Trapped in routine? Here’s how to “dishabituate” and rediscover joy

Neuroscientist Tali Sharot shares two ways to "dishabituate" yourself from your routine: take a break or make a change. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

SpaceX reaches new heights with Starship’s third test flight

Starship’s third test flight was a bigger success than the previous two, but SpaceX’s rocket wasn’t quite able to stick the landing. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

Digital twins are an effective new way to control your metabolism

Digital twins: pioneered at NASA, innovated at Tesla, and now available for your own body, in a smartphone app. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

The hunger-boredom paradigm explained by scientists

True hunger builds gradually and can be satisfied by any source of food, but emotional eating (including eating out of boredom) is insatiable. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

9 ways AI is helping tackle climate change

Existing AI systems include tools that predict weather, track icebergs, and identify pollution, all of which can help fight climate change. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

Implantable solar cells could one day help restore vision

Australian researchers are developing tiny implantable solar cells that could be inserted into the eye to help restore vision. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

FDA approves first over-the-counter CGM

The FDA-approved Stelo is the first continuous glucose monitor (CGM) available without a prescription in the US. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

How cognition changes before dementia hits

Language-processing difficulties are an indicator of amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), a risk factor for dementia. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

World’s first GM banana approved in Australia

Australian regulators have approved a GM banana modified to resist Panama Disease, a devastating fungal infection. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

How our “junk DNA” led to humans being tailless

A CRISPR study out of NYU suggests that junk DNA likely led humans to evolve to be tailless millions of years ago. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

Why the US has artificial reefs made from sunken ships and voting machines

Not all underwater reefs are made of coral − there are also artificial reefs made of sunken ships, radio towers, and more. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

Clinical trials can save more lives, and faster, with AI

The type of AI powering ChatGPT could help accelerate drug development by matching patients with clinical trials and vice versa. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

Serotonin plays a key role in patience and impulse control, research says

Evidence suggests that there is in fact a neurological factor to the brain's ability to control impulses and manage patience. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

Cancer vaccine for dogs appears to nearly double survival rate

Yale researchers have developed a cancer vaccine for dogs that appears to increase their 12-month survival rate from 35% to 60%. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

3D-printed skin could heal wounds with less scarring

Penn State scientists have 3D-printed skin directly on top of open wounds — an achievement that could improve reconstructive surgery. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

Flowers grown floating on polluted waterways can help clean up nutrient runoff and turn a profit

Flowers grown on inexpensive floating platforms can help clean polluted waterways and even make a profit from cut flower sales. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

T-Minus: An exploding asteroid, Odie’s final transmission, and more

Freethink's weekly countdown of the biggest space news, featuring a new DART simulation, the end of Odysseus, and more. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

How marine permaculture could revolutionize ocean farming

Marine permaculture could contribute to ecosystem restoration and pollution reduction, as well as empower local communities. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

Large-scale, lab-grown meat: Step inside a cultivated meat factory

Have your buffalo wings, save the chicken. Step inside a lab-grown meat factory with us to see the future of food. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

Safer skies with self-flying helicopters

Engineers start with an existing helicopter model and add control, sensing, and other software systems to make it autonomous. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

Running or yoga can help beat depression, research shows – even if it’s the last thing you feel like

Exercise can be just as impactful in treating depression as therapy, but it matters what type of exercise you do and how you do it. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

Elon Musk suit against OpenAI claims it has achieved AGI

Elon Musk is suing OpenAI, claiming it has breached its agreement to develop artificial general intelligence for the benefit of all humanity. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

Robots who share your accent are more trusted, study shows

What makes a robot seem competent and trustworthy might be different for different people. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

How three students wrote history by winning the Vesuvius Challenge

Thanks to the Vesuvius Challenge, we may be on the verge of the biggest literary discovery of the ancient world in decades. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

Animation may be entering a new renaissance. Here’s why.

