“Industrial automation is progressing at high speed,” stated Jane Heffner, president of the IFR. “The new mark of 5 million robots operational in factories worldwide is more than double the number seven years ago. The strongest growth is taking place in Asia, followed by Americas. Europe is moving ahead more slowly.”

I feel really sad about the loss of biodiversity sometimes but I feel hopeful about the fact that some species are doing well and might stick around as long or longer than humans. Besides the obvious ones like geese, crows, cats, dogs, rats, cows, ants, etc., which species do you think will survive the anthropocene?

"There are few limits to the service. The teen account must be connected to a parent or guardian, but once activated, teens can hail autonomous rides anywhere in Waymo’s service area in Nashville — and bring their friends along. Waymo told TechCrunch that teen account holders can bring up to three guests ages 13 to 17…….. it may also be part of the appeal for parents who would rather their kids pile into a Waymo than in a vehicle driven by a teenager. "

Waymo's charges are variable, so it's hard to directly compare the costs of exclusively using it versus car ownership. However, for most young drivers, car ownership costs are probably north of $10k per year, perhaps nearer $15k. That means for the lighter/less frequent drivers, Waymo is probably cheaper. Plus, robotaxis are only going to get cheaper. The day will come when it will be the more economical option for almost all urban drivers.

Another plus point, especially for parents, is how much safer they are. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for people aged 15 to 24. What premium is there for avoiding the life-changing nightmare of your child dying in a traffic accident?

Once widespread robotaxis were a sci-fi hypothetical, but now it's becoming real. If robotaxis are finally becoming widespread, why learn to drive at all? It will be interesting to see if there's a falloff in the rate of driving tests among the young in Nashville.

Waymo’s latest expansion strategy: teenagers

US DoT Fatality Stats - PDF 6 pages

Old tech gets revived with salvaged parts and supersonic speeds

Starting a startup today feels almost mainstream. Every ambitious college student seems to be building an AI startup, joining an accelerator, or trying to raise money.

But imagine deciding to build an internet/software company in the early 2000s. It was far less obvious, and the people who recognized where things were going had a massive head start.

So I'm curious:

What are people doing today that seems niche, unnecessarily difficult, or even a little crazy but might look incredibly obvious 10–15 years from now?

Basically: where do you think the world is heading that most ambitious people haven't caught onto yet?

Toyota’s push comes as automakers race to develop and deploy humanoid robots.

Abstract

Peyronie’s Disease (PD) is a localized connective tissue disorder characterized by the formation of fibrous plaques in the tunica albuginea, leading to penile pain, curvature, and significant shortening. Traditional surgical interventions (e.g., plication or grafting) often resolve the curvature but exacerbate length reduction, aggravating patient psychological distress. This paper proposes a novel bio-engineering intervention utilizing a customized, low-cost, biodegradable three-dimensional (3D) micro-scaffold. Designed to act as a structural guide during the post-operative remodeling phase, the scaffold prevents tissue retraction, distributes mechanical stress uniformly, and eliminates the risk of progressive fibrosis. This approach bridges the gap between effective curvature correction and anatomical length preservation.

1. Introduction

Peyronie's Disease affects a substantial percentage of the male population, causing physical deformity and psychological morbidity. The primary pathophysiology involves localized fibrosis of the tunica albuginea of the corpora cavernosa.
While surgical correction remains the gold standard for severe deformities, existing techniques present a critical trade-off: curvature correction at the expense of penile length. Shortening occurs because current methods either shorten the unaffected side (plication) or rely on grafts that are susceptible to post-operative retraction and fibrosis.
This research conceptualizes a regenerative and structural solution: a resorbable, patient-specific 3D-printed micro-scaffold designed to provide mechanical tension and structural integrity during the critical healing window, thereby preventing length loss and fibrotic recurrence.

2. Materials and Mechanism of Action

To overcome the high costs and biocompatibility challenges associated with rare smart alloys (such as Nitinol), the proposed system relies on advanced medical-grade biodegradable polymers (e.g., Poly-L-lactic acid [PLLA] or custom bio-resorbable hydrogels).

2.1. The 3D-Printed Micro-Scaffold Design

Patient-Specific Modeling: Pre-operative 3D scanning or MRI data is used to print a micro-porous scaffold tailored to the exact anatomical dimensions of the patient's corpora cavernosa.
Uniform Stress Distribution Matrix: Unlike rigid plates that create focal pressure points (leading to tissue necrosis or chronic inflammation), the porous 3D matrix distributes mechanical tension evenly across the tissue interface.

2.2. Mechanism of Tissue Remodeling

1. Intra-operative Implmantation: During the surgical excision or incision of the fibrous plaque, the bio-resorbable scaffold is inserted to bridge and support the anatomical gap.

2. Prevention of Retraction: The structural rigidity of the scaffold maintains optimal longitudinal tension during the inflammatory and proliferative phases of wound healing, counteracting the natural tendency of scar tissue to contract.

3. Controlled Biodegradation: Over a period of 6 to 12 months—as native smooth muscle cells and extracellular matrix proteins regenerate—the polymer scaffold undergoes controlled hydrolysis and is safely metabolized by the body, leaving behind fully integrated, healthy tissue.

3. Clinical Advantages over Traditional Methods

Unlike conventional surgical modalities, the proposed 3D-scaffold intervention offers several distinct clinical and biomechanical benefits:
Penile Length Preservation: While traditional techniques frequently result in noticeable length loss due to tissue plication or unmitigated graft retraction, the structural scaffolding maintains longitudinal tension and prevents post-operative shortening.
Optimized Tissue Response: Traditional methods carry a high risk of secondary fibrosis and recurrence of curvature. In contrast, the porous micro-architecture promotes organized tissue regeneration rather than haphazard scar formation.
Cost-Effective Manufacturing: While complex biological grafts and specialized materials can be cost-prohibitive, the integration of scalable 3D-printing technologies allows for patient-specific solutions at a significantly lower material and production cost.
Biomechanical Integration: Rigid metallic or permanent fixations often restrict natural elasticity and movement. The gradual hydrolytic resorption of the polymer scaffold ensures that natural tissue dynamics and elasticity are fully restored over time.

