Link About It: This Week’s Picks
Kenny and Warren G take to the stage, robots begin their takeover in Japan and more in this week’s look at the web
1. A Bionic Eye Restores a Man’s Vision
Minnesota native Allen Zderad has regained his vision almost 20 years—after he was diagnosed with an untreatable degenerative eye disease—10 years of which he spent nearly blind. The 68-year-old underwent a clinical trial of “Second Sight,” a new technology that bypasses the damaged retina by sending light waves directly to the optic nerve. Though the resulting vision quality isn’t anywhere near perfect, Zderad happily admits, “It’ll work.” Watch as he looks upon his wife for the first time in a decade.
2. Japan’s Robot Population
Japan’s population is currently booming, but not because of its citizens; it’s due to the rapidly increasing number of humanoid robots. In some Japanese suburbs, next-level androids outnumber their human co-workers, and one industry leader proposes a nationwide investment in 30 million more by 2020. With the addition of robots, many countries are hoping to regionalize manufacturing by keeping labor-costs down, avoiding the need to outsource from abroad.
3. Kenny and Warren G Perform “Regulate”
Leave it to Jimmy Kimmel to bring together Kenny G and Warren G for a once-in-a-lifetime live musical performance. On his latest #MashUpMonday segment, Kimmel called on the two industry legends to cover Warren’s momentous ‘90s hit “Regulate.” Though the duo couldn’t be from more different musical backgrounds, their melodious mastery blended in a way that seemed to be destined. Watch the full performance in a clip from Jimmy Kimmel Live.
4. Afghanistan’s “Carved” Cultural Center Design
UNESCO has just revealed the winner of a months-long competition seeking a design for a new cultural center in Afghanistan’s Central Highlands region. The competition was launched by UNESCO along with the Afghan government’s Ministry of Information and Culture after the area’s two giant 17th century cliff-carvings of Buddha were destroyed by Taliban militants. The winning design by an Argentina-based team elegantly “carves” the cultural center from the existing landscape rather than building on top of it.
5. Turkish Men Wear Miniskirts for Ozgecan
Men in Turkey are combatting violence against women with an unusual approach: by wearing miniskirts. The protests come after the death of Ozgecan Aslan, a 20-year-old student who was brutally murdered after defending herself from an attempted rape. Using the hashtag #ozgecanicinminietekgiy, which translates to “wear a skirt for Ozgecan,” men have taken to both social media and the streets in a nationwide display of solidarity supporting Turkish women.
6. Vertical Farming in Wyoming
Jackson, Wyoming will soon be home to one of the world’s first vertical farms. The town has partnered with start-up Vertical Harvest to transform an empty, abandoned lot into an efficient, urban greenhouse. A vertical conveyor belt system will rotate microgreens, tomatoes and herbs, supplying the plants with sufficient sunlight and nutrients as they move from floor to floor. The innovative design is intended to replace crops imported from Mexico and California while also providing jobs to local people with disabilities.
7. Level Brings Motion to Standing
Whether you’re sitting down or standing at your desk, body pain caused by your job is often created by one thing: stagnancy. In order to introduce movement back to our bodies, Joel Heath has developed the Level: a skateboard-shaped, rocking footbed that encourages subtle balancing movements to stay upright. So far, the Level has been shown to increase heart rate by 15% and range of motion by over 20 times. You can pre-order the device right now on Indiegogo for $289.
8. Full Body Transplants are Near
Italian surgeon Sergio Canavero is stirring up some controversy in the medical world by proposing that successful full-body transplants are only two years away. The operation itself is mind-boggling as it consists of grafting a living person’s head onto a dead person’s body, jolting the body back to life and then re-training the brain to work with its new limbs. Canavero insists the technology to make it work exists, but the true obstacles are ethical ones. Should the surgery be done and will people want it even if it’s made available? Time will tell and apparently we won’t have to wait long.
Link About It is our filtered look at the web, shared daily in Link and on Twitter, and rounded up every Saturday morning.
