Daily Archives: June 15, 2022

READER QUESTION: I am 59 years old, and in reasonably good health. Is it possible that I will live long enough to put my brain into a computer? Richard Dixon.

We often imagine that human consciousness is as simple as input and output of electrical signals within a network of processing units therefore comparable to a computer. Reality, however, is much more complicated. For starters, we dont actually know how much information the human brain can hold.

Two years ago, a team at the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle, US, mapped the 3D structure of all the neurons (brain cells) comprised in one cubic millimetre of the brain of a mouse a milestone considered extraordinary.

This article is part of Lifes Big QuestionsThe Conversations series, co-published with BBC Future, seeks to answer our readers nagging questions about life, love, death and the universe. We work with professional researchers who have dedicated their lives to uncovering new perspectives on the questions that shape our lives.

Within this minuscule cube of brain tissue, the size of a grain of sand, the researchers counted more than 100,000 neurons and more than a billion connections between them. They managed to record the corresponding information on computers, including the shape and configuration of each neuron and connection, which required two petabytes, or two million gigabytes of storage. And to do this, their automated microscopes had to collect 100 million images of 25,000 slices of the minuscule sample continuously over several months.

Now if this is what it takes to store the full physical information of neurons and their connections in one cubic millimetre of mouse brain, you can perhaps imagine that the collection of this information from the human brain is not going to be a walk in the park.

Data extraction and storage, however, is not the only challenge. For a computer to resemble the brains mode of operation, it would need to access any and all the stored information in a very short amount of time: the information would need to be stored in its random access memory (RAM), rather than on traditional hard disks. But if we tried to store the amount of data the researchers gathered in a computers RAM, it would occupy 12.5 times the capacity of the largest single-memory computer (a computer that is built around memory, rather than processing) ever built.

The human brain contains about 100 billion neurons (as many stars as could be counted in the Milky way) one million times those contained in our cubic millimetre of mouse brain. And the estimated number of connections is a staggering ten to the power of 15. That is ten followed by 15 zeroes a number comparable to the individual grains contained in a two meter thick layer of sand on a 1km-long beach.

If we dont even know how much information storage a human brain can hold, you can imagine how hard it would be to transfer it into a computer. Youd have to first translate the information into a code that the computer can read and use once it is stored. Any error in doing so would probably prove fatal.

A simple rule of information storage is that you need to make sure you have enough space to store all the information you need to transfer before you start. If not, you would have to know exactly the order of importance of the information you are storing and how it is organised, which is far from being the case for brain data.

If you dont know how much information you need to store when you start, you may run out of space before the transfer is complete, which could mean that the information string may be corrupt or impossible for a computer to use. Also, all data would have to be stored in at least two (if not three) copies, to prevent the disastrous consequences of potential data loss.

This is only one problem. If you were paying attention when I described the extraordinary achievement of researchers who managed to fully store the 3D structure of the network of neurons in a tiny bit of mouse brain, you will know that this was done from 25,000 (extremely thin) slices of tissue.

The same technique would have to be applied to your brain, because only very coarse information can be retrieved from brain scans. Information in the brain is stored in every detail of its physical structure of the connections between neurons: their size and shape, as well as the number and location of connections between them. But would you consent to your brain being sliced in that way?

Even if would agree that we slice your brain into extremely thin slices, it is highly unlikely that the full volume of your brain could ever be cut with enough precision and be correctly reassembled. The brain of a man has a volume of about 1.26 million cubic millimetres.

If I havent already dissuaded you from trying the procedure, consider what happens when taking time into account.

After we die, our brains quickly undergo major changes that are both chemical and structural. When neurons die they soon lose their ability to communicate, and their structural and functional properties are quickly modified meaning that they no longer display the properties that they exhibit when we are alive. But even more problematic is the fact that our brain ages.

Read more: Death: can our final moment be euphoric?

From the age of 20, we lose 85,000 neurons a day. But dont worry (too much), we mostly lose neurons that have not found their use, they have not been solicited to get involved in any information processing. This triggers a programme to self-destruction (called apoptosis). In other words, several tens of thousands of our neurons kill themselves every day. Other neurons die because of exhaustion or infection.

