The following submission statement was provided by /u/filosoful:

Hydrogen is touted as a wonder fuel for everything from transport to home heating — but greener and more efficient options are often available.

The problem is that hydrogen is not freely available. On Earth, it exists mostly in molecules bound to other elements, from which it must be extracted at huge energetic cost.

Policymakers should beware potential unintended negative consequences for both people and the planet from an overwrought dash for hydrogen.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yxm3fo/overhyping_hydrogen_as_a_fuel_risks_endangering/iwpb8xw/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Dylan-Baddour:

OP and author here. This is the future that wealthy energy executives and many public officials are working toward. Only a handful of activists showed up to protest.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yxbe9f/4_giant_offshore_terminals_proposed_in_texas/iwnu33s/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/lughnasadh:

Submission Statement

Someone is going to need to develop a search engine that only references trusted sources of information. An internet populated with useless AI generated text will be a waste of time. What is the point of searching for science information if all you can find is useless garbage like this?

AI generated content is so easy to create we will soon reach a point where it outnumbers human content. One day, perhaps not long after, it will vastly outnumber human content. All while being full of mistakes, errors and misinformation.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yx1hzw/meta_has_released_a_new_ai_tool_called_galactica/iwmb3yw/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/el_gee:

If machines like this are cost effective and become popular, it will likely have an impact on entry level jobs. A lot of so-called "unskilled" jobs face this threat, but is such a change sustainable for society?

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yx0qq0/subway_now_has_some_smart_fridges_that_can_talk/iwm7grw/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Outrageous-Ad-9019:

Israeli researchers have revealed, in what they said was the earliest evidence of fire being used to cook. what you think ?

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/ywztbk/fish_fossils_show_first_cooking_may_have_been/iwm2chr/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Loki-L:

This is a minor player in the market. An obscure electric super car that most people can't afford and that only gets produced in very low numbers.

However this and other EVs along similar lines show that the prejudiced of EVs being small slow toys is slowly crumbling away.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/ywovs5/croatian_ev_maker_rimac_claims_412kmh_speed_record/iwklsw7/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/AppropriateHamster:

There are several AI tools being released recently. The most common use cases seem to be content generation for marketing purposes but there are other interesting ones like search engine optimization and AI assistants.
It finally looks like the decade where AI will revolutionize the world just as much as the internet did.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/ywc8j7/ive_created_a_directory_of_180_ai_tools_check_it/iwiruga/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/tonymmorley:

"The “most complicated therapy ever” tailors bespoke, genome-edited immune cells to attack tumors" — In First, Scientists Use CRISPR for Personalized Cancer Treatment 🧬

Paywall? Jump it here: https://archive.ph/VRhPp

>

"A small clinical trial has shown that researchers can use CRISPR gene editing to alter immune cells so that they will recognize mutated proteins specific to a person’s tumours. Those cells can then be safely set loose in the body to find and destroy their target."

Hey team, if you're interested in progress studies, check out "The Progress Dashboard", an experimental proof of concept wiki of progress resources. The project concept is very much at the beta stage, so any positive or constructive feedback is most welcome.

Root Study: Foy, S. P. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05531-1 (2022).

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yw8bmz/in_first_scientists_use_crispr_for_personalized/iwi4iqh/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/lughnasadh:

Submission Statement

There are bold claims about cost, but the really interesting thing about Energy Dome is its potential speed of deployment. As it uses existing common off-the-shelf materials it can overcome many of the supply chain bottlenecks that bedevil other grid storage battery solutions.

More details are here.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yw53j1/italian_startup_energy_dome_claims_its_co2_grid/iwhjofu/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/technofuture8:

Spina bifida is a horrible birth defect of the spine that leaves babies born paralyzed and have bowel problems. In the past ten years they started performing surgery on the baby, while still in the womb, while this helped the babies' outcome it didn't help a whole lot, many were still paralyzed with bowel problems.

So in California they decided to try surgery with stem cells. They performed the standard surgery but added stem cells to the baby's spine. And according to the scientist running the clinical trial the early results are highly encouraging!!! The first baby to be treated with stem cells had a really bad case of spina bifida and was expected to be born paralyzed but it seems the stem cells did the trick, the baby came out of the womb kicking it's legs and wiggling it's toes.

