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🕯️ 20,000 Candles

🕯️ 20,000 Candles

Plus healthcare wearables and the irony of Zoom

This week’s drip: (5 minute read)

🧪 Science Corner: Lifespans, wearables, and beyond
🖥️ Zoom’s Remote Irony: From virtual conquest to physical cubicles
📰 Quick Bytes: This week’s roundup of the latest in the digital space

In 2022, over 24 billion passwords were exposed by hackers. 12345 is the most common password 🤔

IN SCIENCE

Tomorrow’s Medical Breakthroughs

Technological advancements in science and medicine are heralding a new era of innovative solutions and treatments. At the University of Exeter, "Smart Socks" with embedded sensors are being tested to monitor and manage anxiety in dementia patients, potentially enhancing their quality of life.

And at the University of Birmingham in England, Professor João Pedro de Magalhães, a molecular biogerontologist, explores the potential of extending human lifespans up to 20,000 years by reprogramming cellular aging processes.

Meanwhile, researchers at the University of Melbourne, are developing tissue-engineered blood vessels, aiming to revolutionize treatments for cardiovascular diseases.

Additionally, Swiss researchers have produced a sugar-powered implant that produces insulin when electrically stimulated, offering hope for advanced treatments for type 1 diabetes. These endeavors collectively underscore the transformative potential of technology in reshaping healthcare and human longevity.

A schematic of how the system works autonomously (Source: ETH Zurich/Maity D., et al. 2003)

IN BUSINESS

Zooming Back to the Office

Known as the exemplar of remote work, Zoom has taken a rather intriguing step by urging employees residing within a 50-mile radius to return to the office at least twice a week. This paradoxical development is thought to be motivated primarily by the company’s investment in office space and localized workforce structure. Interesting stat: A modest 16% of U.S. companies are fully remote, with 27% of the workforce working remotely as of 2023.

In 2022, a substantial 80% of American workers reported exhaustion from the never-ending cycle of virtual meetings. To address this, Zoom has introduced “Zoom Clips,” an asynchronous video tool that allows users to record, edit, and share video content without real-time virtual meetings. Notwithstanding these advancements, Zoom’s initiatives have been met with backlash over its terms of service relating to the use of “customer content” for training AI models. Zoom has since clarified that videos and chats wouldn’t be used for AI training without user consent.

Defying Gravity

Space tourism has liftoff with lucky trio including first Olympian and mother-daughter duo. Click the video below to check out Virgin Galactic’s first tourist journey 👇️

QUICK BYTES

Cornell researchers have figured out a way to steal data through keystroke audio with 95% accuracy ⌨️
Paypal launches stablecoin PYUSD to its 430 million users 🪙
Manhattan’s average rent has just surged to a record high - check out how much it would cost you to rent in the Big Apple 🍎💲
Neuralink, another venture by Elon Musk, just raised $280M in funding and showcased a monkey operating a controller using its brain 🎮️

When trying your best may not be good enough…

This looks eerily similar to teaching our toddler how to play soccer (other than the pushing down of course) - click the tweet below to check it out 👇️

DeepMind training bipedal robots to play soccer using deep reinforcement learning.
— MachinePix (@MachinePix)
Aug 11, 2023