This isnt too much of an issue, though, because we have almost 100 billion neurons at the age of 20, and with such an attrition rate, we have merely lost 2-3% of our neurons by the age of 80. And provided we dont contract a neurodegenerative disease, our brains can still represent our lifelong thinking style at that age. But what would be the right age to stop, scan and store?

Would you rather store an 80-year-old mind or a 20-year-old one? Attempting the storage of your mind too early would miss a lot of memories and experiences that would have defined you later. But then, attempting the transfer to a computer too late would run the risk of storing a mind with dementia, one that doesnt quite work as well.

So, given that we dont know how much storage is required, that we cannot hope to find enough time and resources to entirely map the 3D structure of a whole human brain, that we would need to cut you into zillions of minuscule cubes and slices, and that it is essentially impossible to decide when to undertake the transfer, I hope that you are now convinced that it is probably not going to be possible for a good while, if ever. And if it were, you probably would not want to venture in that direction. But in case youre still tempted, Ill continue.

Perhaps the biggest problem we have is that even if we could realise the impossible and jump the many hurdles discussed, we still know very little about underlying mechanisms. Imagine that we have managed to reconstruct the complete structure of the hundred billion neurons in Richard Dixons brain along with every one of the connections between them, and have been able to store and transfer this astronomical quantity of data into a computer in three copies. Even if we could access this information on demand and instantaneously, we would still face a great unknown: how does it work?

After the what question (what information is there?), and the when question (when would be the right time to transfer?), the toughest is the how question. Lets not be too radical. We do know some things. We know that neurons communicate with one another based on local electrical changes, which travel down their main extensions (dendrites and axons). These can transfer from one neuron to another directly or via exchange surfaces call synapses.

At the synapse, electrical signals are converted to chemical signals, which can activate or deactivate the next neuron in line, depending on the kind of molecule (called neuromediators) involved. We understand a great deal of the principles governing such transfers of information, but we cant decipher it from looking at the structure of neurons and their connections.

To know which types of connection apply between two neurons, we need to apply molecular techniques and genetic tests. This means again fixating and cutting the tissue in thin slices. It also often involves dying techniques, and the cutting needs to be compatible with those. But this is not necessarily compatible with the cutting needed to reconstruct the 3D structure.

So now you are faced with a choice even more daunting than determining when is the best time in your life to forego existence, you have to chose between structure and function the three-dimensional architecture of your brain versus how it operates at a cellular level. Thats because there is no known method for collecting both types of information at the same time. And by the way, not that I would like to inflate an already serious drama, but how neurons communicate is yet another layer of information, meaning that we need much more memory than the incalculable quantity previously envisaged.

So the possibility of uploading the information contained in brains to computers is utterly remote and might forever be out of reach. Perhaps, I should stop there, but I wont. Because there is more to say. Allow me to ask you a question in return, Richard: why would you want to put your brain into a computer?

I may have a useful, albeit unexpected, answer to give you after all. I shall assume that you would want to transfer your mind to a computer in the hope of existing beyond your lifespan, that youd like to continue existing inside a machine once your body can no longer implement your mind in your living brain.

If this hypothesis is correct, however, I must object. Imagining that all the impossible things listed above were one day resolved and your brain could literally be copied into a computer allowing a complete simulation of the functioning of your brain at the moment you decide to transfer, Richard Dixon would have ceased to exist. The mind image transferred to the computer would therefore not be any more alive than the computer hosting it.

Thats because living things such as humans and animals exist because they are alive. You may think that I just stated something utterly trivial, verging on stupidity, but if you think about it there is more to it than meets the eye. A living mind receives input from the world through the senses. It is attached to a body that feels based on physical sensations. This results in physical manifestations such as changes in heart rate, breathing and sweating, which in turn can be felt and contribute to the inner experience. How would this work for a computer without a body?

All such input and output isnt likely to be easy to model, especially if the copied mind is isolated and there is no system to sense the environment and act in response to input. The brain seamlessly and constantly integrates signals from all the senses to produce internal representations, makes predictions about these representations, and ultimately creates conscious awareness (our feeling of being alive and being ourselves) in a way that is still a total mystery to us.

