#breakthrough

Is Ozempic a viable treatment for general addiction?

People taking Ozempic for weight loss say they have also stopped drinking, smoking, shopping, and even nail biting. This might mean Ozempic is more useful than we expected.

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Brain scans can translate a person’s thoughts into words

A new system was able to capture exact words and phrases from the brain activity of someone listening to podcasts. This breakthrough is incredibly important.

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Inserting an alligator gene into catfish makes them 5x more likely to survive infection

By using CRISPR to insert an alligator gene into catfish, Alabama scientists radically increased their disease resistance.

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A complete map of an insects brain

Parallel to our efforts to build artificial intelligence are our efforts to understand natural intelligence. This research is going to be increasingly important as we approach AGI and contemplate the nature of consciousness.

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Zap to heal wounds

This small, flexible, stretchable, wireless, battery-free device could help speed up the healing process.

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The cooling effect of irrigation

This study shows that large-scale irrigation can have a significant cooling effect. Perhaps part of our toolkit for adaptation as climate changes.

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The synthetic antibiotic that does not evoke bacterial resistance

A potentially crucial study that shows synthetic antibiotics could not only be effective but could solve the bacterial resistance problem.

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Harvesting emission-free green volcanic energy on a national scale

This idea is to tap Yellowstone to harvest energy and stop a future eruption.

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Miniature robots that can liquefy and reform back to their original shape

Scientists have developed a shapeshifting humanoid robot that can liquefy and reform itself. A critical technology for implementing the world sci-fi promised us.

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WiFi routers used to produce 3D images of humans

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon have found a new way to locate and map people in space using WiFi transmitters. Or, x-ray vision into people’s homes.

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The Fentanyl vaccine

Messenger RNA technology is giving us some very unexpected vaccine opportinuties. HIV, meth and opiod addiction, malaria, nicotine.

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A microorganism that eats viruses

The history of life on earth is sometimes framed as a battle between viruses, bacteria, and animals. Now, we’ve found a microorganism that eats viruses.

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Hydration and aging

This study suggests (but does not confirm) a link between hydration and aging. Drink up.

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Using technology to truly diagnose mental health

NEAT aims to be for mental health as MRIs are to neuroscience. This technology claims to be able to determine the genuine intentions of patients.

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Cancer vaccines are within reach

I think we need more technological moonshots. World-changing innovations have become few and far between. Our most recent society-wide moonshot was mRNA vaccines for COVID-19. And now we already have cancer, malaria, and HIV vaccines within reach.

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Decoding brain recordings to reconstruct visual input

The team behind this study has managed to reconstruct the images a person is looking at, using non-invasive brain recordings. Bridging the gap between electronic and biological computers could be highly impactful.

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Veterans find relief from nightmares with NightWare and Apple Watch

NightWare, a digital therapeutic system that works with Apple Watch and iPhone, helping veterans experiencing nightmares and PTSD. It claims to be able to detect and stop nightmares without waking users up. Disclaimer: this source is a press release from Apple.

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Lab-grown blood given to people in world-first clinical trial

Imagine a world where blood doesn’t need to be donated in order to be transfused into a patient.

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Nerve cells in a dish can learn to play Pong

These scientists created a computer out of nerve cells.

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Real-time dialogue between experimenters and dreamers during REM sleep

Awesome study where experimenters were successfully able to communicate with people while they were dreaming.

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How extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines work

This is an interesting read. In particular, the highlighted description of how these machines work is fascinating. Humanity has built some pretty amazing things.

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Can this non-alcoholic spirit actually make you tipsy?

I quit drinking in 2022 and have felt so much better for it. Recently, I acquired a bottle of Sentia, the non-alcoholic alcohol alternative that gets you tipsy by targeting the same GABA receptors as alcohol. I have since tried it and can confirm that it does get you tipsy!

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Inside the startup cleaning up the steel industry

Interesting profile of Electra, which is using renewable electricity to create steel without a coal-fired furnace. The approach they take is dramatically different to the traditional approach. This is inspiring to learn about because it shows there are creative solutions to the hard problems that remain regarding decarbonisation.

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There are a lot of potentially habitable planets out there

Astronomers estimate that there are tens of billions of super-Earths in habitable zones where liquid water can exist in the Milky Way alone. The closest is only six-lightyears away.

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Using headset sensors to reconstruct a users pose

A great technical demo (and paper) from Meta. Using only the sensors in the Quest headset (and reinforcement learning) they can recreate the users pose.

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