Friday Futures: Elon Musk, lasers, skulls and the Universe is weird

Elon Musk
Image credit: Iakov Filimonov / Shutterstock.com

Welcome to Friday Futures, our weekly guide to the latest visions of The Future from around the web. This week: Elon Musk and his Neuralink will use lasers; drones with flamethrowers; wooden skyscrapers; greenhouse effects on Mars; what’s at the bottom of the deepest part of the ocean.

Neuralink will laser holes in your skull

Musk and several of the top scientists from the company covered a lot of ground during the event, going into great detail about the system it hopes to one day implant into your brain. It also shared how it hopes to reach your brain in the first place: by shooting holes in your skull with lasers. Read more…

Now, you can buy a drone with a flamethrower attachment – obviously

Quick: close your eyes, and focus on the greatest problem facing the world today. If you, like us, thought about how you can’t buy a fully-functional flamethrower attachment for your drone, you’re in luck! Read more…

And you can watch it here – obviously

 

We could create the greenhouse effect on Mars – which is good

New research suggests that regions of the Martian surface could be made habitable with a material — silica aerogel — that mimics Earth’s atmospheric greenhouse effect. Through modeling and experiments, the researchers show that a 2- to 3-centimeter-thick shield of silica aerogel could transmit enough visible light for photosynthesis, block hazardous ultraviolet radiation, and raise temperatures underneath permanently above the melting point of water, all without the need for any internal heat source. Read more…

Next – a wooden skyscraper

 

The Universe does not work the way it should – according to us

There may be fundamental flaws with our understanding of the universe. The problem came to light as scientists tried to calculate and measure a value called the Hubble Constant, which represents how rapidly the universe is expanding outward. Read more…

And they found a black hole that shouldn’t exist – according to us

As if black holes weren’t mysterious enough, astronomers have found an unexpected thin disk of material furiously whirling around a supermassive black hole at the heart of the magnificent spiral galaxy NGC 3147, located 130 million light-years away. Read more…

And now we know what lives at the bottom of the deepest part of the ocean

 

(Compiled by Alex Leslie and edited by Tony Poulos)

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