Category: Science

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A Terminally Ill Scientist Wants to Turn Himself Into a Cyborg Before He Passes Away

We sometimes joke from time to time about robot uprisings, the day when technology becomes too much for humanity to handle, or how we might be able to use it to be able to “live” forever. There have been countless television and movies that have explored those ideas (and associated fears) over the years – but now one scientist thinks he could actually live forever via tech.

Or at least become part robot.

Dr. Peter Bowman Scott-Morgan is a roboticist who has been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). It’s a degenerative condition, also known as Lou Gehrig’s. It has few treatment options and no cure, so Scott-Morgan decided to work toward becoming the “world’s first full cyborg.”

Image Credit: Twitter

After undergoing four medical procedures in an attempt to prolong and improve the quality of his life, he refers to himself as Peter 2.0.

Peter has a feeding tube that goes directly into his stomach, a catheter that goes directly into his bladder, a colostomy bag into his colon, and he also underwent a laryngectomy to remove is larynx, which connects his mouth and nose to his lungs.

He’s not able to speak with a natural voice and can breathe only with a respirator, but it also takes away the risk of  saliva accumulating into his lungs, which would basically cause him to drown.

He tweeted after coming home from the hospital the last time.

“Just home from 24 days in Intensive Care. All medical procedures now complete and a huge success. My mini-ventilator keeping me breathing is a LOT quieter than Darth Vader’s. All speech is synthetic but at last sounds like me again. Long research road ahead but in great spirits.”

Scott-Morgan writes on his website that he’s working on the “experiment of this life,” and plans to use his robotics knowledge to not only survive, but to thrive with a disease that spells the end for everyone who gets handed the diagnosis – over 220,000 people around the world.

In addition to the surgeries, he’s made big upgrades to his wheelchair that make it easier to move around his home, and will undergo laser eye surgery so that he can better read and control the computer screen using only his eyes – because in time, he won’t be able to control any of the other muscles in his body.

You can catch a documentary detailing his journey into becoming Peter 2.0 in 2020.

And for now, Peter is living happily in Devonshire with his husband, Francis.

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Wow! Playing Music Benefits Your Brain More Than Any Other Activity.

If you’re interested in strengthening your brain, playing a musical instrument is the best exercise you can do to improve brain function, make you happier and protect against dementia.

Learning to play an instrument actually changes brain structure and improves functioning better than any so-called brain games. Those who learn to play when they are young also have better long-term memory and brain development.

Photo Credit: Pexels

A study completed by researchers at the University of Montreal found musicians tend toward more mental alertness over those who don’t play.

Head researcher Simon Landry said,

The more we know about the impact of music on really basic sensory processes, the more we can apply musical training to individuals who might have slower reaction times. As people get older, for example, we know their reaction times get slower. So if we know that playing a musical instrument increases reaction times, then maybe playing an instrument will be helpful for them.

Previous to this study, Landry discovered musicians have faster auditory, tactile, and audio-tactile reaction times, and an altered statistical use of multisensory information.

Photo Credit: Pxhere

In other words, playing an instrument is a complex and emotional task requiring multiple senses, inputs and fine motor skills. This is what changes the brain and can also help musicians be successful in other fields, like business.

Scans of brains actually show physical differences between musicians and non-musicians. The huge bundle of nerves connecting the two sides of the brain, or the corpus callosum, is larger in the brains of musicians.

Learning an instrument at a young age leads to the biggest brain differences. Even if someone doesn’t dedicate the rest of their lives to an instrument, there are still drastic changes caused by even moderate or intermittent study. That’s because music instruction makes these changes in the brain more efficiently than any other activity (that we know of).

Photo Credit: Pxfuel

From strengthening speech processing to protecting against dementia, learning to play an instrument is like lifting weights for your brain. So forget the dumb brain games on your phone. Pick up guitar or find a piano teacher.

Your brain will thank you.

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For Some, Public Speaking Is Literally Scarier Than Death—Here’s Why

Many people have a fear of public speaking, but some people definitely have it worse than others. For some, public speaking is literally scarier than death.

In surveys about human fears, public speaking is commonly ranked at the top of the list. In some cases, it’s ranked above dying.

According to Psychology Today, this is because humans evolved to be social animals. Our community-oriented lifestyle helped us survive threats by cooperating with others — helping each other survive, fending off predators together, keeping each other alert, and so on.

When you depend on other humans to survive, social isolation is basically a death sentence. Avoiding isolation is baked into our instincts.

