1 One thing that helps
Love your current car but want to join the electric revolution? Just drop that favourite vehicle in while you do your Christmas shopping and come back with it converted to electric!
German startup e-Revolt is helping people go green by converting their internal combustion engine cars into electric vehicles. e-Revolt’s modular approach allows them to finish the conversion in as little as a day whereas other methods might take months. They remove the engine and add a constructed frame that matches the old engine points. They have frames for around 42 car models but they can also customize according to your car’s model. The conversion includes an electric powertrain and a full digital upgrade of the car’s systems.
This modular approach also has advantages going forward. For example, if a new battery gets developed, it will be easy to integrate, allowing you to keep your car up to date as technology improves. Also, all components removed from the car will be recycled or reused to conserve as much resource as possible.
2 One to be wary of
When Neuralink was first showcased to the world, it garnered applause for promising a world enabling brain-to-computer interfaces. Now though, the gruesome fate of the monkeys involved in testing does not inspire confidence for the upcoming human trials.
Wired magazine reports that around a dozen monkeys have suffered infections and paralysis due to the brain implant device. One instance reports a part of the implant breaking off during surgery. Another recounts a monkey pressing its head on the ground and picking at the implant resulting in bleeding from the brain. There are other cases – all resulting in the monkey being put down.
Why do we talk about this now? It’s because Neuralink is seeking human trials next. Elon Musk denies these allegations and says that all monkeys tested were already terminal. And if you believe that… I have some magic beans I would like to sell you.
3 One to amaze
You know that feeling when you realise you are dreaming but you can stay in the dream? That is lucid dreaming.
Lucid dreams are a state of consciousness when you are aware that you are dreaming and can control what happens in your dream. Tech startup Prophetic aims to help us spark lucid dreams on-demand with their “Halo” headband.
Prophetic is using transcranial focused ultrasound (TUS), a relatively new technique that uses ultrasound to stimulate a particular part of the brain. This allows the device to target specific regions for different results in dreams. The Halo headband will be used to monitor the user’s sleep state and when the wearer is in REM stage, neurostimulation via ultrasound is induced to activate lucid dreaming.
It is hoped that the experience of lucid dreaming can help people improve their mood, reduce anxiety, and refine both motor-skills and creativity.
This ultrasound approach is a vast improvement on the audio cues to induce dreaming we covered way back in edition 11. Are you ready for the ultimate VR?