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Technology

Technology: Dino Chickens

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Dinosaur Chicken

A few years ago Bhart-Anjan Bhullar, then a Ph.D. student in Arhat Abzhanov’s lab at Harvard, did something pretty incredible: He took an embryonic chicken and inhibited a couple of genes during its development. It was a tiny adjustment that produced a pretty amazing result: “Those chickens that were altered in that way, they grew up to have a snout that looked like a dinosaur snout,” he tells Inverse. Bhullar’s research exists at the strange intersection of molecular biology and paleontology. When he’s not teaching at Yale, he’s investigating how major distinguishing features of animal groups came about — in … Read more

New Discoveries Day

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New Discoveries Day

Hey all, Welcome to New Discoveries Day – a day once a month (usually on the last day of the month) when we discuss recent discoveries that fascinate us and that could spawn plot bunnies (or plot squirrels or plot mongeese – your plot animal of choice). So chime in and let us know about any new discoveries you ran across in the last month – links are always appreciated. Thanks to Freddy MacKay for the great idea! –Scott Come Join the Chat!

Google Time Lapse Showcases Climate Change

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Fire Island

Google has released a stunning a new time-lapse video that uses satellite imagery to show the evolution of major destinations around the world over the last three decades. The images show both how certain areas of the world have exploded in terms of development. They also show the devastating effect of climate change on our earth. Via The Guardian: We can see, in these timelapse satellite videos, how the Earth is being torn apart by human acts. We can also see, in timelapse videos of Arctic ice, great glaciers melt before our eyes. Yet, are human beings capable of assimilating … Read more

Technology: New Driverless Police Superbikes

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Interceptor Police Bike

Imagine a super-fast, driverless motorbike flying across highways 24/7, issuing traffic tickets — via mobile apps — to the owners of any vehicle daring to break the speed limit. The design for these futuristic police drones already exists. It’s called Interceptor and could soon become a reality. “It’s only the natural evolution of technology,” Canadian mechanical engineer Charles Bombardier told CNN. By Karla Pequenino – Full Story at CNN

News: Car Free Bridges – The Future?

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tilikum-crossing

From a distance, it’s beautiful — white spears with delicate white strands holding up an arched roadway across the Willamette River. It’s only when you get closer that it hits you: no cars. There are buses, trains, cyclists and walkers, but no cars and no trucks. This is a big new bridge across a major river in a major American city, and cars were left off the invitation list. It’s probably the first of its kind in a century. The Tilikum Crossing in Portland, Ore., is in a city and state that have been at the forefront of ambitious planning … Read more

News: An AI Christmas Carol

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AI Christmas Carol

The carol is a lie — and it’s an extremely unsettling one. University of Toronto researchers tasked an A.I. with looking at a picture of a Christmas tree, writing a song about it, and then singing the results for the world to hear. The song that came out of it is definitely a Christmas song, but it’s an extremely unsettling one. It’s no “Santa Baby,” but it does show just how far A.I. has come. Nvidia revealed some more details about the project, which runs on its hardware, on Wednesday. The company said the neural network used to create the … Read more

Tech: GPS Pizza Reindeer

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GPS Pizza Reindeer

What if Santa brought pizza instead of toys? Domino’s seems to be trying to find out, at least in Japan, as a video released online shows the company training reindeer to deliver fresh, hot pizzas in snowy Hokkaido. The reindeer are equipped with GPS units so customers can track their pizzas ― but the footage indicates the system still needs a little more work. By Ed Mazza – Full Story at The Huffington Post

New Drug Makes HIV Self Destruct

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HIV Virus

Scientists have claimed they have created a ‘breakthrough’ drug that can make HIV cells ‘self-destruct’ without harming the body. The drug, which was added to test tubes containing the blood of 10 HIV patients, was found to decrease the viral load by 97%. Abraham Loyter and Assaf Friedler at Hebrew University said they used a peptide in the drug that could case several copies of the virus’ DNA to enter the infected cell, causing the cell to self-destruct. By Joe Morgan – Full Story at Gay Star News

New Discoveries Day

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New Discoveries Day

Hey all, Welcome to New Discoveries Day – a day once a month (usually on the last day of the month) when we discuss recent discoveries that fascinate us and that could spawn plot bunnies (or plot squirrels or plot mongeese – your plot animal of choice). So chime in and let us know about any new discoveries you ran across in the last month – links are always appreciated. Thanks to Freddy MacKay for the great idea! –Scott Come Join the Chat!

A Silicon Boyfriend?

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Male Sex Doll

Female sex dolls have been around in the market for ages, but what about male sex dolls? Well apparently the popularity of male sex dolls is on the rise as more women today are becoming more open to the idea of liberating and embracing their sexuality on their own terms. And we ain’t just talking about those inflatable sex toys that are hard and rubbery and make squeaky noises, but hyper-realistic full-sized silicon dolls that are anatomically accurate. By Nigel Tan – Full Story at Gay Star News