there’s a bill, there’s a way.

I can use this.

Originally shared by Alex P

Super wood stronger than metals could be used to create compostable biodegradable cars and other things now made of metal. “It is as strong as steel, but six times lighter. It takes 10 times more energy to fracture than natural wood. It can even be bent and molded at the beginning of the process” 🙂

The team’s process begins by removing the wood’s lignin, the part of the wood that makes it both rigid and brown in color. Then it is compressed under mild heat, at about 150 F. This causes the cellulose fibers to become very tightly packed. Any defects like holes or knots are crushed together. The treatment process was extended a little further with a coat of paint.

The scientists found that the wood’s fibers are pressed together so tightly that they can form strong hydrogen bonds, like a crowd of people who can’t budge – who are also holding hands. The compression makes the wood five times thinner than its original size.

See why (eco🌎+public health🌈+☮etc reasons) i installed ☀️ solar panels equivalent to planting 322 trees ► https://plus.google.com/+AlexPsi/posts/fRXCoB36DdD and why i drive an electric car equivalent to planting 382 trees (if the oil car would be refilled weekly) ► https://plus.google.com/+AlexPsi/posts/HN9dbDavUzz. If your panels produce more electricity than you use, you get free charging for your car too, like me. 💜😊💜

https://umdrightnow.umd.edu/news/umd-researchers-create-super-wood-stronger-most-metals

Buzzwords colliding? Or actually a good idea? You be the judge.

https://singularityhub.com/2018/02/11/this-startup-is-dreaming-of-a-global-brain-on-blockchain/#.WoCQzZ4jqD0.google_plusone_share