People with "wings" in the next few decades Reality or fiction?

But these scenarios could become a reality in the next few decades, thanks to leaps in human augmentation, some researchers claim.

Researchers have already designed a foot-controlled "third thumb" that allows the wearer to open a bottle or peel a banana using just one hand.

Now, experts believe the extra thumbs are just the first step toward larger, more dramatic additions to the human body.

Tamar Makin, professor of cognitive neuroscience at the University of Cambridge, said the brain's ability to adapt to an extra limb was "extraordinary". But scaling the design to larger devices has its own hurdles.

She added: "The big question is how do you control a part of the body that you didn't have before? When we work with technology for replacements, like prosthetic replacements, the goal is very clear. But, on the increase, I want you to continue to use your body to its full potential." And on top of that, I'm giving you an extra bit. We're also concerned about what we call the resource reallocation problem - what if resources are stolen from our feet in order to give them to our hands?"

When asked if it would be possible to design wings or even tentacles for human use, McCain said: "Yes, it is possible from a technical perspective. The technologies are there, we just need to scale them up. There are technical issues to deal with, for example, we want to be It's wearable and comfortable, it can't be heavy and it can't be plugged into an electrical socket. Control is the real issue. So the wings are really simple because they're just one degree of freedom - down and up. But when you're doing something more complex, like a tentacle, you need a lot of control "For example, if you want to reach your cup of coffee because it's too far away, you want to use your sensors. But if you really need to focus because it's a really complicated task, then just standing will be less of a hassle."

Her colleague, Dani Claude, was the brains behind the creation of the third thumb, which was first unveiled in 2017.

The 3D-printed robotic finger is worn on the side of the hand opposite the user's actual thumb.

The wearer controls pressure sensors attached to their feet, on the underside of their big toes, with wireless communication linking the two.

In their study, 20 participants were trained to use their thumb over the course of five days - for example using it to pick up several balls or wine glasses with one hand.

They learned the basics of the thumb very quickly and were able to use it while distracted or blindfolded.

Increasingly, the team said in the journal Science Robotics, the participants felt their thumb was part of their body.

Before and after the training, the researchers scanned the participants' brains. They discovered subtle but important changes in the organization of the neural circuits that light up when we use our hands.

"Evolution did not prepare us to use an additional body part, and we found that to extend our capabilities in new and unexpected ways, the brain would need to adapt the biological body representation," McCain said.

Claude has also designed a coiled robotic probe that acts as a prosthetic arm.

Dubbed 'Vine 2.0', it contains 26 individual vertebrae that are controlled by the wearer with pressure sensors and electronics in the shoes.

Silvestro Messira, from the Sant'Anna School for Advanced Studies in Pisa, is also working on a third arm attached to the body around the waist and controlled by breathing.

The researchers will discuss their advances in evolutionary leaps at the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington.

"The highest level ever" A report reveals a rise in global carbon dioxide emissions in 2022!

A disturbing new report reveals that global carbon dioxide emissions were higher last year than in any other year on record since 1900.

In 2022, gas emissions increased by 0.9%, or 321 million tons, to a new high of 36.8 billion tons, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

This was largely because many countries returned to coal during the global energy crisis, even though global growth in emissions was lower than expected.

The report reveals that coal - which is due to be phased out as an energy source in the UK from 2024 - accounts for more than a third of all global carbon emissions.

Total emissions from coal grew by 1.6 percent, or 243 million tons, last year to reach a new all-time high of about 15.5 billion tons, the report says.

The International Energy Agency published its report on carbon dioxide emissions in 2022 on Thursday, which provides a "full picture" of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions for the past year - not just carbon dioxide, but nitrous oxide and methane as well.

It uses the latest national statistics and data on energy use, economic indicators and weather - and includes emissions from all uses of fossil fuels for energy purposes, including power generation, combustion of non-renewable waste and emissions from industrial processes such as cement and iron.

Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, said: “The effects of the energy crisis have not led to the significant increase in global emissions that was initially feared. This is thanks to the remarkable growth of renewables, electric vehicles, heat pumps and energy-efficient technologies. And without clean energy "The growth in carbon dioxide emissions has been almost three times higher. However, we still see increasing emissions from fossil fuels, which is hampering efforts to achieve global climate goals."

