We're Back with More Weird and Wild Tech News
Welcome back to another episode of "Just For The Tech Of It"! I'm your host, Drew Prindle, and I'll be bringing you all the weird and wild tech news that you probably missed this week. Alright, so let's get started!
Space Vegetables: Growing Potatoes on Mars
So, remember in "The Martian" how Matt Damon grew potatoes in the Hat by mixing his poop with Martian soil? Well, it turns out that actually worked! Scientists from the Netherlands and NASA recently published results from a small agricultural study that they conducted using simulated Martian soil. The experiment was pretty straightforward - they basically just mixed up a special soil substitute that matched the composition of Martian topsoil and then planted a bunch of different edible plants in it to see if they would grow.
The first time they tried this experiment, it failed miserably. But when they added a little bit of manure to the soil and tried again, all 10 of their test crops flourished! And it wasn't just potatoes - two scientists were actually able to grow things like tomatoes, spinach, and even quinoa. This is great news for the first Mars colony because it means that it probably won't be too difficult to cultivate crops up there. Plus, with spinach and quinoa already checked off the list, all we've got to do is figure out how to grow weed kale and patchouli, and then thousands of hippies will probably start volunteering to leave Earth and go colonize Mars, smoke weed every day.
Facebook's AI: Teaching Neural Networks from Classic Children's Books
But that's not all - Facebook has been feeding their artificial neural networks hundreds of classic children's books in an effort to help them better understand language. The idea is that if these networks can understand the contextual relationships between elements of the stories, they'll be able to understand interactions between Facebook users. And so, the researchers had the program read all kinds of classics like "Alice in Wonderland", "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", and "The Jungle Book", among hundreds more.
Now, let's be real - classic children's books probably aren't the best place to start when it comes to teaching AI about language. I mean, think about it - Charles Dickens and Nathaniel Hawthorne weren't exactly using LOLs and hashtags in their work back in the day! Maybe we should start these programs with some more modern sources of inspiration, like "My Little Pony" or something. Or maybe a printed transcript of the latest episode of "Jersey Shore"? That's all for now on Facebook's AI - stay tuned!
Genetically Modified Chickens: The Velociraptor Leg Phenomenon
Last but not least, news broke this week that scientists from the University of Chile have actually created a genetically modified chicken that grows Velociraptor legs instead of chicken legs. Now, don't freak out - it's not exactly what you think. The chickens' legs aren't actually any bigger than normal, and they just have a different bone structure that's more similar to a raptor than a chicken.
The amazing thing is that in order to achieve this, the scientists didn't do the whole Jurassic Park thing where they spliced the chickens' DNA with Raptor DNA that they sucked out of a fossilized mosquito. Instead, what they did was silence a gene that the chickens already had in them, because velociraptors are the ancestors of modern chickens! Scientists just had to turn back the genetic clock and remove the mutation that made the leg grow differently.
Now, I can see this going in one of two ways - either the scientists lose control and the world gets ravaged by big angry chickens with raptor legs, or everything works out, and we get a 12-piece bucket of extra crispy dinosaur drumsticks at KFC. Mmm... that sounds like a dream come true! Alright, that's all for this week on "Just For The Tech Of It" - be sure to tune in next time for more weird and wild tech news!
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwelcome back to another episode of just for the tech of it i am your host drew prindle and i will be bringing you all the weird and wild tech news that you probably missed this week alright so let's start off with space vegetables so you remember in the Martian how Matt Damon grew potatoes in the Hat by mixing his poop in with a Martian soil turns out that that would actually work we have legitimate scientific proof now so earlier this week scientists and the Netherlands published results from a small agricultural study that they conducted with simulated Martian soil the experiment was pretty straightforward they basically just worked with a NASA to mix up a special soil substitute that matched the composition of Martian topsoil and then they planted a bunch of different edible plants in it to see if they would grow the first time they tried this experiment it failed miserably but when they added a little bit of manure to the soil and tried it again all 10 of their test crops flourished and it was much more than just potatoes two scientists were actually able to grow things like tomatoes spinach and even quinoa this is great news for the first Mars colony because it means that it probably won't be too difficult to cultivate crops up there plus with spinach and quinoa already checked off the list all we've got to do is figure out how to grow weed kale and patchouli and then thousands of hippies will probably start volunteering to leave Earth and go colonize Mars smoke weed every day all right next up let's talk about Facebook's AI as you may or may not be aware Facebook is very much involved in the development of artificial intelligence the company actually has an entire division that's dedicated to AI research and they already have a bunch of artificial neural networks that do things like photo recognition and auto-tagging of your photos on Facebook but lately they've been doing something a little bit different so in an effort to help these artificial neural networks better understand language Facebook has been feeding them hundreds of classic children's books and then training them to recognize relationships between characters places and events the idea is that if these networks can understand the contextual relationships between elements of the stories the neural network will be able to understand interactions