Without interaction with the world, however subtle and unconscious, how could the mind function even for a minute? And how could it evolve and change? If the mind, artificial or not, has no input or output, then it is devoid of life, just like a dead brain.

In other words, having made all the sacrifices discussed earlier, transferring your brain to a computer would have completely failed to keep your mind alive. You may reply that you would then request an upgrade and ask for your mind to be transferred into a sophisticated robot equipped with an array of sensors capable to seeing, hearing, touching, and even smelling and tasting the world (why not?) and that this robot would be able to act and move, and speak (why not?).

But even then, it is theoretically and practically impossible that the required sensors and motor systems would provide sensations and produce actions that are identical or even comparable to those provided and produced by your current biological body. Eyes are not simple cameras, ears arent just microphones and touch is not only about pressure estimation. For instance, eyes dont only convey light contrasts and colours, the information from them is combined soon after it reaches the brain in order to encode depth (distance between objects) and we dont yet know how.

And so it follows that your transferred mind would not have the possibility to relate to the world as your current living mind does. And how would we even go about connecting artificial sensors to the digital copy of your (living) mind? What about the danger of hacking? Or hardware failure?

So no, no and no. I have tried to give you my (scientifically grounded) take on your question and even though it is a definite no from me, I hope to have helped alleviate your desire to ever have your brain put into a computer.

I wish you a long and healthy life, Richard, because that definitely is where your mind will exist and thrive for as long as it is implemented by your brain. May it bring you joy and dreams something androids will never have.

Read more: AI like HAL 9000 can never exist because real emotions aren't programmable

To get all of lifes big answers, join the hundreds of thousands of people who value evidence-based news by subscribing to our newsletter. You can send us your big questions by email at bigquestions@theconversation.com and well try to get a researcher or expert on the case.

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When will I be able to upload my brain to a computer? - The Conversation

Six years ago I shattered my spine in a whitewater kayaking accident. The bone shards of my second lumbar vertebra sliced into my spinal cord, severing communication with the lower half of my body. Surgeons rebuilt my vertebra and scaffolded my spine with four titanium rods. I spent a year in a wheelchair. After hundreds of hours of therapy, my body established new neural connections. I learned to walk again. Im tremendously grateful, and I know its an inspiring story. Its the story that many want to hear. But its not the story I want to tell in my writing.

Sometimes, when the electric sting keeps me awake, when, in the middle of the night, lightning bolts charge from my right thigh, through my groin, and up to what remains of my second thoracic vertebra, I take my pain meds and try to remember how fortunate I am to be able to walk.

If I want to shirk the reality of such sleeplessness and agony, I turn to my phone and find a video clip titled Learning to Walk Again on CNNs website. In the video, Anderson Cooper narrates a three-minute montage of my recovery. It starts with the x-rays and MRIs of the shattered ruins of my spine. Then a string of videos that show me struggling in a wheelchair.

When the somber music turns inspirational, the video cuts to me walking in a robotic exoskeleton, then a shot of me walking with crutches. And finally, with cinematic flair, I throw aside the crutches and take a few labored steps on the first anniversary of my injury, a tenuous grin plastered on my face.

The video is uplifting. It is immersive and heartening, and when I watch it, I briefly lose the version of myself who is lying awake in pain, forget that my legs feel like theyve been dipped in lava. Riveted by the visual narrative, I almost forget Im watching myself.

When its over, and the pain returns. The CNN clip seems like a lie.

Because I can stand and walk, my day-to-day life is measurably better, a truth captured and beautified in the video montage. And certainly the story has been inspirational for many people. But the videos omissionsthe acute and chronic pain, the problems with my bladder and bowels, the grief of losing the person Id beenare as much a part of my story as relearning to walk is. Perhaps more so.

I decide I need a more encompassing narrative, one that considers exasperation as well as progress, suffering as well as triumph. One that makes meaning not just from overcoming, but from the ongoing lived experience of pain. Maybe I can even exorcize pain through writing, transmute it into narrative. So I invent Eugene, the protagonist of my novella Conscious Designs. I give him a spinal cord injury. Maybe together we can find some sense in our suffering.