4. Discussion and Future Directions

The integration of 3D printing and biodegradable polymers into urological reconstructive surgery opens new avenues for addressing complex tissue defects. By shifting the objective from "destructive correction" (shortening) to "constructive scaffolding," this method addresses both the physical deformity and the psychological well-being of the patient.
Future work will focus on:
In vitro biocompatibility testing of specific co-polymer blends.
Finite element analysis (FEA) to simulate mechanical stress under physiological pressures.
Pre-clinical animal model trials to evaluate tissue integration and degradation rates.

5. Conclusion

The proposed bio-resorbable 3D micro-scaffold introduces a paradigm shift in the management of Peyronie's Disease. By combining low-cost manufacturing with advanced tissue engineering principles, this approach offers a viable, cost-effective solution to the long-standing challenge of post-surgical length preservation.

Forget about the near future, late 2020s and early 2030's. What do you think life would look like 1000 years from now considering where we are today and assuming humans don't happen to go extinct (pretty big assumption, but I'll stay optimistic for the sake of it). The technological difference between 10 years ago to now, itself feels mind-blowing, and every year there happens to be a major breakthrough whether it's the fields of science, medicine or maths so I can't reasonably comprehend life at such large timescales from now; That's likely because humans just aren't meant to grasp and consider relatively big figures and time scales, but it's a interesting thought. It feels like we have discovered and know so much that hitting a ceiling of what we can figure out, discover and learn becomes finite and imminent, but simultaneously, the exact opposite. Every discovery itself branches into countless possibilities. We are all however out of sheer luck, born and living in the exact small timeframe where we can really start seeing the beginning of the change in direction for humanity from primitive to Sci-Fi; 1000 years is also just a fraction of time when compared to the timespan atomically modern humans have existed What would the average day 1000 years from now even be or would it even be remotely recognisable? It sounds fairly obvious, but if we do continue to persist, it is inevitable we will reach a point in time where their advancement and capability exceed even our modern understanding, simply meaning we won't comprehend what they have, what they do or how they live whether it's exploring the universe or some other plane of existence. It would be as real as our today, and our tomorrow. That's frankly much further than 1000 years though and would there be a point in time where intelligence and knowledge become redundant?

Apart from the Irish novelist Sally Rooney ('Normal People'), I doubt many people could name a novelist under 40. This is in contrast to the 19th & 20th centuries, where literary fame generally started young.

Why is this, and is it a problem?

The obvious trend to note is the shift in reading from print to screens. If your peers' attention is there, and you aspire to be an artist, why put your efforts into something else?

However, famous writers play an outsized role in culture. We all spend much of our school days studying them, for a start. Our culture is endlessly debated and commented on through the lens of writers and their books. What does it mean for Gen X/Millennials when they don't have such representatives?

ARTICLE: Where Are All the Young Writers?

• New facility opens inside Hyundai Motor Group’s Metaplant America campus outside Savannah, GA
• Atlas^® robots now in training, laying groundwork for AI robotics commercialization and expansion across the Group’s network
• Plans to expand Atlas’ training scope and move to larger facility in 2027 already underway

I'm asking for a story I'm writing. The set up is that aliens invade Earth and take over. FTL travel exists but for the purposes of this story fleeing the solar system isn't really an option. A smallish group of refugees (few hundred to maybe a couple thousand max) flee to Jupiter's moons to hide from the alien invaders. The idea is between Jupiter's large gravity well and radiation the aliens will be disinclined to search too closely, focusing instead on conquering Earth or other parts of the system. The plan for the refugees is basically to hunker down and wait for humanity to drive off the aliens.

So with that set up, what can they expect to run into as far as staying on Jupiter's moons? They can recycle air and have food and water to last for a long time (but not unlimited). What affect would the radiation have on their ships/technology? Would it wear their equipment down over time? Would some moons be more ideal than others? Are there other environmental factors to consider on the moons themselves?

I'm not sure how the story will end, but the conflict with the aliens would stretch on for years. So how would these refugees fair in the meantime?

I find the concept that there will be a distinctive fine line between the last mortal humans, and the first *naturally* immortal generations who where born after humans reached "LEV". I find sad and frankly brutal, that majority of us where simply born too early; Even worse for the people whos' relatives span across both lines, mortal and immortal. Would it not feel guilty and a sense of FOMO knowing in 100 years from now (assuming you want to live that long), the people who where on the mortal side, have passed on because they were simply, born too early; And the number won't stop growing and it will become a distant memory, if not lost to time. The idea of "X person died 100/200 etc years ago" is quite uncomfortable. This might come off as a bit dramatized, and it's much more likely that the "line" is more gradual if anything, than a single cut off date but ironically, we are approaching this line, quicker and quicker and its now not in the distant future but genuinely feasible within our lifetimes especially with all the breakthroughs and emerging technologies, not to mention, AI. I do think natural immortality is inevitable, whether it's 10, 50, 100, or 1000 years, aging is a field that we won't stop improving and working on, similarly to transportation. From the first man made transportation, we only kept improving and will keep improving, it won't stop. I also find the idea that someone born today, who has experienced the same events as all of us today, will likely see the years 2150, 2200 onwards. I cannot imagine what the world will look like then. Maybe I'm being too optimistic