Category Archives: Futurism

Daniel Monkman and Adam Sturgeon are no strangers to exploring their cultural history through music.BothAnishnaabe artists have in recent years released albums Monkman with their"moccasin shoegaze" solo project Zoon and Sturgeonwith his band Status/Non-Status that directly reference their Indigenous heritage and personal stories.

But in coming together as the duo Ombiigizi, the pair isdrawing on the very sense of community that's at the heart of their culture, offering up their take on Indigenous futurisms on their 2022 debut album Sewn Back Together.

The collaboration landed them their firstPolaris Music Prize nomination as one of the ten albumsshortlistedfor the 2022Polaris Prize, which celebrates the best Canadian album of the year. The winner, who will receive $50,000, will be announced on Sept. 19, 2022.

Produced by Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew and engineer Nyles Spencer of the Tragically Hip's Bathouse Studio, Sewn Back Together is steeped in shoegaze,dream pop and post-rock, with clear-eyed lyrics that examine Canada's current reckoning with its past while trying to picture a future shaped by healing and the guidance of culture.

Ombiigizi singer-songwriter and guitarist Adam Sturgeon told CBC Books about recently re-readingWaubgeshig Rice's post-apocalyptic 2018 novel Moon of the Crusted Snow with his family, and why it's so important to tell and listen toIndigenous stories.

"I first met WaubgeshigRiceat a small punk show in Ottawa. I then followed his life stories on Twitter and recognize him as an immense spirit of our time.

"I'm a big fan of Indigenous authors. They bring culture to places where it cannot always be found, which is so important for our people spread across Turtle Island. These stories can be a bonding experience between generations or a learning tool for students, citizensand urbanites.

"Perhaps most importantly, they are a way to internalize the shared experiences of our people in good and sometimes challenging ways, so as to not feel so alone on the journey."

"Waub Rice's book Moon of the Crusted Snow is a post-apocalyptic futurist book. It brings our journey full-circle with a return to the land, the teachingsand the simple guidance of our cultural spirit.

"Recently, I spent some time in the woods with my family. With a spring water hook-up and tiny roof over our head, we were completely remote from the world. We had to climb a mountain for cell service, so it was only fitting that we read Moon of the Crusted Snow aloud one rainy day. Though I wish it was Waub himself reading us the audiobook, I did my best to make an experience out of it."

"In two sittings, we stepped into a very fitting scene. The story follows a remote community that awakens one day to find their new and modern amenities, community infrastructureand access to the rest of the world cut off by a mysterious technology failure. At first they assumed the power, cableand phones would come back on, but slowly realized that things would not be the same. This quickly tested their self-reliance and put a big question mark (much like our own recent monopolized grid malfunction) on the capabilities and collaborative systems of the community.

"Yet, through the guidance of elders, loveand community spirit, the old and simple ways of our people once again began to ring true. Through a grueling winter of rationing,keeping fires lit, listening to teachings, reclaiming language, certain deathand survival, the community learned of the turmoil in the south just as astranger enters the scene to cause further disruption to their shared value system.

"I hope other folks read Waub's bookhe's a modern-day storyteller and community leader. I can't wait for the sequel!"

Listen | Ombiigizi plays the 2022 CBC Music JunofestIndigenous Artist Showcase:

CBC Music: Live Sessions and Concerts16:19OMBIIGIZI

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Polaris Prize finalists Ombiigizi recommend the Indigenous futurism of Moon of the Crusted Snow - CBC.ca

Oh, great.EthereumPoW

The Etherum Merge hath befallen! Basically, what's arguably the world's most influential crypto project decided to ditch the environmentally harmful proof-of-work model for a greener proof-of-stake system. It's a much-anticipated experiment but one group isn't too thrilled about the change.

According to Fortune, a group of cryptocurrency miners many of whom stand to lose their main stream of income due to the switch have joined forces to make sure that some things stay exactly the same, no matter the steep environmental cost. Per their Twitter account, this cohort is forking the Ethereum blockchain, creating their own version dubbed EthereumPoW (ETHW) where they can keep mining like old times.

"ETHW mainnet will happen within 24 hours after the Merge," they wrote in a Tuesday morning Twitter thread. "The exact time will be announced one hour before launch with a countdown timer and everything including final code, binaries, config files, nodes info, RPC, explorer, etc."

As of this morning, it looks like this threat is increasingly real. Earlier today, the cohort released a bevy of server information and directives, pointing potential users to their controversial new token.