The more I get to know Eugene, the more compassion I feel for him. I consider giving him a shot at escaping his pain, so I send him into a near future where technology might be his savior.

Because I want to take away the visual signifier of his disability, his mobility impairment, I gift him a much more advanced robotic exoskeleton than the one that retrained my nerves. Eugenes device is so svelte, it can hide under his clothes. He doesnt even limp like I do, except when the machine fails.

But making Eugene mobile doesnt make his disability go away. What really plagues Eugene are the unseen aspects of his spinal cord injury: the neuropathy, sexual dysfunction, incontinence, catheterization, bladder infections, pressure wounds.

Somehow I feel there should be a catharsis for me in heaping my pain on Eugene, but I only become more aware of my suffering. Sometimes my left foot feels like the blood is boiling within it. I imagine bubbles of hot gas moving through the veins, my muscles spasming, the tendons stretched like theyre going to snap. I take off my sock and inspect my foot, almost expecting to find some grotesque version of foot. But it appears normal. How strange that this normal looking foot can host such an inferno within. Its attached to me, but it seems foreign. I cant speak to my left foot beyond the dim motor signals of a few surviving neuro-channels. It speaks back to me only in its language of pain.

I begin to write what this pain tells me. I send its messages to Eugenes brain. And so Eugene and I become connected through our defective neurology. We both look back at our able-bodied past, the people that we were before we became disabled, mourning their deaths. We both come to realize the paradox of pain: its universal, but intensely private. It should connect us, but it isolates us. Eugene and I spend the summer together, but together we find no truth in the chaos.

I want something better for Eugene. I give Eugene the option to escape his body by uploading his mind into a virtual world. A world in which pain can theoretically be edited out. A world entirely ruled by pleasure, a kind of hyperbole for the hedonism of our own time. Maybe if Eugene decides to upload his mind into this new digital world and create a virtual, able-bodied version of himself, then the real-world Eugene can come to terms with his spinal cord injury.

But Im not confident in the truth of this story either. Im not sure technology can free us from ourselves.

For me, Eugenes experience in my novella is a more authentic portrayal of my disability than the story produced by CNN. The true nature of disability is an inner experience.

In Conscious Designs, Eugene is given the choice to branch his consciousness into two separate selves: one that would continue to suffer in the real world and one that would live free from suffering in the digital realm. To me, neither version seems desirable. I no longer want to be the real-world Eugene, whose neuropathy has become psycho-emotional pain, who cant evolve beyond his self-pity and nostalgia for who he used to be. But Im not sure I would eliminate my spinal cord injury either; with all its tragic elements, it has become an integral part of who I am.

Im glad I dont have to make this choice.

Nathanial White grew up in Maine and has lived in Mexico, Brazil, and Ecuador. His speculative fiction explores the human psyche, physical disability, culture, technology and consumerism. His debut novella, Conscious Designs, which was published in May, won the Miami University Novella Prize. He currently teaches Literature in the Rocky Mountains of Western Colorado.

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Disturbing the Comfortable: On Writing Disability in Science Fiction - tor.com

In an effort to present itself as a viable competitor to the reigning short-form video platform TikTok, YouTube announced today its rival service YouTube Shorts is now being watched by over 1.5 billion logged-in users every month, less than two years after its launch. By comparison, TikTok announced 1 billion monthly users in September 2021.

Though it hasnt announced updated figures since, TikTok was forecast to hit the 1.5 billion per month user figure sometime this year.

Related to its new milestone, YouTube also promoted Shorts ability to drive viewers to creators long-form video channels as a byproduct of its investments in Shorts. Its referring to the trend as the rise of the multiformat creator but, in reality, it seems to be more an admission that YouTube still sees more value in its longer-form content.

The company, in its announcement, positioned its video platform as one that better reflects the reality of todays viewer, who engages with video at different times and places throughout the day. In some cases, users will want to quickly scroll through shorter content such as when killing time while out and about. At other times, they may be able to watch for longer periods and will turn to traditional YouTube videos to do so.