So what kind of stem cells did they use? They used placenta derived mesenchymal stem cells. The placenta comes out of the mothers womb, the placenta actually comes from the developing fetus not the mother, the placenta is typically thrown away but it turns out there are mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) that can be harvested from the placenta, that can be used as medicine.

So what are mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)? MSCs are found all throughout everyone's body actually, in fact all mammals have MSC's in their bodies. MSCs aren't just taken from the placenta they're also frequently harvested from belly fat, bone marrow, and the umbilical cord. MSCs act as a quarterback that directs other cells what to do when the body suffers an injury, they can even control the immune system. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) don't turn into any new tissue, they don't replace damaged tissue, what they do is they home to areas of inflammation and start secreting microscopic molecules (about the size of a virus) that stimulate the body to heal itself. These molecules that MSCs secrete are called exosomes. Every cell in your body is secreting exosomes into the bloodstream, it's one of the ways cells communicate with each other. Even cancer cells secrete exosomes.

If you go on PubMed and enter "mesenchymal stem cell" you'll get back over 80,000 science papers, so research into MSCs is booming right now. Also if you go on PubMed and enter "exosomes" you'll get back tens of thousands of science papers, research into exosomes is booming too.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) don't have to be donor matched believe it or not. There are over 200 clinical trials in the USA that are using MSCs and over 1,000 worldwide currently. MSCs are not yet approved by the FDA but I think that will change in the coming years. MSCs can treat a bunch of different diseases actually. Umbilical cord/placenta derived MSCs tend to give the best results according to scientists, MSCs taken from the umbilical cord/placenta are super young and are supercharged basically.

p.s. Listen I know Joe Rogan ain't too popular on Reddit but I thought some of you might find this interesting. I first learned about mesenchymal stem cells thanks to Joe Rogan. Joe interviewed Mel Gibson back in 2018 because apparently Mel flew his dying 92yo father down to Panama where it's legal to get umbilical cord derived mesenchymal stem cells. According to Mel Gibson his father's recovery was miraculous!!! And I've been obsessed with MSCs ever since, I think it will revolutionize modern medicine as we know it (if only the FDA would approve it). Mel Gibson's father died at 101 but the umbilical cord MSCs are probably the reason he didn't die at 92. This is just the first ten minutes the whole interview is on Spotify

https://youtu.be/uUCJo1j0S9s

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yw3iqh/worlds_first_stem_cell_treatment_for_spina_bifida/iwhfjwj/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/WallStreetDoesntBet:

Although a communique, in preparation for months, will be produced, its focus on issues such as digital transformation, post-Covid recovery and food security is unlikely to stretch beyond the non-committal platitudes that normally fill such statements. Indonesia has tried to keep Ukraine off the agenda by saying the G20 is primarily an economic forum, not a geopolitical security forum.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yw19b9/g20s_dysfunctional_family_show_little_sign_of/iwh0013/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/berlinparisexpress:

DAOs (Decentralized Auotnomous Organizations) promise to make corporate companies run on a flat hierarchy using smart contracts with everyone holding one vote through a token, rather than having a centralized leadership take all decisions.

This completely new way to distribute labour among the workforce and take key corporate decisions seem to create new possibilities for a kind of "digital anarchism" - with flat management hardwired in the organization.

Even as Bitcoin and crypto in general keep tanking, we should not loose sight of some of the most interesting and promising usecases of blockchain and smart contracts.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yvy33d/will_working_for_a_dao_be_better_than_a_corporate/iwgjnnd/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/manual_tranny:

Jurchen Technology's PEG racking system is not just cheaper and lighter than most, it's also incredibly resistant to high winds because it is low to the ground and because there is no space between panels, so extremely high winds are less likely to damage the racking and panels.

As hurricane Ian passed by Cuba as a category 3 hurricane, winds whipped over a solar facility that was currently under construction, miraculously damaging none of the panels or racking despite 120mph winds.

The ultra dense PEG racking covers 97% of the ground it is installed on, with a capacity factor of 0.74 MW per acre. For comparison, a solar tracking facility has a capacity factor of 0.2 MW per acre. Now that solar panels are cheaper, it typically makes sense to choose a dense ground-mount racking system, rather than invest in solar trackers.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yvxpan/peg_racking_system_survives_neardirect_120_mph/iwgizx3/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/aRationalMoose:

SS: The Global Carbon Budget, a forecast of the sources of greenhouse-gas emissions and the sinks which absorb it, showed that growth in carbon emissions is slowing (see chart). In the early 2000s the rate at which humans produced these pollutants increased by about 3% a year. In the past decade it has fallen to 0.5%.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yvw6yw/a_rare_reason_for_optimism_about_climate_change/iwgar8d/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/tonymmorley:

>"The world is awful. The world is much better. The world can be much better. All three statements are true at the same time."

