In The Future Of Out-Of-Body Brain Preservation we look at keeping severed pig brains alive, crawly robots, renewable energy gaining pace, Facebook’s new Blockchain team, and Microsoft developing A.I. for accessibility.

Scientists Succeed in Keeping Pig Brains Alive Outside of Their Skulls

Studying a live brain may no longer need to be done on a live animal or human. Scientists from Yale University took over 100 slaughtered pigs brains and managed to keep a number of them alive for up to 36 hours after. Although lacking consciousness, the experiments have spawned debate from ethicists and experts alike as to the implications of applying similar brain preservation methods to human brains.



Read more at Medical Daily

U of H develops Soft Crawly Robots Powered by Heat

Researchers at the University of Houston have developed a new kind of soft robot: A flexible,  ultra-thin temperature sensing robot inspired by invertebrates such as worms. Made in part of liquid crystal elastomer and of silicon-based light sensors, the robots “sense the change in environment and adapt”. The soft robots are activated by ambient and direct contact heat with the help of thermal actuators, and can be scaled and potentially activated by other stimuli.
Harvard’s Version is a Soft Robot that Jams…


Read more at Design Engineering

Renewable energy stacks up at 10.3 million jobs

The stats are in, and clean energy job creation has kicked butt in 2017. Employment in renewable energy reached 10.3 million, with China, Europe, Brasil and the US leading the pack. Within the sector, solar, biofuel, hydro and wind were most popular, with solar producing 3.3 million of the jobs (66% of which in China). The jump for the year was of half a million worldwide, representing a 5.6% increase since 2016.



Read more at Inhabitat

Facebook Launches New Internal Blockchain Team

Post data-scandal fiasco, social media giant Facebook is dedicating ex messenger-exec. David Marcus to lead a new team to explore potential applications for blockchain technologies.
Others joining them will include Instagram executives James Everingham and Kevin Weil. David Markus brings with him his payments experience as former president at Paypal, as well as his knowledge of encrypted blockchain databases as board director to the cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase.
Read more at Recode

Microsoft Launches AI for Accessibility Program at Seattle Conference

$25 million back Microsoft’s new endeavour, a program for the 1 billion plus disabled around the world, of which only one in ten are currently assisted. The program will provide developers with tools and resources to build accessibility-enhancing technology, such as their existing Microsoft Translator, Helpicto and Seeing AI.

Read more at Microsoft

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