Link About It: This Week’s Picks

Brain-influencing biomes, electric vehicle advancements, the future of video game graphics and more from around the internet

Stomach “Psychobiome” Capable of Influencing Thoughts Cambridge, Massachusetts-based research company Holobiome surveys human stool for microbiomes capable of influencing a person’s weight, actions, thoughts and overall feeling (bloated, energetic, fatigued, etc) through their gut. Through innovative processes, the team there has been able to collect, in culture, 70% of the known human stomach biomes, rendering the company uniquely fit to formulate future “psychobiotics.” The potential …

IKEA’s Quarantine Fort Instructions

For anyone who’s ever assembled a tent or cave from everyday items in their living room comes a nostalgic new campaign from IKEA, developed by the Russian agency Instinct. A clever, comedic guide to fort-building, the six-part campaign appears in the form of the Swedish furniture giant’s assembly instruction illustrations; it employs a mix of IKEA products and other homewares. It’s useful, too—and should be …

Tesla’s Cheaper, Longer-Lasting EV Batteries

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has teased the release of new “million mile” electric vehicle batteries for months, ensuring that they’d be longer-lasting and (if the company can ramp up production) cheaper than what’s available right now. Today, we learned they’re close. Set to debut in Telsa’s Model 3 sedan in China in late 2020 or early 2021, a battery made in partnership with China’s Contemporary …