A wheeled bot rolls across the floor. A soft-bodied robotic star bends its five legs, moving with an awkward shuffle. Powered by conventional electricity via plug or battery, these simple robotic creations would be unremarkable, but what sets these two robots apart is that they are controlled by a living entity: a king oyster mushroom. By growing the mushroom’s mycelium, or rootlike threads, into the robot’s hardware, a team led by Cornell University researchers has engineered two types of robots that sense and respond to the environment by harnessing electrical signals made by the fungus and its sensitivity to light. https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/04/science/fungus-robot-mushroom-biohybrid/index.html
Japanese scientists make robot face with living skin that can smile The technology could help develop lifelike humanoid biohybrid robots. ByMark Hanrahan and Anthony Trotter September 25, 2024, 5:53 AM A robot face with living skin anchored to it is seen in a Tokyo laboratory, where scientists have been abl... 2024 Takeuchi et al A video demonstration shows a circular piece of cultured living skin, anchored over a 3D facial mold being stretched from a blank facial expression to a smile. In addition, the team also covered a robotic finger in the skin and were able to make it bend and even flick small objects with fluid motion. The new anchors developed by the team mean the robots external appearance is not compromised by having protruding skin anchors, which can also damage the skin during movement. The researchers say that one of the key advantages of a robot having living skin is its capacity to self-heal, rather than requiring repair every time it is scratched or damaged. The technology is still in its infancy, however, meaning that it will likely be a long time before Terminator-style living-skin-covered robots are an everyday occurrence. In order for the skin to stay on a robot long-term, scientists would need to integrate other biological systems, such as nerves, muscles and sensory organs into it. “Developing a method to incorporate blood vessels or an alternative nutrient supply system remains one of the key challenges we are working on to extend the skin's viability outside controlled environments,” Takeuchi said. A robot face with living skin anchored to it is seen in a Tokyo laboratory. 2024 Takeuchi et al Beyond robotics, perfecting this skin technology could also have important applications in areas like drug testing, skin grafting and wound healing in medicine. As the technology advances and other supportive systems, such as blood vessels, are incorporated into the skin, it may even lead to biohybrid robots with skin that could mimic other human behaviors. Scientists have developed a new technique to anchor living skin to robotic equipment, which they hop... 2024 Takeuchi et al “If we can incorporate melanocytes into the engineered skin, it might be possible that robots could 'tan,'" Takeuchi said. Biohybrid robotics involves combining engineered, synthetic components with living, biological materials. In the recent past, scientists in the field have created micro-organism biohybrid robots using materials like bacteria and algae, which can be used for things like drug delivery or environmental monitoring. In addition, animals have been fitted with robotic components, such as a cyborg beetle fitted with components which allowed scientists to control its walking, or a robotically augmented jellyfish that could swim significantly faster than its peers and have its movement controlled by scientists.
Two Harvard students have created an eerie demo of how smart glasses can use facial recognition tech to instantly dox people’s identities, phone numbers, and addresses. The most unsettling part is the demo uses current, widely available technology like the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and public databases. https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/2/24260262/ray-ban-meta-smart-glasses-doxxing-privacy
Perhaps more chilling, Nguyen and Ardayfio are also shown chatting up complete strangers on public transit, pretending as if they know them based on information gleaned from the tech. Yeah, I'm not sure "wild" is the word I'd use
Back of comic book X-ray Glasses are basically real now. You don't get to see them nekkid in real time (yet?), you just get to know who to stalk and perv on later.
I brought this up in a D&D thread about how potentially dangerous to privacy the meta glasses are. Like a lot of technology these days we’re moving forward without understanding all the implications of it. Also a side note in Peacock there is an adaption of Brave New World that addresses some of this as everyone wears contact lenses. This wasn’t something in the original story but does fit in with the dystopian idea of a society where privacy is seen and not only not necessary but abnormal.