Ethereum argues that the merge will make the operation more secure, scalable, and most importantly sustainable according to its website, it will lower the horrific environmental toll of energy-intensive Ethereum mining by roughly 99.95 percent.

All good changes, right? Sure. To anyone who isn't a miner, apparently.

Per Fortune, the ETHW token's value went up a sizable 58 percent in the 24 hours following the anti-merge mining cohort's Twitter announcement, before settling back down again. Environmental degradation: it sells!

Losing any stream of income, be that your main role or a side hustle, is definitely scary. That being said, mining operations are absolutely unsustainable, and Earth doesn't have much wiggle room for unnecessary emissions. If there's a better way, the cryptosphere has to take it. ETHW, by all accounts, isn't that way.

READ MORE: Miners say they plan to fork Ethereum within 24 hours of 'merge' [Fortune]

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Furious Crypto Miners Making Their Own Ethereum Where They Can Still Destroy the Environment After the Merge - Futurism

It makes a lot of sense.Heating Up

The Biden administration has announced an ambitious new goal to make the use geothermal energy "widespread," underlining the administration's efforts to phase out the country's reliance on fossil fuels.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) said in a Thursday statement that US President Joe Biden hopes to make enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) "a widespread renewable energy option" by cutting its cost to $45 per megawatt hour a 90 percent drop by 2035.

These systems could not only afford us a new sources of green energy, but also help heat homes.

"The United States has a vast, geothermal energy resource lying right beneath our feet, and this program will make it economical to bring that power to American households and businesses," Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in the statement.

The department also argued that a small fraction of the country's geothermal energy could affordably power over 40 million American homes, and that the project will further Biden's goals to hit 100 percent carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035 and net-zero emissions across the US economy by 2050.

There are technically enough geothermal resources in the US to supply the entire globe's energy needs, according to the statement. As of now, however, we're only using 3.7 gigawatts of what's available.

For comparison, at the end of 2021, the DOE says there were over 228 gigawatts of solar photovoltaic and wind power in the United States combined making our geothermal consumption look miniscule.

That's partially due to the extreme conditions and high tech equipment needed to harness the Earth's heat.

"EGS resources are located deep underground, at least 4,000 feet," the DOE statement reads. "Conditions are extreme hot temperatures, hot and abrasive rocks, and a corrosive environment and come with significant unknowns."

It's unclear if the department will actually attain its energy goals, but it's at least good to see a major government agency address climate change with such fervor.

More on energy news: Elon Musk Slams Fusion, Says Future of Energy is Wind And Solar

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The Biden Administration Wants to Cut Geothermal Energy Costs by 90 Percent - Futurism

This is seriously impressive and absolutely terrifying.Knives Out

The father-and-son duo behind the YouTube channel Quint Builds came up with a weapon that's equal parts terrifying and awe-inspiring.

In a recent video, the pair collaborated on a laser-sighted, fully automatic, knife-throwing machine gun and we're having a hard time deciding whether we should be impressed or run the other way.

The construction of the knife gun was a long and arduous process, fraught withtrial and error. The duo rigged up four servo motors attached to two belts to form two parallel knife-slinging mechanisms.

By running a 3D-printed, knife-wielding sled between the two belts and timing the top belt to move slightly faster, the team was able to both spin and launch the knives at just the right angle.

A clever electromagnetic system allowed for the knife to be released at just the right moment, spinning it around its own axis roughly 360 degrees to impale targets with a satisfying thud.

A LIDAR-powered knife reloading system is the cherry on top, allowing multiple knives to be shot at a target in quick succession.

"It's accurate enough I have to spread [the knives] out on the target so [they] don't hit each other,"said Quint senior in the video.

So there we have it: a handheld death machine that could be the ultimate survival tool in a zombie apocalypse or at least a great way to entertain friends.

We'll let you decide on that one.

READ MORE: FULL AUTO Knife Throwing Machine! [YouTube]

More on YouTube engineering: Madman Invents Robot Suit That Lets Snake Walk With Legs

Excerpt from:
We're Obsessed With This Laser-Sighted Gun That Shoots Knives - Futurism

"It's like high school drama but from people who are very much out of high school."Lonely VRts

Wear a mushroom suit, meet a rabbit, hang out and talk amid a post-apocalyptic wasteland or sub-ocean lair. Or maybe just sit at a regular ol' bar.

