More Than A Human

Bio bags, robotic preemies, artificial wombs — all those things. which were seen only in science fiction just not that long ago, are becoming a reality. This article sheds light on the recent development in this field and points out that the focus of the researchers is on improving the survival chance of premature babies. Ectogenesis — growing a human being in a machine — is still decades away.

Since its launch nine months ago, OpenAI API powered over 300 apps with GPT-3 and generates over 4.5 billion words a day. In this blog post, OpenAI gives some examples of how people are using their text-generating AI, from customer feedback to search optimization to generating interactive stories.

Last month during its virtual GDC presentation Intel announced Bleep, a new AI-powered tool that it hopes will cut down on the amount of toxicity gamers have to experience in voice chat. According to Intel, the app “uses AI to detect and redact audio based on user preferences.” The filter works on incoming audio, acting as an additional user-controlled layer of moderation on top of what a platform or service already offers.

Boston Dynamics robotic dog Spot was one of several robots tested by the French army during training sessions at a military school in the northwest of France. It was used during a two-day training session with the aim of “measuring the added value of robots in combat action”. The robots reportedly slowed the operation down but kept troops safer, with one soldier saying he died in the first exercise without Spot, but survived the second time thanks to the robot’s reconnaissance. Battery life was supposedly an issue, as Spot ran out of juice in the middle of one exercise.

Researchers from MIT created a soft robot starfish made out of silicon foam and capable of moving with a single low-powered actuator.

Researchers working on 3D printed organs created a new type of bioink. The focus of their research was on lung tissue and while they haven’t printed an entire set of lungs, they demonstrated that they can print segments that could be transplanted into a mouse.

The psychedelics are leaving the fringes of science and slowly but steadily enter mainstream medicine. This post from Psilocybin Alpha explains how the field advanced in 2020 and what can we expect in 2021 in psychedelic therapies.

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