Want to learn more about progress studies? Dive into "The Progress Dashboard" for heaps of resources.

Building a better future for humanity requires understanding that civilization has made enormous progress over the last 200 years. Child mortality fell from 40% to 3.7% in 200 years, and life expectancy and average global wealth have grown enormously. We can't build a better future for civilization without understanding human progress, while also keeping at the forefront of the mind, "progress forward isn't progress completed."

To quote Hans Rosling in his seminal 2018 book Factfulness,

>
"The solution is not to balance out all the negative news with more positive news. That would just risk creating a self-deceiving, comforting, misleading bias in the other direction. It would be as helpful as balancing too much sugar with too much salt. It would make things more exciting, but maybe even less healthy. A solution that works for me is to persuade myself to keep two thoughts in my head at the same time.
>
>
It seems that when we hear someone say things are getting better, we think they are also saying “don’t worry, relax” or even “look away.” But when I say things are getting better, I am not saying those things at all. I am certainly not advocating looking away from the terrible problems in the world. I am saying that things can be both bad and better. Think of the world as a premature baby in an incubator. The baby’s health status is extremely bad and her breathing, heart rate, and other important signs are tracked constantly so that changes for better or worse can quickly be seen.
>
>
After a week, she is getting a lot better. On all the main measures, she is improving, but she still has to stay in the incubator because her health is still critical. Does it make sense to say that the infant’s situation is improving? Yes. Absolutely. Does it make sense to say it is bad? Yes, absolutely. Does saying “things are improving” imply that everything is fine, and we should all relax and not worry? No, not at all. Is it helpful to have to choose between bad and improving? Definitely not. It’s both. It’s both bad and better. Better, and bad, at the same time. That is how we must think about the current state of the world."

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yvske7/the_world_is_awful_the_world_is_much_better_the/iwfxkmu/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/cartoonzi:

From the article:

"Oil and gas producers Canada and Nigeria have become the latest countries to tackle the potent greenhouse gas methane with laws to rein in emissions in the fossil fuel energy sector.

The announcements came as the United States on Friday said it would expand its own rules to require oil and gas drillers to find and fix leaks of methane at all of the country's well sites.

Canada said its new rules would target a 75% cut in methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 2030, including through a proposed monthly requirement for oil and gas companies to find and fix methane leaks in their infrastructure.

Nigeria, among the world's top 10 methane emitters, announced new rules for how to reduce emissions in its oil and gas industry. They include requirements for leak detection and repair, limits to flaring and controls on venting equipment."

​

I'm really glad to see more attention and enforcement on cutting methane emissions. Because methane warms the planet more than CO2 in the short term, reducing those emissions can help achieve the short-term emission goals we need to achieve by 2030 and by 2050. Obviously, we still need to cut CO2 emissions as well and this shouldn't be seen as an alternative. But this will have a significant impact in the short term once more countries impose similar laws and regulations.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yvcd2d/canada_and_nigeria_target_oil_and_gas_methane/iwdir0h/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/chrisdh79:

From the article: Blood transfusions are an important way to replace lost blood, often saving lives in the worst possible circumstances. But not everyone can get the procedure. Some patients with rare blood group types don’t meet the requirements. But what if they could use blood grown in a lab?

The National Health Service (NHS) in the U.K. announced on Monday that it has started a clinical trial where researchers will be administering laboratory-grown red blood cells to patients. Notably, this is the first time ever that red blood cells grown in a lab will be given to another person as part of a blood transfusion trial.

The study––called the RESTORE trial––is a joint research initiative between the NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) and the University of Bristol, as well as various researchers at the University of Cambridge.

In a YouTube video from NHS, University of Bristol researcher Ash Toye explains that RESTORE is a clinical trial set up to assess whether lab-grown red blood cells are similar, or possibly even better, than a donor’s own blood cells produced inside the body.