Birol blamed international and national fossil fuel companies, which are generating record revenues due to the climate crisis.

The owner of British Gas, for example, announced a profit of £3.3bn for 2022 - surpassing the company's previous highest annual profit of £2.7bn recorded in 2012.

“Fossil fuel companies must shoulder their share of the responsibility, in line with their public pledges to achieve climate goals,” Birol said. “It is important that they review their strategies to ensure they are aligned with meaningful emissions reductions.”

Carbon dioxide is released when fossil fuels such as oil, coal or natural gas are burned to power cars, planes, homes and factories.

When the gas enters the atmosphere, it traps heat and contributes to a warming climate.

According to the IEA report, carbon dioxide emissions increased by 423 million tons in 2022 compared to the previous year, while emissions from industrial processes decreased by 102 million tons - bringing the total increase for last year to 321 million tons.

To put that in perspective, the mass of a billion tons is equivalent to about 10,000 fully loaded aircraft carriers, according to NASA.

Industrial processes include the manufacture of cement, steel, etc., and are usually carried out on a very large scale.

But at 15.5 billion tons, emissions from coal alone far outstrip emissions from industrial processes - or indeed any other source of emissions.

The closest is oil, which emits 11.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide in 2022, followed by natural gas (about seven billion tons).

Compared to the previous year, carbon dioxide emissions from natural gas decreased by 1.6%, or 118 million tons. And just like coal, both oil and natural gas are fossil fuels.

In addition to being used to generate power for homes, oil is used in the aviation industry, which has boomed since the Covid-era travel restrictions.

The report says extreme weather events also intensified carbon dioxide emissions last year, as drought reduced the amount of water available for hydropower, increasing the need to burn fossil fuels.

Climate scientists called the report "alarming" and warned that people around the world must cut emissions dramatically to slow the devastating consequences of global warming.

"Any increase in emissions - even one percent - is a failure," said Rob Jackson, a professor of Earth system science at Stanford University and head of the Global Carbon Project, an international group. "Any year in which coal emissions are high is bad for our health and the Earth."

Although emissions continue to increase at alarming levels, a reversal that could help achieve the climate goals that countries have committed to is still possible.

That's according to John Sterman, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan Sustainability Initiative. Sterman argued that countries should support renewables, improve energy efficiency, electrify industry and transport, put a high price on carbon emissions, reduce deforestation, plant trees, and rid the coal system.

"It's a huge, massive task to do all of these things, but that's what's required," he said.

Although the level of emissions increased last year, it was lower than what experts expected.

Together, the deployment of renewable energy, electric vehicles and heat pumps helped prevent an additional 550 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

Strict measures related to the epidemic and weak economic growth in China have also curtailed production, which has helped reduce overall global emissions.

The International Energy Agency in Europe said that electricity generation from wind and solar energy exceeded the generation of electricity from gas or nuclear energy for the first time.

Source: Daily Mail

A video showing the method of the amazing discovery in the Great Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt

Publish date: 03.03.2023 | 08:56 GMT |Science and Technology

RT obtained a video of the new discovery, which Egypt announced inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu within the Giza pyramids.

The President of Cairo University, Muhammad Othman Elkhosht, announced that a global Egyptian scientific discovery had been reached in the pyramids, as a new corridor was discovered on the northern face of the Great Pyramid of Khufu.

Elkhosht explained that the global discovery is the result of work for 7 continuous years and using the latest scientific findings in this field.

Dr. Muhammad Al-Khasht added that the team finished the research project and was accepted for international scientific publication in January 2023 in the largest international scientific journals, Nature and NTD&E, indicating that the publication will take place after the approval of the Archaeological Scientific Committee headed by Dr. Zahi Hawass, Egyptologist and former Minister of Antiquities.

He stated that the research team monitored, during its study and research project, all the details related to the global detection with the utmost precision, from the beginning of the team’s work, through all modern technologies in cooperation with foreign partners, until completion and confirmation of the detection, indicating that the research team discovered the void for the first time in 2016, and then it was confirmed. In the years 2017, 2018 and 2019 using 5 different non-destructive technologies to explore the truss area at the northern face of the Great Pyramid, namely infrared techniques, monitoring of cosmic muon particles, georadar, acoustic measurements, simulation and 3D digital architectural analysis.