Virtual reality-powered metaverse dating is here and it's growing, as Madeleine Aggeler writes for The New York Times and frankly, it sounds, uh, super weird.

"We intend to change the dating market," Cam Mullen, CEO of a recently-launched VR dating service called Nevermet, told the NYT, "where physical attraction will become one of several factors rather than the primary way people connect."

Nevermet is one of several up-and-coming VR dating services, which, like Tinder or Hinge, works to match users in digital spaces. But Nevermet takes digital dating a few steps further. Unlike Hinge's motto "designed to be deleted" suggests of the classic phone apps, Nevermet has faith in a future where entire relationships will be lived in headsets.

"One day virtual reality will be so immersive," Mullen's comments continued, "that more and more relationships will flourish online."

The benefits of these spaces seems somewhat unclear at present. On one hand, as the NYT reports, they can be havens for those who want a safe place to explore their sexual identities; Mullen told the publication that taking virtual forms can allow users to "feel like their best self."

Others, however, say these spaces aren't always so welcoming.

"It's cliquey," Stonie Blue, a 23-year-old VR dater, told the NYT. "It's like high school drama but from people who are very much out of high school."

Besides Nevermet, other services on the VR dating scene include an app called Flirtual, Second Life's Lonely Hearts Dating Agency, and maybe Single Town, a virtual dating space built by Match Group, the corporation behind the dating apps Match, OkCupid, Tinder and Hinge.

On that note, it's worth noting that modern love lives are already heavily integrated with digital spaces, whether they're dating-specific apps or social media platforms. Still, the general belief is still that if you meet someone online, you'll one day make your way offline, which isn't necessarily the goal of these VR services and the jury's still out on whether anybody wants that.

READ MORE: Looking for Love in the Metaverse [The New York Times]

More on virtual reality:VR Company Shows off Full-body Suit That Electrocutes You Everywhere

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People Are Going on Dates in the Metaverse and It Sounds Very Strange - Futurism

Image by Getty Images/Futurism

In a new study, a team of researchers found that feeding rats soft drinks like Coke and Pepsi caused enough damage to the unfortunate critters' brains to trigger memory issues, cognitive impairment, and cellular distress.

Of course, soda isn't exactly considered health food. It's absolutely packed with sweeteners, real and fake, and studies far and wide have confirmed that sugars like those found in soft drinks lead to health conditions including diabetes, heart disease, tooth decay, and liver complications, to name a few.

But according to the new research, consistent, long-term consumption of sugary, cola-based soft drinks specifically may also be directly linked to brain health and behavioral issues and, apparently, the inability to make one's way through a maze. (If you're a rat, that is.)

In order to study how cola-based sodas which were chosen for study due to their prevalence in many modern human diets might impact the rats' brains, the scientists first separated the rats into three age groups: 2-month, 8-month, and 14-month olds. Each of those age groups were then split into water-drinking and cola-and-water-drinking cohorts.

After 57 days, the scientists ran the rodents through some maze-based behavior testing, and ten days after that, the rats were euthanized so that the scientists could then examine any differences in their brains.

Upon examination, the water-drinking rodents were perfectly fine. The soda sippers? Not so much.

During the behavioral tests, the scientists found that most of the soda-drinkers, specifically the 2- and 8- month olds, had worse memories and, generally, lower cognitive function than their purist counterparts thus causing some serious difficulty when they tried to get around those damn mazes.

Poor guys. But considering what the scientists discovered when they opened up the creatures' craniums, that's not terribly surprising.

A closer look at the rattos' brains confirmed that the soda groups had all sustained varying degrees of damage to the frontal cortex, which controls vital mental functions like attention, memory, and judgement, as well as the hippocampus, which plays a major role in both memory and learning.

Neurological damage is never a positive thing. But frankly, not being able to make their way through mazes would perhaps have been the least of the rats' problems, if they'd been left alive. In humans, frontal cortex damage has also been linked to personality changes and over-impulsivity, while injury to the hippocampus is thought to play a significant role in illnesses like anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and more.

It's important to remember that this study is grounded in long-term exposure. If a rat were to barely drink cola maybe just order a glass at dinner from time to time it would probably be fine, a likelihood supported by the fact that the oldest rats, whose brains were most fully-formed, were least affected by soda rations. But a rat that drinks Coke or Pepsi every day... well, that's a different story.