Photo Credit: iStock

“Ostracism appears to occur in all social animals that have been observed in nature,” Kip Williams, professor of psychological sciences at Purdue, told Psychology Today. “To my knowledge, in the animal kingdom, ostracism is not only a form of social death, it also results in death. The animal is unable to protect itself against predators, cannot garner enough food, etc., and usually dies within a short period of time.”

That’s why public speaking is so terrifying — it carries the risk of social rejection, and our bodies react accordingly. Your fight-or-flight response is triggered, and then come the sweaty palms, racing heartbeat, and inability to speak.

Photo Credit: iStock

Overcoming stage fright is all about teaching your body that public speaking can’t actually kill you, which can only happen through experience. The more times you get through it without disaster, the less scary it will be.

So get out there!

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Stars Are Disappearing and Scientists Aren’t Ruling out Aliens as a Cause

There have been a few stories lately when scientists and other suit-and-tie types have been unwilling to say aliens aren’t behind one thing or another – which I guess is the safest course, because no one likes to be proven wrong.

I mean, if a situation actually arose in which aliens were discovered, I doubt people would be running around pointing fingers at all of the folks who said aliens were a fantasy. But what do I know.

…But back to the story at hand, and the hundred-plus stars that have disappeared from the map.

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なんとか見れる形に現像できただろうか？ その2 . . .•*¨*•.¸¸☆*･ﾟ•*¨*•.¸¸☆*･ﾟ やっぱり星空撮っている時間好きだなぁと改めて思う. . . •*¨*•.¸¸☆*･ﾟ•*¨*•.¸¸☆*･ﾟ なんかとんでもなく忙しい… 明日無事に仕事が納められるるのか… とりあえず…あと10分寝よう? . . . #岡山県 #井原市 #美星町 #美星天文台 #岡山へ行こう #星活 #星空撮影 #星景ら部 #天の川 #milkyway #nightphotography #nightsky #night_gram #night_shots #japan_night_view #best_moments_night #stars #setouchigram92 #colore_de_saison #瀬戸内カメラ部 #star_hunter_jp #team_jp_西 #Lovers_Nippon #photo_shorttrip #eosm3 #サムヤン12mmf2 #キリトリセカイ #その瞬間に物語を #ダレカニミセタイソラ

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Yes, it turns out that the night sky, which has remained static enough to guide seamen and pirates and explorers for eons, is changing.

The Vanishing and Appearing Sources during a Century of Observations Project (VASCO) compares 70-year-old surveys with recent images of the night sky to document what has changed, and after years of painstaking work (there are a lot of stars, after all), they’ve published their results in the Astronomical Journal.

The 100-odd stars that were documented to have disappeared could represent short-lived flashes in the night, or they could be actual stars that disappeared.

The researchers hope their results, and results to come, will be relevant to astronomy and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).

“VASCO is a project that is both a SETI project and a conventional astrophysics project,” explained Beatriz Villarroel, a researcher at the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics and one of the report’s coauthor. “Even if we do SETI and have SETI questions, we are also interested in publishing other results that we find along the way.”

The disappeared pinpricks of light are curious because when stars die, their last burst of glory is usually hard to miss – people saw and wrote about them long before there were telescopes – so if they can also just wink out without fanfare, well, we want to know why.

And to that end, some of the researchers don’t think we should rule out something like another advanced civilization blocking stars with their solar panels to gather energy.

For her part, Villarroel is on board.

“If we should look for aliens, maybe we should actually look for something that would be truly absurd to find.”

The research is being conducted by a team of 20 astronomers and astrophysicists who have compared 70 years worth of sky images taken by the US Naval Observatory and the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System.

They used software to analyze 600 million light sources that should have appeared in the earliest and most recent sets of data. At first,  the number of potential missing stars numbered around 150,000, but was winnowed down to 24,000 after some additional cross-referencing.

In the end, Villarroel is confident the 100 stars they presented are, indeed, missing.

“We have done the best work to remove anything that resembles any artifacts.”

If they are – or were – brief flashes that just happened to show up on the old US Navy surveys, they were likely red dwarf flares, variable stars that dimmed, or the afterglow of a gamma ray burst.

If they really were enduring light sources that disappeared without fanfare, Villarroel – and others – would be much more excited. SETI enthusiasts have speculated about how alien civilizations with advanced engineering power could shield a star from view.”You would have to exclude all-natural things, and then there might also be new natural phenomena that we don’t know about can be more exciting.”

If this is totally blowing your skirt up, the scientists at VASCO plan to implement a citizen science project that lets civilians help search through the rest of the 150,000 candidates.

You know you want to be the one who discovers the spot where technologically advanced aliens are hiding….

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You Can Now Buy a Stat-Tracking Smart Condom

In my mind, being intimate with a partner is something that should maintain some level of mystery.