Hackers took over robovacs to chase pets and yell slurs Someone gained access to Ecovacs Deebot X2 Omni robotic vacuums across several US cities earlier this year and used them to chase pets and yell racist slurs at their owners https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/12/24268508/hacked-ecovacs-deebot-x2-racial-slurs-chase-pets
uh oh... Scientists Are Investigating a Puzzling Underground 'Anomaly' Near the Giza Pyramids Researchers used ground-penetrating radar and electrical resistivity tomography to scan the graveyard near the Great Pyramid of Khufu. Archaeological Prospection Without breaking ground, archaeologists in Egypt have discovered an “anomaly” beneath a royal graveyard near Giza’s 4,500-year-old Great Pyramid. The pyramid, which is Egypt’s largest, was built to honor the pharaoh Khufu. Its neighboring ancient necropolis contains many aboveground monuments, or mastabas, dedicated to the pharaoh’s family members and high-ranking officials. “A mastaba is a type of tomb, which has a flat roof and rectangular structure on the ground surface, constructed out of limestone or mudbricks,” according to a study published this month in the journal Archaeological Prospection. These surface-level tombs have vertical shafts connected to underground chambers. Many of the site’s mastabas were excavated in the 20th century, but one vacant area without any noteworthy aboveground features had been left unexamined. Between 2021 and 2023, researchers from Higashi Nippon International University and Tohoku University in Japan and the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics in Egypt analyzed this empty area. Instead of a traditional excavation, they employed several non-intrusive imaging technologies—ground-penetrating radar and electrical resistivity tomography—to study the site. The resulting scans revealed something strange. “We believe we found an anomaly: a combination of a shallow structure connected to a deeper structure,” write the researchers in the study. The shallow structure is clearly L-shaped, and the scans indicate it was filled in with sand after construction. At one point, “it may have been an entrance to the deeper structure.” Giza's Western Cemetery, as viewed from the Great Pyramid of Khufu The Giza Project at Harvard University The L-shaped structure is about 33 feet long, and it’s buried 6.5 feet deep, reports Live Science’s Owen Jarus. Below it, the scans show another structure—a “highly resistive anomaly.” While the researchers aren’t sure of the deeper structure’s contents, they say it could be empty or filled with materials such as sand and gravel. While many questions remain, the scans “point to the possibility of the presence of archaeological remains,” write the researchers. “It is important that they must be promptly excavated to establish their purpose.” Excavations are currently underway, reports Live Science. Lead author Motoyuki Sato, an expert in electromagnetic sensing technologies at Tohoku University, is optimistic. “The L-shape cannot be created in natural geological structures,” he says, per the Art Newspaper’s Garry Shaw. Of course, these anomalies aren’t the cemetery’s only subterranean structures. Previous excavations have revealed underground chambers that are part of the site’s many mastabas, which are marked by tombs on the surface. The graveyard’s vacant area, unmarked by such a tomb, had previously “avoided exploration,” as Peter Der Manuelian, an Egyptologist at Harvard University who wasn’t involved in the research, tells Live Science. He says that Giza contains some other L-shaped offering chapels, but they’re usually above ground. “I’m not sure just what this anomaly represents yet,” he adds. “But it is certainly worthy of further exploration.”
Definitely underground lizard bastards.... let's preemptively nuke it. Maybe they're hiding some oil.
I’m doing laundry this morning and have The Mummy Returns on in the background. We need to get Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz on this ASAP!
And so it begins... 43 monkeys escape South Carolina research facility; police warn residents to secure doors and windows Authorities in South Carolina on Thursday warned residents to lock their doors and windows after more than 40 monkeys escaped from a research facility. The primates broke loose from a Alpha Genesis facility in Beaufort County and traps have been set up and thermal imaging cameras are being used in an effort to locate the fugitive monkeys, the Yemassee Police Department said in a statement. In an update posted Thursday, police confirmed 43 rhesus macaque primates escaped and none had been captured as of early afternoon. Authorities said the primates were "very young females weighing approximately 6-7 lbs" and had never been used for testing due to their age. "Alpha Genesis currently have eyes on the primates and are working to entice them with food," police said, describing the monkeys as "skittish." "Residents are strongly advised to keep doors and windows secured to prevent these animals from entering homes," police said earlier. "If you spot any of the escaped animals, please contact 911 immediately and refrain from approaching them." Greg Westergaard, CEO of Alpha Genesis, told CBS News the monkey escape is "frustrating" and he is "hoping for a happy ending" with the primates returning of their own volition. Westergaard told CBS News that a caretaker inadvertently failed to secure a door at an enclosure, allowing the monkeys to roam free. "It's really like follow-the-leader. You see one go and the others go," Westergaard said. "It was a group of 50 and 7 stayed behind and 43 bolted out the door." Daniel Vance, a land surveyor, told CBS News that he and a coworker were taking a lunch break nearby on Wednesday when they spotted some of the monkeys, and he said he captured video footage of them. The Yemassee Police Department said multiple officers were working with Alpha Genesis personnel to recapture the primates. "We want to assure the community that there is no health risk associated with these animals," police said in its update Thursday. According to its website, Alpha Genesis breeds monkeys and provides "nonhuman primate products and bio-research services" across the globe. The company's clinical trials reportedly include research on progressive brain disorders. Alpha Genesis says its staff of veterinary technicians and animal specialists work with cynomolgous, rhesus and capuchin monkeys. The Post and Courier newspaper reported last year that Alpha Genesis won a federal contract to oversee a colony of 3,500 rhesus monkeys on South Carolina's Morgan Island, known as "Monkey Island." Rhesus macaques were imported to the U.S. in the 1970s for biomedical research in laboratories, according to the New England Primate Conservancy. Rhesus macaques are "bold, extremely curious, and adventurous monkeys" and the species is "highly adaptable to coexisting alongside humans," the conservancy says. The Post and Courier reported that monkeys have escaped from Alpha Genesis before. Eight years ago, 19 primates escaped from the company's facility but were recaptured about six hours later. Last year in Pennsylvania, dozens of lab monkeys escaped after a truck carrying 100 of the animals crashed. All the primates were later accounted for.
The twelve monkeys that organized the escape have remained together and are not randomly scattering like the other monkeys.
