EdEarl

The OP asked if humans were attracted to lighter skin. Perhaps men are so attracted; what about the women who mostly prefer men.

The US and Europe have no useful reserves of lithium; we are at the mercy of other countries for our supplies. Bolivia may become the Saudi Arabia of Lithium. At this time the amount of Li in batteries is rather low; thus, recycling is good and will help. But, millions of batteries are required for transportation and storing energy from renewable sources such as PV, which require mining Lithium. Seawater contains all we would ever need, but its concentration is less than 1 ppm.

That may be your opinion, but I have not seen evidence of it.

At one time, Hollywood wanted leading men to be tall, dark and handsome, but it's no longer true, and that description only applied to whites. In those days almost all parts in movies were played by whites, including roles played in blackface. At least some of those prejudices have been broken.

My edits: Lithium and during charging. If I understand this research correctly, the number of charges on lithium batteries can be increased and their volume and weight can be reduced by half, provided this research can be used in mass produced batteries. Unfortunately, lithium is relative rare, and increased volume will probably result in higher bulk Li prices.

I agree and disagree, depending on subject. Certainly, technology has become much more complex; there were analog computers during WWII and some fledgling digital technology using gears, relays and vacuum tubes. On the other hand, interpersonal and business relationships were as complex as ever. In some ways life is getting better, including less war, democracy increasing vs autocracy decreasing, slavery disappearing, fewer working hours, more money to spend on leisure, illiteracy decreasing, living longer, better medical care (see: http://www.businessinsider.com/charts-that-will-restore-your-faith-in-humanity-2013-5).The good old days weren't all that good.

Brains are made of billions of neuron cells, which are really complex things that we don't fully understand. It seems necessary to understand neurons before we can claim to accurately simulate a brain. No doubt many neuron functions are about living, rather than thinking. But, at this time we cannot claim the things we don't know are not related to thinking. Thus, estimates we make may be optimistic. We might have enough computer power now in The Cloud to simulate a brain, but not in real time (IMO). Expect real time brain simulation before 2030 (Ray Kurzweil) or by 2050 (a poll of some scientists). At this time there is no such thing as digital immortality, and I believe it will not be possible, because of the Heizenberg Uncertainty Principle.

It's what mom cooked and I ate until I left home (circa 1960). Within a few years my diet changed.

I'm vegan, most of the time.

Its been so long since I had pork that I cannot remember when it was, perhaps 50 years. Ouch, head transplant. I hope nano-biotech will regenerate our current bodies slowly, and as we grow older our organs grow younger.

I'm hoping for some regeneration, I believe a life of experience cannot be copied from brain to clone.

It's good that youth have bodies that can take abuse; youth isn't wasted on the young. Otherwise, and we may not have survived as a species.

I'd like my body to be young again, but don't want to go through the learning curve and emotional yoyo.

A hundred years ago, people were isolated compared to today, radio was an infant. Commercial radio broadcasts began in the 1920s, science advanced with SR, QM, a world expanded by the automobile and airplane, and a Universe expanded by large telescopes. These events were harbingers of Future Shock, as exponential change virtually slapped us in the face. A hundred years ago, people were content and complacent with the rhythm of life that had changed only a little in hundreds of years. As Future Shock rocked the world, we became distressed and distrustful. Despite statistics that say the world is safer, we hear daily reports of mayhem that distort our view of the world. Things are changing so fast, we feel as if the world is heading for disaster. And, reports of climate change, annihilation asteroids, potential pandemics, and nuclear extermination exacerbate our negative feelings. Though we are inventing technology that can make life almost utopian, it is difficult to believe we can survive and thrive.

Germans, and others, grow grapes on some pretty steep slopes, which would be impractical to level. Corn fields are often a quarter section, and wheat fields are often immense, the largest is 14,160 hectares (54 sections). A section is a mile square. Cranes are impractical for such large fields. The gantry sounds like an ideal solution for vertical farming, especially in buildings.

I think the cost of a huge gantry to manage a large area would be more than automatically driven tractors. There might be things like farmbots for smaller plots, but eventually I think everything will be mobile robots from nano sized to large tractor sized. It wouldn't be particularly difficult to make this one travel on pneumatic tires instead of tracks on either side of the growing area. Precision could be managed with laser ranging and computer vision using several fixed posts to measure location of the farmbot tool. The importance of this technology is its future potential. It will allow people to grow much of their own food and fiber with little or no knowledge of farming. Additional tools will make family farms practical and help make people self sufficient as AI and robots take our jobs.

Farmbot is fashioned after a 3D printer, except its X and Y travel is larger than a typical 3D printer and the print head has been replaced with a manipulator that plants seeds, weeds, and uses various tools to mind your garden. It plants seeds, weeds, tests soil moisture, and waters, which are time consuming activities. It does not manage pests or harvest, so there is room for improvement. Return on Investment is supposed to be 3 to 5 years. I suspect further development will reduce the ROI, and farm and garden automation will become commonplace. However, IMO it needs to be able to harvest produce before its use is widespread; it only does the easy things so far.

A few neurons might help the Republicans.

The article didn't say anything about animal trials, probably because any effects would be difficult to assess.

There could be battles among family over whether to use the procedure or not. Usually one person, a spouse, has the legal right to make decisions for an incompetent person. If some of a family want the procedure and others don't, then the decision, a decision would make some family members unhappy or worse. If the brain dead person has money, then the decision maker may elect to keep the dead person alive to control the money, regardless of family feelings and patient welfare; legal battles are likely.

The idea is fantastic, and may create controversy. I imagine Hollywood will try to capitalize on this research with a renewal of zombie movies. I can't think of any ethical reasons not to do the research (i.e., try to revive the 20 patients). On the other hand, if revived patients do not recover memories and must be trained as an infant, it may be best to let brain dead people die, because affected families might be stressed beyond their ability to cope. Hope I never have to make a decision about a brain dead person.

I grew a beard as my hair receded, because I liked my appearance better. However, I didn't mourn or feel bad about loosing hair from my head; it's just a male thing, like voice, muscles, and a penis. I might get medication to grow thicker hair, but do not consider it necessary or desirable.

Whole wheat pasta and other whole grain products have fiber in them that help clean your gut and prevent diverticulitis and intestinal cancer, according to my Dr. Otherwise, there is little difference between whole grain and "white" grain foods AFAIK. My taste buds have been trained to like whole grains, and the white stuff is too bland. Refined sugar is concentrated calories that you probably don't need, and it is easy to eat too much.

Denmark is already building homes and businesses that float on the ocean. There is no reason to limit ourselves to only land. Oceans at the equator are almost free of violent storms; we could build there, and extend our effective land mass. 0.787 * 40,075 = 31539.025 km 31,000 km (equator over water) * 4804 km (width) doubles effective land mass of the Earth. It would be a massive project, but we could build 3D printers and robots to make floating cities. Such technology will be possible in a few years. Farm equipment and other off-road equipment such as tractors and earth-movers will be running without drivers soon, in addition to cars and trucks on public roads. Making a law to stop procreation would be virtually impossible, and the Earth's population might grow very large. On the other hand, Japan has a birth rate that is far below replacement level. We know that educated women tend to limit the number of children they have, and most countries were women are educated have reasonably stable populations. Japan's decreasing population is unusual. Their population density is about 336 p/km2,which is about the same population density as an Earth with 50B people. Belgium, with similar population density, has birth rate of 1.79, low enough for their population to decline. Perhaps people begin to feel too close and slow the birth rate; IDK what factors cause Japan's young people to slow the birth rate. Whatever occurs, I don't see legislation as an effective control of population.

My seeing eye dog didn't read that line to me.