However, YouTubes report doesnt take into account how TikTok has been steadily inching into its territory with long-form content of its own, and could potentially lure creators to a platform where both shorter and longer content is more intertwined.

Though not yet differentiated as a separate product in the app, TikTok videos can now be up to 10 minutes in length, following a change made this February after previously expanding videos to three minutes the prior year. The move was designed to attract the same sort of longer-form video creators that YouTube typically courted. With the expansion, creators gained more flexibility to film things like cooking demos, beauty tutorials, educational content, comedy sketches and more, without having to worry too much about the videos length. And further down the road, longer videos could also open the door to more opportunities to show advertising, of course.

YouTube, on the other hand, appears to be promoting a different strategy. Instead of making short-form the core of its service with long-form as an option, as TikTok does, YouTube sees Shorts as a way for creators to reach a new audience who may then become more regular viewers of their long-form content.

Long-form content remains the best way for creators to deeply engage and develop long-term relationships with their audiences, said Tara Walpert Levy, YouTubes vice president of the Americas. But Shorts offer an exciting, new way to be a part of a viewers journey and to introduce themselves and their whole portfolio to new audiences. This approach is yielding real results; channels uploading both short and long-form content are seeing better overall watch time and subscriber growth than those uploading only one format, she added.

The company didnt share specific figures related to the average increased watch time, though, making this claim somewhat suspect.

Instead, it only pointed to a couple of case studies as proof of this trend. In one, creator Ian Boggs is said to have grown his channel to 4 billion lifetime views, with 73% of them stemming from his Shorts feed. During the pandemic, Boggs leaned into Shorts and gained 5 million subscribers between 2021 and 2022, YouTube said. In another example, creator Rosanna Pansino is said to have more than doubled views on her channel since adopting Shorts, and Shorts is now her top traffic source.

But even in these two examples, there was an indication that the lift from Shorts could vary between creators. An earlier version of YouTubes advisory noted Shorts was then Pansinos second-largest traffic source, driving more than 20% of her total views. That reference was removed to reflect more recent stats, but YouTube didnt share the new percentage of her views attributed to Shorts. (Still, its not likely as high as the 73% figure Boggs has seen.)

With these statements and examples, it sounds as if YouTubes strategy is to position Shorts as a feeder to its long-form content, as opposed to a product thats worthy all on its own. This aligns with YouTubes broader goal to chase TV ad dollars instead of just digital ones. As part of that effort, YouTube this year for the first time hosted its annual Brandcast event during the TV Upfronts, instead of during IABs digital-focused NewFronts, where it made a case to marketers that it should be in the running alongside networks for their TV ad budgets. It also spoke about how much YouTube content is now watched on the living rooms big-screen TV, saying that YouTube has more than 50% of ad-supported streaming watch time on TV screens.

Shorts, meanwhile, is not a product designed with the TV in mind. And while its useful for creators to have the option to create shorter content, its worth noting that YouTube is now speaking about Shorts as a way to boost traffic to longer videos. Thats a signal that YouTube believes its core value is not really in its TikTok clone, but in the longer video content its already known for and which can fetch a higher price in the ad market.

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YouTube Shorts tops 1.5B logged-in monthly users, touted as feeder to long-form content - TechCrunch

Netflix has released the first official teaser for Stranger Things season 4, Volume 2, and it's full of explosions, terror, and monsters as it promises an all-out war between Vecna and the Hawkins gang.

The sneak peek was stealthily placed as a post-credits scene on Volume 1, but Netflix helped out those who had missed it by uploading it online as part of Geeked Week. The 30-second clip, which you can watch above, starts with Vecna menacingly telling Millie Bobby Brown's Eleven that "it's over".

The season 4 big bad continues: "You have freed me," as we're shown glimpses at Dr. Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine) inspecting the wall in the Rainbow Room; Robin (Maya Hawke), Nancy (Natalia Dyer), and Steve (Joe Keery) back in the Upside Down, and Hopper (David Harbour) stumbling across a preserved Demogorgon.

"You can't stop this now," Vecna adds, while another montage offers up shots of Eddie (Joseph Quinn) and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) preparing for battle, Robin getting tangled up in some vines in the villain's Mind Lair, and Eleven standing in front of a building as it blows up.

