Welcome to Friday Futures, our weekly guide to the latest visions of The Future from around the web. This week: growing mini brains on the ISS; Amazon and your hands; zero gravity to cure cancer; Neptune in photos; human bias in AI and liquid nitrogen in the swimming pool.
Mini brains are being grown on the Space Station
The team has found that the organoids are giving off brain waves — complex patterns of neural activity — similar to those of premature babies. It’s a bizarre finding that could force scientists to revisit the limitations of lab-grown mini-organs and the ethical issues surrounding them. Read more…
Amazon may soon use your hand as unique identifier
The e-tailing giant’s engineers are quietly testing scanners that can identify an individual human hand as a way to ring up a store purchase, with the goal of rolling them out at its Whole Foods supermarket chain in the coming months, The Post has learned. Read more…
Walking on the moon, in Bengaluru
Scientists are turning carbon dioxide into liquid fuel
The catalytic reactor developed by the Rice University lab of chemical and biomolecular engineer Haotian Wang uses carbon dioxide as its feedstock and, in its latest prototype, produces highly purified and high concentrations of formic acid. Read more…
Can zero gravity kill cancer? We’re about to find out
That’s based on a recent finding that most cancer cells subjected to microgravity in a lab died off without any other treatment, according to ABC News. Now the team of doctors from Australia’s University of Technology Sydney wants to send samples up to the International Space Station to further test the bizarre idea. Read more…
How to prevent human bias in AI
Here are some cool pictures of Neptune
The eighth and outermost planet in our neighborhood, Neptune is considered one of the ice giants, along with Uranus. But that name is a misnomer since the planet is actually covered in gas, and whatever ice is below that is basically slushy. Read more…
The ISS snapped some amazing photos of hurricane Dorian
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are well above the path of Hurricane Dorian, but that isn’t stopping them from keeping a close eye on the storm — and sharing their unique vantage point with the rest of the world. Read more…
Here’s what happens if you pour liquid nitrogen into your swimming pool
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