Thursday Things: Raindrop Edition
8 July 2021. Vol 3 No 27 By Dan McGirt. #100
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Happy little raindrops on the way to the sea! Photo by Jon Flobrant on Unsplash
UPDATE: 100th Edition — I wasn’t keeping count very well so I didn’t notice until after this edition went out that this was the 100th regular edition of Thursday Things! I’m adding this note to the website copy. Thank you to all the Happy Subscribers who have read along for 100 issues since 2019!
I once had a dream that was interrupted by "a word from our sponsor". The sponsor was Naked People Jeans: Pants for Naked People. Which actually makes sense: who needs pants more than naked people?
To be clear, the ad was part of my dream. As far as I know, Naked People Jeans are not a real thing. Though they totally should be! However, now real world advertisers are scheming to induce (incept?) real ads for real products into our dreams:
Nightmare scenario: alarm as advertisers seek to plug into our dreams
When brewing giant Coors launched a new advertising campaign earlier this year, the format came as a surprise to many. The company was planning to infiltrate people’s dreams to get them to buy, and presumably drink, Coors beer.
Coors encouraged people to watch a short online video before bed, then play an eight-hour “soundscape” through the night. If successful, this “targeted dream incubation” would trigger “refreshing dreams” of Coors, according to the company.
The Coors stunt required cooperation and consent from would-be ad dreamers. But scientists are sounding the alarm about more dubious ways advertiser might invade our sleep:
“Something like 30 million people have these listening, Alexa-type devices in their bedroom. And those devices can play anything they want whenever they want and advertisers could buy advertising time, [for adverts] they want played at 2.30 in the morning,” Stickgold said.
“You could have this sort of 1984 situation where advertisers buy advertising time on these devices, and nobody ever knows they’re hearing them.”
Sweet dreams…1
Welcome to the future! Self-powered implantable device stimulates fast bone healing, then disappears without a trace
Researchers know that electricity can help speed up bone healing, but "zapping" fractures has never really caught on, since it requires surgically implanting and removing electrodes powered by an external source.
[The] thin, flexible device is self-powered, implantable and bioresorbable, so once the bone is knitted back together, the device's components dissolve within the body.
Wang and his collaborators, including Weibo Cai, a UW–Madison professor of radiology and medical physics, described the new device today (July 5, 2021) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Bone is a piezoelectric material, meaning it produces a tiny bit of electricity when placed under strain. These jolts of electricity stimulate factors that promote bone growth and healing, which is why electrostimulation is an effective therapy.
I feel like we’re getting closer to Star Trek “wave a gadget over the patient and he’s cured” medicine every day.
Don’t look back. As office life beckons again, the pandemic's digital nomads weigh benefits of a return.
Before the pandemic, the term "virtual nomad" applied to a privileged few who had found a way to finance perpetual travel — and seemed to do so effortlessly. But when Covid-19 forced employers to go remote, it opened up the possibility of a nomadic lifestyle to entirely new groups of people.
Now, despite employers setting dates for full, in-person returns, many who took advantage don't want to go back.
"People have experienced the power of work-life flexibility, enhancing the quality of their lives, their satisfaction," said Tsedal Neeley, a professor at Harvard Business School and author of the book "Remote Work Revolution: Succeeding From Anywhere."
Can you blame people for not wanting to go back to the office? Especially considering that many workers were trapped in the hell of “open office plan” offices. Science confirms it: Open offices are a nightmare2. Employers need to get with the program:
The pandemic has changed our tolerance for office work. Surveys show up to 70% of employees will seek new jobs if their employer does not offer flexibility to work from home some of the time. So creating a healthy work environment is more important than ever.
I escaped office life long before the pandemic came along, though I tend to be “work from home” more than a perpetually traveling “work from anywhere” digital nomad. But maybe I should look into that.
Oddly soothing, the River Runner web page lets you trace the path of a raindrop from anywhere in the continental United States to the sea. Click and try it!
And if you want to drink any of that water, it just got safer. Instant water disinfectant 'millions of times more effective' than commercial purification
The creators of a new instant water disinfectant, made using only hydrogen and the surrounding air, claim their invention is "millions of times more effective" at ridding water of viruses and bacteria than commercial purification methods.
In addition to revolutionizing municipal water cleaning, the inventors of the novel technique suggest their disinfectant can help safely and cheaply deliver potable water to communities in need.
That sounds fantastic. I’m sure communities in need of clean water — a problemf for something like 780 million people worldwide — will run right out and buy this.
The technique -- described Thursday in the journal Nature Catalyst -- uses a catalyst of gold and palladium to instantly turn hydrogen and oxygen into hydrogen peroxide, a common disinfectant.
Or maybe not. Gold and palladium? I hope it only takes a little bit for this method to work. Otherwise, that’s some pricy water!
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“Sweet dreams … from Dixie Crystals, providers of high-quality pure cane sugar and sweeteners since 1843.” I assume that’s how it will go.
Open office plans are especially a nightmare for introverts. “Hi! I’m an introvert. I work best when I have time to myself to think and not have to talk to people.” “Awesome, we’ll put you in this cubicle in our open office plan that ‘encourages collaboration’ and also saves the company on real estate costs, but that’s just a coincidence. What could go wrong?”