Opening up about what's to come in Volume 2, Stranger Things executive producer and director Shawn Levy recently told The Hollywood Reporter: "We are hard at work on Volume 2. There's so much being written as far as the runtimes of these episodes, and the hefty runtime of episode nine, in particular. Having seen both those finale episodes, they are as emotional as they are cinematic. Holy shit, they are definitely a treat for the eyes, but they punch you right in the heart. So, that's what I'll say about that."

Stranger Things season 4, Volume 2 is due to be released on July 1. If you've already binge-watched all seven episodes of Volume 1, why not check out our list of thebest Netflix showsfor some viewing inspiration.

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Stranger Things 4 releases official Volume 2 teaser and it's full of explosions, terror, and monsters - Gamesradar

Now a National Geographic Explorer who recently led an expedition to install the worlds highest weather station on Mt. Everest, Perry considers his childhood in Haywood County pivotal to forming him into the scientist he became. He was a multi-sport athlete at Tuscola High School, and he credits the teachers and coaches who mentored him in the years following his fourth-grade arrival in 1984 with guiding him toward the opportunities that followed.

And then, there are the mountains themselves. From his home in Lake Junaluska the surrounding peaks spread in a panorama, and even as a young child Perry found weather and especially snow mesmerizing. He loved to sit outside, watching the clouds roll in.

If snow was in the forecast, I was setting my tent up in the backyard and camping out in it, he said. I cant tell you exactly why. Everybody thought I was pretty strange.

Decades later, he can still rattle off the dates and accumulations of the major snowstorms of his youth. In high school, Perry once got sent to the principals office for playing his weather radio in chemistry class, unable to ignore the winter storm on its way. Another time, his coach yelled at him for playing poorly during a basketball game after he found out Perry had been to Cataloochee Ski Area in the hours before the contest. What the coach didnt know is that the athlete hadnt done any skiing hed merely walked around to see how much snow the most recent storm had dropped there.

Weather conditions could vary drastically across the county, and that fascinated Perry. Often, the northwest section around Fines Creek and the Smokies would get hammered while Waynesville and Lake Junaluska received barely anything. Its a phenomenon called northwest flow snowfall, and it would eventually become the topic of Perrys Ph.D. dissertation.

Perrys obsession would transform into a career.

Contrary to what one might expect, the base of Mount Everest is mostly devoid of snow.

Youre just camping on grit and cold glacier ice, said Perry. Theres not much snow around.

Thats disappointing to the little kid inside him, who still roots for a blizzard. But last month, Perry was at Everest as the leader of an elite team with a singular purpose to bring the mountains existing network of high-elevation weather stations up to 28,904 feet. He had to suppress his desire for snow, which would have compromised the mission .

The May 2022 National Geographic and Rolex expedition built on a previous undertaking in 2019, when Perry was on the meteorology team for a National Geographic/Rolex trek that installed five high-elevation weather stations on Everest. At 27,600 feet, Balcony Station was the worlds highest until severe weather knocked it out of commission.

The vertical scale is just mind-boggling up there, Perry said. Youre close to the same elevation as what airplanes cruise at on some flights. Its so high up there, and having that panorama is really incredible.

This year, the team returned to perform needed maintenance on the lower four stations and replace the Balcony Station with a new, higher unit at Bishop Rock.

Even for experienced mountaineers like Perry and his team of scientists, explorers and Sherpas, it was a massive undertaking. May on Everest is not springlike. At Base Camp, elevation 17,598 feet, highs sit in the 30s with lows in the teens. Up at Camp 4, elevation 26,000 feet, daily temperatures range from -20 to just above 0 degrees.

The thin air presents even bigger challenges.

The limited oxygen just makes everything that much harder physically, and slower too, said Perry. And it impacts your bodys ability to recover, and especially sleep at night.

Installing a typical weather station requires wiring six wires per sensor, a slow process that takes between a half and a full day to complete. If they expected to put a functioning weather station at 28,000-plus feet, the team needed a machine that would work in extreme temperatures and be light enough to be carried up the mountain, strong enough to withstand the elements and simple enough for the team to assemble with gloved hands and the limited amount of time that their oxygen tanks and energy levels allowed.