It's also key to point out that rats aren't people, so we can't recommend that the CDC updates its recommendations just yet. Still, considering all that humans have learned about sugary sodas in recent years, we wouldn't be surprised if, sometime soon, cola cans come with some extra warnings on the label.

More on soda being horrible for you: Experts Propose Slapping Photos of Diseased Organs on Sugary Drinks

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Scientists Fed Rats Sugary Soda for Two Months and They Got Demonstrably Stupider - Futurism

"It will carry living organisms farther into space than ever before."Bread Space

NASA's Artemis 1 Moon mission, launching later this month, will contain living samples that will be launched into deep space because Terran life forms trapped beyond the stars is exactly what we need right now.

Freaky as it may sound, the samples will just be yeast.Still, the hope is that the experiment will provide unprecedented data on the effects of deep space on Terran life forms.

"BioSentinel is the first of its kind," Matthew Napoli, BioSentinel project manager at NASA's Ames Research Center in California, said a NASA statement.

Hundreds of yeast strains are set to be carried aboard a briefcase-sized satellite as part of the BioSentinel experiment.If all goes according to plan, the Artemis 1 mission will launch on NASA's uber-expensive and years-overdue Space Launch Systems (SLS),which will subsequently shoot the tiny BioSentinel cubesat into an orbit around the Sun, similar to that of Earth, to study the effects of solar radiation on organisms that have left our planet's magnetic field.

We've actually known about the BioSentinel experiment which is also studying yeast cells aboard the International Space Station and on Earth as well since 2019, when NASA announced that its Moon mission would be carrying yeast cells out into the great beyond.

The yeast cells in the Artemis 1 mission are set to join fellow travelers such as three test mannequins, a Snoopy dog toy, and an Amazon Alexa unit that for some unknown reason will be included on the SLS' Orion capsule.

The fact that the BioSentinel yeast will embark on the longest known trip that anything alive has ever taken into space is significant, and could be hugely important for understanding how deep space affects living organisms before humanity starts making longer and longer trips out into the stars ourselves.

Here's hoping the yeast don't mutate into something scary, though!

READ MORE: Stowaways on NASAs massive Moon rocket promise big science in small packages [Science Magazine]

More space effects:Disturbing Discovery Finds That Space Does Something Bad To Astronauts' Bones

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NASA's Moon Mission This Month Will Shoot a Probe Containing Life into Deep Space - Futurism

With everyone in the house relying on a speedy connection, paying top dollar for a high-speed internet plan through your internet service provider just doesnt cut it anymore. With school coming back into session, youll be needing some serious WiFi connectivity for all of the homework, studying, and research projects (not to mention tv shows, gaming, and your own work).

With a router, your whole familys devices are brought together under one network wirelessly, and the connectivity throughout your house gets a much-needed boost. Thankfully, theres an unbelievable amount of back-to-school deals going on now that will make this crucial upgrade to your home sting a whole lot less.

If youre finding dead zones throughout your house, or you need a router that can support multiple devices at once, the Meshforce Mesh WiFi System Pack may be your best option. This three-pack contains enough range to cover up to 6,000 square feet, eliminating the need to stay in one spot when accessing the internet. With increased speeds and strength, you can connect up to 60 devices and still enjoy top-notch connectivity, making it a great option for large families, or frequent entertainers.

These mesh routers are extremely easy to set up and control. The My Mesh mobile app assists with adding a router to your network, WiFi status, and managing parental controls or guest networks. The sleek, little systems have two Ethernet ports each for more powerful connections and can upgrade your current speeds to 1,200 Mbps, making it ideal for streaming in 4K. With the three-pack going for over 25 percent off the original price, upgrading your router couldnt come at a better time.

Amazon eero Pro Mesh WiFi Router (Single), $111 (Was $159)

Amazon eero 6 Mesh WiFi Routers (3-Pack), $169 (Was $199)

Google WiFi AC1200, $62.99 (Was $99.99)

ioGiant WiFi 6 Router AX1800, $55.49 (Was $65.29)

NETGEAR Nighthawk Pro WiFi 6 Router, $189.97 (Was $246.99)

NETGEAR Nighthawk Cable Modem WiFi Router Combo, $115 (Was $217.99)

TP-Link Deco X20 WiFi 6 Mesh System (3-Pack), $179.99 (Was $249.99)

TP-Link AX1800 WiFi 6 Router Archer AX21, $89.99 (Was $99.99)

TP-Link AX6600 WiFi 6 Gaming Router, $224.99 (Was $249.99)

Tenda WiFi 6 AX3000 Smart WiFi Router, $79.98 (Was $99.99)

Tenda Nova Mesh WiFi System (3-Pack), $89.99 (Was $99.99)

This post was created by a non-news editorial team at Recurrent Media, Futurisms owner. Futurism may receive a portion of sales on products linked within this post.