Or at the very least, you should just be able to cuddle afterward instead of comparing stats like you’re trying to make the playoffs.

So, this might fall under the category of Nobody Asked For This, but British Condoms is giving it to you anyway: a penis ring that measures all of your stats during sex.

Meet the i.Con (seriously?), a penis ring that holds condoms in place, gathers information during the act, and then texts you or updates your app with all of the deets so you can (not) enjoy the afterglow.

It’s sort of like a Fitbit for your penis, and, honestly, it seems like a terrible idea. Frankly, one of the worst ideas I’ve heard in the last year, which is incredible because 2019 has been filled with disasters.

The i.Con’s nano-chips and sensors track your girth, velocity, calories burned, and so much more – it can even detect proteins or antigens associated with STIs (seems dubious to me…).

Everyone wants that text right after they finish enjoying themselves. Not.

If you’re some kind of masochist and dying to purchase this thing, you can preorder it for $73.58 (if you live outside the U.K. you’re going to need to ask someone to order it for you, though).

So. There you go.

Another technology win?

I guess you decide!

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In 1957 Little Richard saw a bright…

In 1957 Little Richard saw a bright red fireball flying across the sky, which he took as “sign from God” to repent from performing secular music and his wild lifestyle at the time until 1962. The fireball actually was the launching of the first artificial Earth satellite Sputnik 1.

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This Is Why Dice Are a Lot Better Than Computers at Generating Truly Random Numbers

We have a lot of ways to do things at random: roll a die, flip a coin, pick a number – but one thing that actually doesn’t work so well: computers. Computers struggle to truly be random, even when they’re programmed to do exactly that.

You’ve probably noticed that even if you have thousands of songs on your phone, your shuffle function will “randomly” choose some songs more often than others.

The reason? Your computer follows an algorithm, which is essentially a list of instructions they use to carry out a task. They don’t know how to deviate from the set path (when they figure that out, the robot revolution will be upon us).

So, while engineers have come up with some ways to write algorithms that help computers pretend to generate random numbers, when it comes down to it, they really can’t be truly random because they are following instructions that lead them to their outcome.

The best we can do is a pseudo-random number generator, which honestly, is good enough to fool anyone who isn’t a computer programmer. But if you had the coding skills, you could, say, figure out the randomness behind an online poker program and make some serious cash.

True random number generators use physical phenomena akin to rolling a die – things like radioactive decay, background noise, or even the amount of time between your keystrokes. But again, we can’t even really call them truly random, since they’re still following an algorithm that has the physical phenomenon at its root.

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??: Takže, generátor randomných čísel mi vybral 5 čísel aby som z nich vytvorila nejaké líčenie! Potiahnite doľava pre výsledok! ❤ Čo si myslíte? . . ??: So random number generator picked me 5 random numbers to create some makeup look from it! Swipe to the left to see results! ❤ What do u think?? . . . ?PRODUCTS: @nyxcosmetics_czsk Honey dew me up primer @makeuprevolutionczsk Conceal & Define full coverage foundation – F1 @makeuprevolutionczsk Conceal & Define full coverage conceal and contour @catrice.cosmetics Nude illusion loose powder @makeuprevolutionczsk Hyaluronic fix hydrating & plumping makeup fixing spray @morphebrushes Palette by @jamescharles @makeuprevolution Roxi contour and highlight palette @makeuprevolution Brow pomade – medium brown @makeuprevolution Soph x highlighter palette by @soph @catrice.cosmetics Calligraph pro precise matt liner waterproof @misssporty Studio lash 3D volumythic mascara @dermacol_cz_sk Matte Mania liquid lip colour 15 Lashes from aliexpress . . . #nyxcosmetics #nyx #makeuprevolution #revolution #revolutionbrows #morphe #morphebrushes #morphebabe #catrice #catricecosmetics #catricemakeup #misssporty #misssportyczsk #dermacol #dermacoloriginal #dermacol_cz_sk #dermacolmattemania #jamescharles #soph #roxxsaurus #makeup #makeupartist #makeuptutorial #makeuplover #randomnumbergenerator #randommakeup #makeuplook

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Which means I’m going to just keep rolling a dice for my numbers.

Not that I often need truly random numbers anyway…

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A Man Died of Sepsis After His Dog Licked Him

I routinely let most dogs I encounter lick me as much as they want. Now, after learning about this story, I can say that maybe I need to back off a little bit…

A 63-year-old man in Germany began to feel ill and ultimately died – and the culprit might freak you out a little bit: the man’s dog licked his face. A couple of weeks later, he got a fever, started experiencing muscle pains, and then had trouble breathing. He decided to go to the hospital to find out what was going on and he received some awful news: he had advanced kidney damage and liver dysfunction.