Working out the engineering took time, but after hammering out the details and practicing the assembly process, the team was ready to go.

In 2019 , the crew spent a total of five weeks at Base Camp or above, and while theyd planned a similar schedule this time around, an unexpected push past Camp 3 shaved a week off the trip. The team had already left Base Camp when the weather forecast began to deteriorate, and when they arrived at Camp 2 it became obvious that the originally planned date for their summit attempt was not going to work.

We had to make a really difficult call whether to try to go a day sooner, which meant a much bigger push in skipping Camp 3, or delaying, which would mean having to go back down to Base Camp and resupply and then coming back up and dealing with crowds and traffic jams , Perry said. And so we decided to go for it.

That ended up being a good call. Everest has gotten crowded in recent years, but it was still early enough in the season that the team had the route to themselves. They made good time, but fierce winds imposing a wind chill of -40 degrees jeopardized the trips success.

Thats where I had to make the tough decision to remain at Camp Two to free up resources, both oxygen and Sherpa, to maximize our chances of success and putting in that highest station, Perry said.

Perry said he was disappointed to lose his chance to summit Everest, but hes glad he stayed. As team leader, he was responsible for ensuring the expeditions success, and from his position at Camp 2 he ended up managing evacuations for two expedition members one a colleague from the U.K. who had a frostbitten finger and another a Sherpa who sustained a knee injury.

Besides, school was still in session. Perry is a professor in Appalachian State Universitys Department of Geology and Planning, and trekking didnt stop him from teaching. He recorded and delivered lectures along the way, uploading his students final grades from inside his tent.

From his childhood hiking Haywood County to his career climbing mountains, its obvious that Perry loves the outdoors. But Everest, he said, is challenging.

Its a longer expedition, so to be honest theres a lot of suffering and uncomfortableness, he said.

Its worth it, though, if the reward is a window into one of the worlds least understood and most important environments.

Mountains are these critical water towers , he said. They have snow and ice that is stored up high that sustains downstream communities for water resources. Globally, were talking a billion and a half people, or thereabouts, that live downstream from these water towers.

During the summer months, seasonal snowmelt sends that moisture downhill. Climate change poses a real danger for the people, plants and animals that depend on that water should warming temperatures cause those reservoirs to shrink or disappear, the communities below could find themselves without the water they need to survive.

Despite the vital role tall mountains like Everest play in water dispersal, little is known about the mechanisms driving change on their slopes and summits.

At the highest elevations there just are not weather stations to allow us to fully understand the processes that are driving that change, Perry said.

Since the first expedition to Everest in 2019, Perry and his co-investigators have published more than 10 papers on their findings. With an even higher station now in place, they hope to deepen their understanding even further.

One surprising and troubling discovery has been the magnitude of solar intensity atop Everest and its impact on snow melt.

The models that predict future glacier behavior, theyve assumed that theres no melt occurring unless air temperature is above freezing, Perry said. That is not the case, and that has big implications for future projections of water resources.

The snow and ice on Everest is not pure it contains pieces of dirt and rock that absorb solar radiation and heat up the frozen water around them. Due to all the reflection from light-colored snow and ice, observations from the Everest weather stations are measuring solar radiation levels higher than what Perry would expect to see at the very top of the atmosphere. Even with air temperatures as low as -14 degrees, snow is melting.

The team has also documented concerning signs much lower on the mountain. The monsoon season between June and September is responsible for 70-80% of the annual precipitation at Everest, but at Base Camp, nearly all of that monsoon moisture is falling as rain, with temperatures in the mid-to-upper 30s.

Thats just a really bad sign for the future of those lower glaciers in particular, Perry said.

The researchers hope to see the data improve weather forecasting on the mountain as well, cutting down on climber casualties.

Were reasonably confident that about 25% of the unexplained deaths on Mt. Everest over the years have been related to weather, in particular winds, he said. In many cases, people actually just get blown off the mountain and theyre never seen again.

Better weather forecasts would help climbers make better decisions about when to climb and when to wait.

