Author: Nigel Pereira

“Yes, a simple WiFi signal can be used to spy on us through walls, a scary thought for people who value their privacy”, Nigel elaborates. Seeing through walls is an ability most people associate with Superman’s X-ray vision or James Bond’s X-ray sunglasses but scientists at Carnegie Mellon University have come up with a way to see through walls using a neural network and WiFi signals. While previous efforts by MIT researchers used radio waves to see through walls, the images were typically low resolution and difficult to use to identify people. WiFi signals, however, are apparently even better than…

Chicken grown in a lab from cultivated cells has been approved for sale in the US, and no, we’re not talking about chickens raised in labs, says Nigel. It’s been over a month since everyone and their grandmother became experts on submersibles with the implosion of the Titan. While that was happening, however, one headline that quietly slipped by most people’s attention was the FDA’s approval of lab-grown or “guilt-free” meat. Yes, chicken grown in a lab from cultivated cells has been approved for sale in the US, and no, we’re not talking about chickens raised in labs. The process…

While Jetpacks have mostly been part of science fiction till now, Domino’s Pizza seems to have made it a reality. From Mario to Dangerous Dave, Grand Theft Auto, and Subway Surfer, Jetpacks are part of life in the gaming community, and you don’t need to explain to a gamer how they work. For everyone else, however, Jetpacks are jet-powered devices that are wearable like a backpack and give the user the ability to fly. While Jetpacks have mostly been part of science fiction till now, Domino’s Pizza seems to have made it a reality. In a video that has since…

ePlane claims its eVTOL is ten times faster than a car and a seat on this taxi will only be twice as expensive as an Uber!. There’s a meme that’s been doing the rounds on the internet which implies that while humans predicted flying cars by 2023, the reality is that we have to print warning labels on wrappers so people don’t eat them. Funny as that may be, it may not be accurate much longer; flying cars are officially here. Earlier in June this year, the first fully electric flying car legally received approval from the US govt. If…

AI can now be used to help scientists discover new drugs in a fraction of the time it would take by conventional methods says Nigel. If you have a fear of hospitals in general, you may want to skip this post. Superbugs or Hospital Acquired Infections are very real, and the problem is growing bigger by the day. One in 31 Americans contracts a hospital-acquired nosocomial infection (HAI) each day, according to the CDC (Center for Disease Control). Similarly, according to a recent survey across 120 ICUs in India, HAIs made up 73.3% of blood infections and over 53% of…

“LLMs are continuously evolving, could lead to an “arms race” between Chatbots that can write like humans and AI detection software that can catch them”, says Nigel. Earlier in May this year, we covered a story where ChatGPT invented a sexual harassment lawsuit, causing a lot of problems for the actual person it claimed was the accused. What followed was a wake-up call for many who began to realize that ChatGPT freely invents and sometimes even writes its own scientific papers and news articles to back up bogus stories that it creates out of thin air. Heather Desaire, a chemistry…

Vacations or happy periods show evidence of repigmentation among some, especially those under 40, says Nigel Pereira. If you’ve been looking in the mirror and noticing more and more grey hairs of late, welcome to the club. According to a study by L’oreal, only 1 in 10 people survive the greying process into their 60s. The rest of us, however, are subjected daily to a stark reminder of just how old we actually are. Now while there’s nothing wrong with grey hair, and a lot of people have and continue to make that look work for them, it is something…

“This new invention is a light at the end of a very dark tunnel for literally hundreds of thousands of people”, says Nigel Pereira. If you thought helping a paralyzed man walk again was a miracle, it would seem science now deals in miracles. In a recent study published on the 24th of May in the journal Nature, a team of Swiss and French researchers explain how they helped a man who was paralyzed from the waist down for over a decade walk again. Gert-Jan Oskam is 40 years old, from the Netherlands, and suffered a spinal cord injury in…

Nigel Pereira on two inventions that seem to be mind-boggling as they seem to change the natural state of the resource in question. With deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels now widely accepted as prime causes of climate change and extreme weather, scientists worldwide are leveraging technology to tip the scales back into balance. Two of these inventions in particular seem to be mind-boggling due to the fact that they seem to change the natural state of the resource in question. Trees, without a doubt, are one of our most critical natural resources, crucial to maintaining our soil, preventing…

“While mind reading sounds like everyone’s worst nightmare, with the leaps and bounds being made in AI and ChatGPT, this scenario could soon become a reality”, says Nigel Pereira. While it’s pretty hard to control the thoughts that go through our heads on a daily basis, most people have a tight grip over their actions and every crazy idea doesn’t necessarily have to be carried out. For example, it’s pretty common for people leaning over an edge or standing on a tall building to think “What would happen if I jump,” though it’s not a thought most people follow through…