 

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He was admitted to the hospital but things took a turn for the worse. The doctors realized he was suffering from gangrene and that he had a terrible sepsis infection.

Of course correlation is not causation, so how do we know it was the dog licking that did it?

The man’s bloodwork showed that he was infected with Capnocytophaga canimorsus, which is a bacteria usually found in the saliva of cats and dogs.

No treatments worked on the poor man, and he suffered for 16 days as multiple organs failed. Sadly, his family eventually decided to turn off his life support and the man passed away.

This may sound like something that has never happened before or that would never happen again, but there were two other cases of humans contracting Capnocytophaga canimorsus from dogs in 2018 alone. A 58-year-old woman in Wisconsin died after her dog nipped her, and a man, also from Wisconsin, contracted the bacteria after spending time with eight puppies. The man had to have both of his legs amputated and parts of his hands removed because of the infection.

Our advice: if you happen to be bitten by a dog or a cat, wash the area immediately with soap and water, and have a doctor take a look at the wound just to be on the safe side. Yikes…

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Sexually Transmitted Disease Rates in America Are out of Control

Isn’t that a headline you just love to see?

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the sexually transmitted disease rate in the United States continues to rise in 2019. The report that the CDC released in October of this year shows historically high rates of chlamydia and the worst rates of gonorrhea and syphilis in almost 30 years – since 1991.

One of the most alarming statistics in the report concerns congenital syphilis, which has seen a 40% rise since 2017. The condition is potentially fatal and is passed from mother to fetus through the placenta.

This marks the fifth year in a row that sexually transmitted infections have been at an all-time high.

In a press release, the CDC addressed the situation:

“Data suggest that multiple factors are contributing to the overall increase in STDs, including:

Drug use, poverty, stigma, and unstable housing, which can reduce access to STD prevention and care.

Decreased condom use among vulnerable groups, including young people and gay and bisexual men.

Cuts to STD programs at the state and local level – in recent years, more than half of local programs have experienced budget cuts, resulting in clinic closures, reduced screening, staff loss, and reduced patient follow-up and linkage to care services.”

The states with the highest rate of chlamydia infection: Alaska (nearly 800 cases per 100,000 people), Louisiana (742), Mississippi (707), New Mexico (651), and South Carolina (649). The states with the lowest rate of infection are West Virginia, Vermont, New Hampshire, Utah, and Maine.

These statistics are pretty frightening, to say the least…

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A Study Shows That Boomers Are Indeed More Sensitive Than Millennials

Older folks like to treat younger generations like they’re soft – as if they get their feelings hurt over small slights and aren’t tough enough to walk uphill both ways to school in the snow – but the data coming out of a very long, thorough psychological study says that’s not at all true.

Basically, millennials (and GenX and GenZ) have one more reason to roll their eyes the next time an older person calls them a snowflake.

The study, published in Psychology and Aging, investigated narcissistic behavior between generations using six data sets that followed almost 750 people born between 1923 and 1969. They found that the earlier in the 20th century someone was born, the more likely they were to display high levels of hypersensitivity.

Regardless of generation, the study also showed that people do tend to become less narcissistic as they age.

Lead author William Chopik released a statement saying,

“There’s a narrative in our culture that generations are getting more narcissistic, but no one has ever looked at it through generations or how it varies with age at the same time. One of the most surprising findings was that – also contrary to what many people think – individuals who were born earlier in the century started off with higher levels of hyper-sensitivity, or the type of narcissism where people are full of themselves, as well as willfulness, which is the tendency to impose opinions on others.”

In sum: there’s little to no evidence that the younger generations are “weaker” or less hardy than any that came before them.

Levels of narcissism remain relatively stable across a person’s lifespan, though some aspects do wane with age: things like being full of yourself and trying to make others live according to your opinions.

On the other hand, having high aspirations for yourself increase as we age.

“There are things that happen in life that can shake people a little bit, and force them to adapt their narcissistic qualities. As you age, you form new relationships, have new experiences, start a family and so on. All of these factors make someone realize that it’s not ‘all about them,’” Chopik continued.

And get this: younger generations (i.e. teenagers today) are more well-behaved than any other in recent history. They’re also eschewing alcohol, cigarettes (I’m guessing e-cigs weren’t counted?) and teen sex by way wider margins than previous recent generations.

There you go, my fellow snowflakes. I guess we’ll all just sit here and not melt together (as the Earth warms around us), because we’re tough like that.

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