“We’re hoping that because they’re so freshly made and ready to go that they’ll be better. If that’s true, then this will be a world first because effectively we’ve taken a cell produced in the donor and we’ve put them into a volunteer who is not related to the donor and they’ve been matched,” he said.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yv2dwf/scientists_begin_trials_for_transfusions_of/iwc2j42/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Gari_305:

From the Article

>India’s plan to get a fifth-generation fighter jet is slowly turning into reality. On 8 October, India Air Force Day, Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari had said that work on the fifth-generation fighter aircraft program called the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft had progressed and induction of the AMCA was likely to commence 2035 onwards.
>
>India’s need for a fifth-generation aircraft has intensified in recent times owing to the growing strength of Chinese and Pakistani air forces.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yv2ekw/india_a_step_closer_to_getting_its/iwc2mz9/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/AdmiralKurita:

Headline is inspired by Waymo offering a public service (requiring no NDAs) in downtown Phoenix. This is significant because it is the first major commercial launch of autonomous ride hailing in a major US city with no restrictions on time of operation.

Self-driving cars are the future! That's what Waymo's incremental progress means. "Incremental" also means that your 10 year old will get a driver's license. We are far away from the end goal of having autonomous vehicles make a a significant portion of vehicle miles traveled. But notable progress is being made.

Self-driving cars are real, but not present.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yuuf17/waymos_driverless_taxis_keep_making_incremental/iwb7c4i/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/tonymmorley:

>"After more than 9,000 years in cultivation, annual paddy rice is now available as a long-lived perennial. The advancement means farmers can plant just once and reap up to eight harvests without sacrificing yield, an important step change relative to "ratooning," or cutting back annual rice to obtain a second, weaker harvest."

Between 1961 and 2020, global rice yields have grown by 146%, from 1.87 tonnes per hectare to 4.61 tonnes per hectare. These increases in rice yields, largely driven by improvements and access to fertilizer and mechanized agriculture; have helped feed the world. 🥣

China's rice yield has improved even more dramatically over the same period, by some 245%, from 2.04 tonnes per hectare in 1961 to 7.04 tonnes per hectare in 2020.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yumnfi/farmers_in_china_and_uganda_move_to_highyielding/iwa6k0b/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/cartoonzi:

"EV buses can help municipalities reduce emissions from transportation—the biggest source of CO2 emissions in the US—but they also present an opportunity to bolster the electrical grid through bidirectional charging programs that can turn buses into batteries. As a result, efforts to make use of electric buses as both transportation and battery storage are underway across the US—particularly in California, a leader in vehicle-to-grid (V2G) experiments.

In Beverly, Massachusetts, electric school buses provided 10 MWh of power back to the grid on 30 different occasions last summer, according to Highland Electric. For context, 10 MWh is more than enough energy to power a home in Massachusetts for an entire year, per SEIA data.

Montgomery County, Maryland, located outside of Washington, DC, is the most populous county in the state. Highland Electric has worked on five bus-charging depots there, some of which could support dense areas in the future, Leach said, although they are not yet connected for V2G."

I always thought bidirectional charging could help with renewable energy storage, but I never thought about the potential of using EV buses (school buses specifically) for V2G. I love the idea. School buses have a predictable schedule and they're parked most of the day, and the usage is very low during the summer. They could use that to power the school or the surrounding neighbourhood.

Are there any potential problems with this that I'm missing? I don't expect cities or neighbourhoods to completely rely on buses for electricity, but it sounds like a solid energy backup option.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yugu6w/ev_buses_v2g_ev_buses_could_help_decarbonize_more/iw99hqo/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Sariel007:

>Scientists in Israel are creating a gene bank from the seeds of local wild crops, some that have survived for thousands of years since the birth of agriculture and that may help farmers deal with a harsher climate in the coming decades.

>In a eucalyptus grove nestled between an industrial zone and a new railroad under construction, botanist Alon Singer collected seeds from a number of plants recently spotted, including a variety of water mint, that will be frozen and stored at the Israel Plant Gene Bank at the Volcani Institute, the national agricultural R&D center.

>Singer is combing the country along with other scouts and foragers in search of varieties of wheat, barley and countless other wild crops so their genetic makeup can be saved and studied before they are lost to expanding deserts and urbanization as the climate warms.

>"The plants here are very unique. They are the ancestors of many of the cultivated plants used today," he said.

