Greetings from Johannesburg, where I'm delivering a lecture to this year's MBA class at the GIBS Business School. Later this week I'll be heading down to Bloemfontein for a public talk with Dr Keith Armstrong. Next week Tane and I will both be back in Australia for the opening keynote at the Managing Partners Forum, an event we're really looking forward to as we get to SCIENCE some of Australia's top lawyers.
I'm seeing a growing number of editorials and opinion articles bemoaning the problem of polarization in social media. It's interesting to watch how these things become part of the zeitgeist. The idea often starts in academia, and then within a year or two it's appearing in niche online publications, and from there it's onto the mainstream press...
The internet isn't the cause of political polarization. People are the cause of political polarization. But it's also people, plus the internet, that might eventually help solve it.
They did what?
Drone pilots are coming up with new ways of doing everything from stopping wildlife poachers to improving disaster relief.
VideoUS and Chinese inventors have created a 3-D printed robot chameleon that uses tiny displays to change its color and blend into its surroundings.
VideoPlus... what happens when you combine drones and 3D printing? You get aerial construction bots.
ArticleThe government of Luxembourg wants to mine asteroids with Google. Did somebody say 'tax haven?'
ArticleIBM shakes up its stuffy image and announces that they're 'all in' on blockchain.
ArticleChina is conducting what looks like the largest Turing test in history.
ArticleCell biologists in Minnesota have made one of the decade's biggest breakthroughs in preventing physical aging.
ArticleAustralian researchers have developed a 'holy grail' for bionics, a mind-controlled device that could enable paralysed patients to walk.
ArticleAnd... for the first time ever, the brain of a small mammal has been cryonically frozen and recovered to near perfect condition.
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Good news you probably didn't hear about
Morocco has unveiled one of the world's biggest solar plants.
ArticleFresh evidence shows that public smoking bans have improved health in 21 nations.
ArticleChristian and Muslim leaders have united to declare their support for the reunification of Cyprus.
ArticleFrance is planning to build more than 1000km of energy-collecting 'solar roads' by 2021.
ArticleAn Android app is helping Iranians avoid the morality police.
ArticleLast month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that thanks to a 500% increase in the last 25 years, the global manatee population is no longer endangered. Huzzah!
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Stuff we loved
Fascinating profile of Patrick Soon-Shiong, the man behind a big new global initiative in the war on cancer.
ProfileArt + feminism + science (yes please). Check out this lovely portrait series of 15 notable women in STEM.
ArticleMeet the Robin Hood of scientific publishing - a researcher from Kazakhstan. She's made nearly every scientific paper ever published available for free to anyone, anywhere in the world.
EssayMos Def and the world passport that's trying to erase national boundaries.
ArticleIn a white dome on a bare mountain in Hawaii people are road-testing life in a Martian colony. Here's what they've learned so far.
EssayThe demise of Moore's Law is imminent. Now things are going to get a lot more interesting.
Article
And finally... did you know the ratio of manatee brains to their body size is the lowest of any mammal? They may not be as clever as dolphins, but manatees can learn basic tasks, are extremely sensitive to touch and can differentiate colors.
[MANATEE GIF]
Manatees. They're awesome.
Peace out,
- Gus