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Save 26% on the Meshforce WiFi System and Other Back-to-School Deals on Routers - Futurism

For the better part of the last century, one question has dogged humanity: what would happen after a nuclear war?

Climate scientists devised a terrifying simulation to find answers, published in theNature Food journal this week, and the results are nothing short of apocalyptic.

The waves of terror would be almost impossible to comprehend. Death at ground zero for miles around. Famine. Radiation. Climate destruction. It's all there, and all as horrific as imaginable.

As the researchers at Rutgers noted in their study, it wouldn't even necessarily take two global superpowers to lead to mass death.

If any nuclear-armed country were to attack another with a nuclear weapon the scientists used the lengthy geopolitical dispute between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir region as an example not only would they kill countless people at and around the site of their target, but the soot from the detonations would cause such devastation to the global climate that upwards of five billion people would be at risk of death.For perspective, that's more than half the global population.

While this all sounds very "Biblical plague," the Rutgers climate science simulation is grounded in atmospheric science. The soot from the blast and the leftover burning could be enough to partially or completely encircle the planet, the study found, which would in turn result in further global cooling and harm agriculture so harshly that there would be a reduction in food production from anywhere between 7 and 90 percent, depending on the size of the nuclear conflict.

A India-Pakistan-sized war would blast between five and 47 million tons of soot into the atmosphere. If the US and Russia were to have it out, it would release 150 million tons of soot, cutting the global food supply by 90 percent. That level of famine would lead to death at an incredible scale within the first three to four years after a war, and would add to the death toll of the blasts and their aftermaths as well.

While these horrific scenarios are absolutely nightmarish, the researchers did note a few caveats. First, that the simulation required lots of simplifications and presumptions about how global food supply chains would reactduring nuclear winter. And second, even in worst-case scenarios, there are regions that could fare better than others, with Australia seeming to fare the best on their devastation-prediction maps.

"The first time I showed my son the map," Lily Xia, the Rutgers climate scientist who led the research, said in a Nature new release, "the first reaction he had is 'lets move to Australia.'"

Nonetheless, the findings from this simulation are jarring and should be taken as seriously as a heart attack.

"A large percent of the people will be starving, Xia warned. "Its really bad."

Given these stark possibilities, it's very hard to argue.

READ MORE:Nuclear war between two nations could spark global famine [Nature]

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Horrific Simulation: Nuclear War Would Kill Five Billion People - Futurism

And you'll never guess what it's growing first.Orbital Greenhouse

A private space company called Redwire Corporation has announced plans for what it's calling the "first-ever commercially owned greenhouse" in space.

Redwire is hoping to install the facility on the International Space Station no earlier than spring 2023. The startup was awarded a contract with the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, which manages US lab operations on board the ISS.

The greenhouse is meant to serve as a testing bed for growing sustenance in a microgravity environment, which will be important as humans start to embark on longer trips through deep space.

Despite the lofty promises, we have yet to even see any renders of Redwire's greenhouse, meaning the ambitious project will have a lot to prove.

The company does say it's building on "decades of flight heritage and innovation of world-class technologies," according to its website,

Redwire has also managed plant investigations for NASA's Advanced Plant Habitat, a small, fully automated growth chamber on board the ISS, since 2018.

"Redwire Greenhouse will expand opportunities for scientific discovery to improve crop production on Earth and enable critical research for crop production in space to benefit future long-duration human spaceflight," said Dave Reed, Redwire's greenhouse project manager, in a statement.

"Growing full crops in space will be critical to future space exploration missions as plants provide food, oxygen and water reclamation," he added.

During the greenhouse's inaugural flight, Washington-based cannabis company Dewey Scientific will grow "industrial hemp" for a gene study.

Redwire is also collaborating with Tupperware Brands yes, that Tupperware to develop a nutrient delivery system.

The company is also hoping to help NASA on its Artemis missions to the Moon "and beyond," according to Reed.

More on growing stuff in space: NASA Contractor Signs Deal to Build Greenhouses in Earth's Orbit

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Plans Announced for Full Greenhouse on International Space Station - Futurism