>Resilient characteristics can be harnessed to genetically modify farmed crops so they better withstand drought or disease.

>Tens of thousands of types of seeds are stored in the gene bank. It may be smaller than some collections elsewhere in the world but the gene pool here is unique, coming from an area that was part of the Fertile Crescent region known as the birthplace of crop cultivation.

>"This is where agriculture started about 10,000 years ago," said Einav Mayzlish-Gati, director of the gene bank. "Species that were domesticated here are still in the wild adapting along the years to the changes in the environment."

>The research has already been paying off. For example, the institute has engineered a variety of wheat with an ultra-short lifecycle. It may not be able to compete today, but it could be a saving grace in a hotter climate with reduced growing seasons.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yu5fmp/cop27_israel_harnessing_dna_of_bygone_wild_crops/iw7jngc/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/YaAbsolyutnoNikto:

Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming all sectors of our society. Whether we realize it or not, every time we do a Google search or ask Siri a question, we’re using AI. For better or worse, the same is true about the very character of warfare. This is the reason why the Department of Defense – like its counterparts in China and Russia– is investing billions of dollars to develop and integrate AI into defense systems. It’s also the reason why DoD is now embracing initiatives that envision future technologies, including the next phase of AI – artificial general intelligence.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yt7lfn/the_human_touch_artificial_general_intelligence/iw2mcy8/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/darth_nadoma:

The Berkeley lab study finds that one of the factors that has helped to
expand access to rooftop solar is the use of leasing and other
third-party ownership models. By leasing panels or subscribing to a
local community solar project, a customer can use solar without having
to pay high upfront costs. The main drawback is that third-party
ownership usually means less savings for the consumer.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yt6y78/rooftop_solar_is_becoming_more_accessible_to/iw2i21t/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Soupjoe5:

Article:

1

Walking, talking machines will soon act as guides, companions and deliverers

sked a question, Ameca fixes you with sapphire-blue eyes. Does that face contain a hint of a smile? “Yes, I am a robot”, is the reply. Another Ameca, standing nearby in a group of four, stares across inquisitively and tries to join in. “Currently, it’s the worst ever party guest,” says Will Jackson, Ameca’s creator. “It butts in on every conversation and never shuts up.”

Mr Jackson, boss of Engineered Arts, a small robotics company in Falmouth, south-west England, is trying to fix that problem. Those eyes contain cameras and the Amecas are being trained to recognise faces and decide who is paying attention or making eye contact during conversations. Teaching manners to robots in this way is another step in the long, complicated process of making humanlike machines that can live and work alongside people—and, importantly, do so safely. As Ameca and other robots show, great strides are being made towards this end.

Some big boys are also moving into the business. On September 30th Elon Musk, boss of Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter, unveiled Optimus, a clunky, faceless prototype that walked hesitantly on stage and waved to the crowd. It was built from readily available parts. A more refined version, using components designed by Tesla, was then wheeled on. Although it was not yet able to walk, Mr Musk said progress was being made and that in volume production its price could fall to around $20,000.

Every home should have one

That is a tenth of the cost of a basic Ameca. Mr Jackson, who attended Optimus’s unveiling, agrees prices will come down with mass production. (He has sold 11 Amecas so far, and plans to open a factory in America to boost output.) But he wonders what, exactly, Mr Musk is proposing. The unveiling featured a video of Optimus moving parts in a Tesla factory. Yet car factories are already filled with the world’s most successful robots—transporting components around, welding and painting parts, and assembling vehicles. These robots do not look like people because they don’t need to.

The reason for building a humanoid machine, Mr Jackson maintains, is to perform tasks that involve human interaction. With a bit of development Ameca might, for example, make a good companion for an elderly person—keeping an eye on them, telling them their favourite programme is about to appear on television and never getting bored with having to make repeated reminders to the forgetful. To that end, Engineered Arts aims to teach its robots to play board games, like chess. But only well enough so that they remain fallible, and can be beaten.

To interact successfully with people, Mr Jackson asserts, a robot needs a face. “The human face is the highest bandwidth communications tool we have,” he observes. “You can say more with an expression than you can with your voice.” Hence Ameca’s face, formed from an electronically animated latex skin, is very expressive.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yspniw/humanoid_robots_are_getting_close_to_reality/iw08erv/