Popular animated films have been rendered in an increasingly realistic style recently. Here's where animation is heading in the future. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

AI solves huge problem holding back fusion power

Princeton researchers have trained an AI to predict and prevent a common problem during nuclear fusion reactions. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

How scientists are using sound waves to hack the brain

Korean researchers have developed a new form of ultrasound brain stimulation that could help the brain form new connections. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

Doomerism’s “tipping point” and why existentialism isn’t the solution to the climate crisis

We can't afford to lose optimism over averting the worst consequences of this crisis; without it, we're trapped in a response of inaction. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

The 3 myths of mindfulness

Mindfulness is hugely popular today, but one philosopher has argued that certain unchecked types of mindfulness are deeply flawed. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

T-Minus: An extended asteroid mission, a high-stress moon landing, and more

Freethink's weekly countdown of the biggest space news, featuring SLIM's reawakening, Intuitive's sideways moon landing, and more. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

New “spiral” contact lenses let you see up close and far away

New spiral-shaped multifocal lenses bend light in a way that corrects problems seeing up close and far away, even in poor lighting. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

How potatoes can keep an eye on nuclear radiation

Plants scientists are researching how fields of genetically modified potato plants could detect radiation. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

Watch: Figure’s humanoid robot just learned something new

Robotics startup Figure AI just shared a video showing its humanoid robot completing a fully autonomous “real world task.” | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

Sam Altman on the future of AI

In the Davos session, "Technology in a Turbulent World," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman explained where he sees AI heading. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 8 months ago

The “steroid Olympics” aims to find out what happens when athletes are doped to the gills

For many, elite sport is the quintessential human endeavour. It drives ferocious competition, captures unconditional tribal loyalty, and rewards the victors with fame and fortune. As the Olympic motto declares, […] | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 9 months ago

How the “powerhouse of the cell” could be cancer’s Achilles heel

Salk Institute researchers have found that rewiring mitochondria could make cancer cells visible to the immune system. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 9 months ago

AI for agriculture: How Indian farmers are harvesting innovation

India's farmers combat climate change, pestilence, and financial burdens, with AI-driven initiatives offering transformative solutions. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 9 months ago

Fusion startup plans to shoot space junk with lasers

Japanese startup EX-Fusion plans to test whether lasers it is developing for nuclear fusion can remove space junk from orbit. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 9 months ago

4 core strategies as AI changes the “meaning of work”

A 2021 study in Germany revealed that automation can have a serious effect on our sense of meaning at work. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 9 months ago

CRISPR could eradicate horrific parasite that’s killing cattle

Uruguay is developing a CRISPR gene drive to eradicate the New World screwworm fly, a horrific agricultural pest. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 9 months ago

OpenBCI’s new VR headset reacts to your brain and body

OpenBCI is reshaping the relationship between humans and the virtual world with Galea Beta, a headset that measures the body and brain. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 9 months ago

Study: one in five workers would sacrifice 16% to 33% of salary to work from home

Would you give up some of your pay check to be able to work from home? People value working from home more than you'd think. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 9 months ago

AI startup Magic is building a “superhuman software engineer”

Magic AI is developing an advanced AI software engineer it sees as a milestone along the path to artificial general intelligence (AGI). | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 9 months ago

Google AI is searching the world for methane leaks from space

Google will provide computing resources to MethaneSAT, a project to identify climate-harming methane leaks from space. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 9 months ago

US startup makes history with stressful, landmark moon landing

Intuitive Machines just made history with the first private moon landing — and the mission was a nailbiter. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 9 months ago

Students use calculators to do math. Let them use ChatGPT to write.

Researchers tasked teachers with rating hundreds of essays, some written by students and others written by ChatGPT. Here's what they found. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 9 months ago

T-Minus: Water discovered on asteroids, first space factory comes home, and more

Freethink's weekly countdown of the biggest space news, featuring the return of Varda's space factory, a Russian space weapon, and more. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 9 months ago

Weight-loss drug reduces cravings for opioids in small study

A first-of-its-kind trial found that GLP-1 agonists, a popular kind of weight-loss drug, could help people overcome their opioid cravings. | Continue reading


@freethink.com | 9 months ago