Vitra Design Museum’s “Chair Times: A History of Seating” Film by Heinz Bütler

Free to watch for the duration of quarantine, courtesy of the Vitra Design Museum, filmmaker Heinz Bütler’s 90-minute film Chair Times: A History of Seating – From 1800 to Today documents the chronological development of 125 iconic chairs. This timeline and the items within reveal far more than structural tinkering. “We are able to perceive and comprehend an era—its social organization, its materials and technology, …

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 here is well-known: gut health is …

Exponential Improvements in AI-Made Music Prompt Copyright Concerns

San Francisco-based AI research organization OpenAI released its music-generating code Jukebox this week. Complex code synthesizes hours upon hours of music, usually from one artist or one genre, and reproduces tracks that touch on the signature sounds listeners recognize most. The resulting tracks—which replicate the essence of music by Jay-Z, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and others—are obviously AI-made, but worrying. With repetitive learning, AI could …