In the years ahead, Perry plans to continue building the network of observation stations on the worlds tallest mountains, though hes also working with the Nepalese government to eventually transfer responsibility for the efforts on Everest. Though ASU is currently responsible of operating and maintaining the weather stations, the plan is for Nepals Department of Hydrology and Meteorology to eventually take over.

Theres plenty of work to do, but first Perry has another mountain to climb. In July, hes headed to Peru for another National Geographic expedition to install a weather station though compared to Everest, it will be an easy climb.

The mountain is only 21,000 feet tall.

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Ms. Marvel will get the momentum going on more shows directed at families and heres how.

Marvel Studios programs on Disney Plus have been a hit since the very first one (WandaVision). While a debate can be made that the formulas are the same, the shows are all different in their own ways. Each of them have a different theme around them.

One thing the previous shows definitely have in common is their rating. All of them have been rated TV-14. Ms. Marvel, however,appears to be the exception to the rule, as itsrated PG. This writer expects more shows with this TV rating going forward and Ms. Marvel will be the reason why.

There are a lot of comic book projects for people to watch. Most of them are content for teenagers and adults. Other than animated series, there arent a lot of options for programs the entire family can watch. Heck, there are even some cartoons in the superhero genre that arent appropriate for kids. Invincible and The Boys Presents: Diabolical are two examples of this. Ms. Marvelmay be in its infancy but viewers can tell this will remain a show the whole family can watch together. It also provesthat family programs is a genre that Marvel Studios should go after next.

Ms. Marvel opens with Kamala Khan being a young adult. Shes uploading a fun video to YouTube. Soon after that, we see Kamala with the rest of her family, allowing the show to explore the different dynamics in the family As the episode continued, it explored elements such as her religion, bullying she faced in school, her own personal insecurities, and her journey to learning about herself.

None of these are unfamiliar topics in the comic book genre. However, Ms. Marvel did it without cursing, extreme violence, or any kind of graphic content. This is a great example of how to make a show family friendly without making it cheesy.

There are multiple Marvel Comics characters that could follow Ms. Marvel in being a family-friendly MCU project. First, we have the Fantastic Four. The fact that theyre called Marvel First Family helps the cause, but theres more than that. Each of them have personalities that work in a family setting. Johnny Storms playboy lifestyle may have to be toned down, but it wouldnt hurt the characters. That would be the only thing that would have to change. Even their villains are family friendly.

Squirrel Girl is another one. Shes picked up a lot of momentum over the last decade. Not only is she among the most innocent characters in Marvel, she has a long list of people shes defeated. Wolverine, Deadpool, M.O.D.O.K., and Thanos were all beaten by the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. Shes a young girl that families would adore. Shes sweet, friendly, and kicks all sorts of butt. The right actress would make this show an instant hit.

DF-00144 Lana Condor is Jubilation Lee / Jubilee in X-MEN: APOCALYPSE. Photo Credit: Alan Markfield.

Theres also the X-Men. Sure, some of them arent all ages approved. Certainly, a Wolverine show should be TV-14 at the very least. But hes not the only X-Man available. More than half of them could and should be all-age characters.

Jubilee is the first mutant that came to mind. Her powers are bright and not too violent. Storm as a young woman could work as well; watching her become the goddess that she is in the comics is a story that could span over multiple seasons. Other characters like Nightcrawler and Colossus are gentle souls who can defend themselves when needed, making them perfect candidates for stories that could teach lessons about strength and when to use it. Something that even adults could learn.

Lets not forget the younger X-Men teams. The New Mutants team could be the first team to lead the way. The younger generation like Rockslide, Sooraya Qadir , Anole, Mercury, and the rest of their class hit on different demographics. People can learn more about acceptance and understanding about everything from race, different religions, LGBGTQ+, and more.

As shown, there are a lot of Marvel Comics characters that could star in family-centred live-action shows. Ms. Marvel is just the first of many. When other shows like Ms. Marvel start to pop up, remember you heard it here first.

What do you think, readers? Is Ms. Marvel the future of shows on Disney Plus? Let us know in the comments below.

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Ms. Marvel is the future of Marvels Disney Plus shows - Bam! Smack! Pow!