1. One thing that helps
“So we looked for ways to trigger the ‘build whatever normally was here’ signal for cells at the site of a wound.”
I love researchers and scientists who can explain astounding things in a way normal folk can understand. The above quote explains how they may have found a way to help us regrow missing limbs one day!
During our development stage, there are signals that tell our cells how to arrange themselves to form anatomical structures. The goal of the research is to trigger these same signals later in life and allow limbs to grow whilst preventing scars from forming. Scars change the cellular environment so that regeneration becomes impossible.
To do this, they made a wearable device composed of silk hydrogel. This device blocks signals that would trigger scarring in the affected area. The device also contains drugs that work in animal development and tissue growth. They then attached it to African clawed frogs who have lost a limb. After 18 months, the frogs regenerated the lost limb with bone, nerve and blood vessel growth, which means that these limbs retained their senses.
It’s a bit of a hop from frogs to humans but the ability to regrow a lost limb would be life-changing.
2. One to be wary of
There really are some things that make me despair for the human race. Allowing our eyes to be tracked, to ensure we are watching ads, to earn the right to see a movie for free – is one of those things.
Moviepass went broke in 2019 with a business model allowing people to pay a flat fee to see unlimited movies. They couldn’t make that business model pay. Now they are charging you nothing but just selling you to advertisers. Just shows how much you are worth if it is more sustainable to not charge you!
Behold Moviepass 2.0! An app that rewards users for viewing ads, giving you credit to use for watching movies for every ad you sit through. But, it wants to make sure that you really are watching the ad by using your phone’s cameras to monitor your eyes. Regular readers will remember the vast amount of information about you (mental and physical health, drug consumption and even sexual preferences) that can be inferred from your eyes.
Hell, just plug me into The Matrix and use me as an energy source. Sigh…..
3. One to amaze
London to New York: 29 minutes. Sydney to Singapore: 31 minutes. Melbourne to Athens: 47 minutes.
These sorts of travel times would be a traveler’s dream. In the future, your next commute might be inside one of Elon’s Starships – not to space, but to California perhaps?
To make this possible, aside from a gigantic Starship, a floating launch pad is needed. Why not just build it near the city? Well, think of the deafening noise that a blasting rocket ship will produce! Apparently SpaceX’s floating launch pads will be ready for testing by the start of next year (that’s in Elon time though!).
Singapore has just committed $150 million dollars into space research as they realise that with their small land base, they need to think vertically. Being based on the equator means it is easier for rocket ships to launch (thanks to the higher rotational speed of the earth) and they have plenty of off-shore areas that might host floating platforms. The general thinking is that the Singaporean government is less interested in a return on their investment through space travel in 50 years, than they are in the potential of moving freight and people around earth in a more efficient way.
I’m looking forward to popping over to see my London friends for the weekend.