between Facebook users so to do this the researchers had the program read all kinds of classics like alison wonderland The Legend of Sleepy Hollow the jungle book and hundreds more but let's be real here Facebook if you really want to understand language on your social network classic children's books probably aren't the best place to start correct me if I'm wrong but Charles Dickens and Nathaniel Hawthorne probably weren't using LOL and hashtag yolo swag in their work maybe we should start these programs with some soldier boy lyrics or maybe a printed transcript of the Jersey Shore salchow alright so last but not least news broke this week that scientists from the University of Chile have actually created a genetically modified chicken that grows Velociraptor legs instead of chicken legs don't freak out though it's not quite what you think so thankfully there aren't any chickens running around chile with big leathery raptor legs right now the chickens legs aren't actually any bigger than normal they just have a different bone structure that's more similar to a raptor than it is to a chicken the amazing thing is that in order to achieve this they didn't actually do the whole Jurassic Park thing where they spliced the chickens DNA with Raptor DNA that they sucked out of a fossilized mosquito in fact they actually didn't add any new genetic material into the chicken at all instead what they actually did was silence a gene that the chickens already had in them because velociraptors are the ancestors of modern chickens scientists just had to turn back the genetic clock and remove the mutation that made the leg grow differently I can see this going in one of two ways either the scientists lose control in the world gets ravaged by big angry chickens with raptor legs or everything works out KFC changes to kfd and then I can get a 12-piece bucket extra crispy dinosaur drumsticks mmm alright that does it for this week but be sure to tune in next week for more weird and wild tech newswelcome back to another episode of just for the tech of it i am your host drew prindle and i will be bringing you all the weird and wild tech news that you probably missed this week alright so let's start off with space vegetables so you remember in the Martian how Matt Damon grew potatoes in the Hat by mixing his poop in with a Martian soil turns out that that would actually work we have legitimate scientific proof now so earlier this week scientists and the Netherlands published results from a small agricultural study that they conducted with simulated Martian soil the experiment was pretty straightforward they basically just worked with a NASA to mix up a special soil substitute that matched the composition of Martian topsoil and then they planted a bunch of different edible plants in it to see if they would grow the first time they tried this experiment it failed miserably but when they added a little bit of manure to the soil and tried it again all 10 of their test crops flourished and it was much more than just potatoes two scientists were actually able to grow things like tomatoes spinach and even quinoa this is great news for the first Mars colony because it means that it probably won't be too difficult to cultivate crops up there plus with spinach and quinoa already checked off the list all we've got to do is figure out how to grow weed kale and patchouli and then thousands of hippies will probably start volunteering to leave Earth and go colonize Mars smoke weed every day all right next up let's talk about Facebook's AI as you may or may not be aware Facebook is very much involved in the development of artificial intelligence the company actually has an entire division that's dedicated to AI research and they already have a bunch of artificial neural networks that do things like photo recognition and auto-tagging of your photos on Facebook but lately they've been doing something a little bit different so in an effort to help these artificial neural networks better understand language Facebook has been feeding them hundreds of classic children's books and then training them to recognize relationships between characters places and events the idea is that if these networks can understand the contextual relationships between elements of the stories the neural network will be able to understand interactions between Facebook users so to do this the researchers had the program read all kinds of classics like alison wonderland The Legend of Sleepy Hollow the jungle book and hundreds more but let's be real here Facebook if you really want to understand language on your social network classic children's books probably aren't the best place to start correct me if I'm wrong but Charles Dickens and Nathaniel Hawthorne probably weren't using LOL and hashtag yolo swag in their work maybe we should start these programs with some soldier boy lyrics or maybe a printed transcript of the Jersey Shore salchow alright so last but not least news broke this week that scientists from the University of Chile have actually created a genetically modified chicken that grows Velociraptor legs instead of chicken legs don't freak out though it's not quite what you think so thankfully there aren't any chickens running around chile with big leathery raptor legs right now the chickens legs aren't actually any bigger than normal they just have a different bone structure that's more similar to a raptor than it is to a chicken the amazing thing is that in order to achieve this they didn't actually do the whole Jurassic Park thing where they spliced the chickens DNA with Raptor DNA that they sucked out of a fossilized mosquito in fact they actually didn't add any new genetic material into the chicken at all instead what they actually did was silence a gene that the chickens already had in them because velociraptors are the ancestors of modern chickens scientists just had to turn back the genetic clock and remove the mutation that made the leg grow differently I can see this going in one of two ways either the scientists lose control in the world gets ravaged by big angry chickens with raptor legs or everything works out KFC changes to kfd and then I can get a 12-piece bucket extra crispy dinosaur drumsticks mmm alright that does it for this week but be sure to tune in next week for more weird and wild tech news\n"
