Weekly Brief: We’ve got a Sixth Sensor

This week on the weekly brief we are discussing sweaty sensors, mind control and smart gloves. We’re exploring the interesting developments in the tech behind sensors. Plus: giving you a shortlist of our favourite startup jobs from the site this week! […]

Weekly Brief: We’ve got a Sixth Sensor

Move over Elon Musk, you’re not the only one who wants to read minds!

Facebook unveiled their Brain API Beta at F8, aiming to “integrate people’s thoughts into the next generation of apps”. Given the less-than-discreet reputation Facebook has earned, this is understandably putting some noses out of joint (would you trust them with your thoughts?) But putting privacy or morality to one side (*fingers firmly in ears*), we instead want to look at the awesome tech behind the project. Their team of scientists and developers are treading new ground in both BioTech implants and “neural machine learning”. Thinking as positively as possible, the tech could completely revolutionise treatment plans for neurological disorders. Seems a noble enough cause?

Another group using sensors to potentially tackle the way we treat debilitating disease (and pick up weapons in VR video games) are the team behind the ‘Stretch-Sensing Soft Glove.’ This glove accurately captures intricate hand movements without the need for optical tracking (watch them show off the product and absolutely slam their competitors below!) Meanwhile teams at UC Berkeley and Stanford have both developed similarly thin sensors to track even more biometric data about us “glamorously” through our sweat! Shows just how versatile and open this field is. So, whether you’re prepared to deal with the ickier privacy concerns of neural implants, or just want your sensors to be plain sticky, it looks like this tech will be a major part of future wellness and health. Really it’s just common sense(or)!

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Weekly Brief: Banana Fungus Slip Slidin’ AwayAI

Here is a write up of this weeks newsletter. Today we were looking at potential banana extinction and how BioTech, AI and CRISPR can be used to help! As always you can get this content straight to your inbox on our weekly newsletter – we always try to include some fun and interesting tech news! Go bananas! […]

Weekly Brief: Banana Fungus Slip Slidin’ AwayAI

How can artificial intelligence save the world’s favourite fruit?

Tropical Race 4 – don’t worry we aren’t talking about that purple hurricane game every kid seem to be playing this summer! Better yet: crop destroying fungus. Fusarium Oxysporum has come to public attention after it hit land in Colombia. Short banana PSA: a different strain of Fusarium almost obliterated bananas as we knew them 30 years ago, leaving the more resistant ‘Cavendish’ as top banana. This strain is already present in Asia and can survive dormant in the soil for many years. It is expected to sweep through Latin America, where 99% of the world’s crop is grown, decimating bananas left and right. But all is not lost! An international team is using AI to detect diseases in bananas, developing tech that could be deployed on an international scale to contain and control the epidemic. Opening up the GMO debate, CRISPR and BioTech options have also been suggested to modify bananas (or even the disease itself) to sidestep a potential biological catastrophe. Without getting all Swedish child environmentalist on you, it seems like a good time to think about how to promote biodiversity within the confines of practical and ecological production needs. Thankfully BioTech is positioned to lead this attack and protect our precious bananas! Let the fights in offices across the nation continue over (objectively) the best fruit.

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