Wireless Legs

So medical science is pretty wild huh?

First off, there's a startup making a synthetic 3D brain modeling system for neurological researchers to develop medicine with higher confidence that it will actually take in later-stage trials. Currently, most research is done using less-than-stellar representations of the connections between brain cells, so while a lot of research has promising initial results, they seldom pan out. This new take at modeling neuron interactions may help us more quickly discover treatments or cures for diseases like Alzheimer's.

Next up, we've got some wireless legs. A Swiss research team has developed an algorithm which allows them to use brain implants and spinal implants to wirelessly connect the brain to the lower spine. The spinal implant then uses the existing leg nerves from there.

The man who has received the implants is able to walk again by simply using his brain. The signals take a wireless jump down to his legs which then are able to just… do the thing. He's up and about—though slowly—and ecstatic about this change.

Tesla whistleblower shares 100 gigs of data showing they routinely cover up major car failures

And a whole bunch of other shitty stuff

A whistleblower employee from Tesla shared a trove of internal documents with German news outlet Handelsblatt. The journalists poured over the files and found that Tesla has been consistently and routinely covering up customer complaints of dangerous glitches with Tesla vehicles.

But it goes further: the documents also reveal an internal policy of leaving as little of a trace as possible about covering up reports, as well as keeping communication verbal so that customers have no path for recourse. Even data reported by actual Tesla car computers showing that issues happened were covered up.

The investigation by the journalists is still ongoing, but Tesla reportedly fought pretty dang hard to keep this from going public. Thankfully, the outlet is located in the EU which is much kinder about publishing leaks like this if it shows that there is anti-consumer behavior going on.

Oath Keeper founder going away for 18 years

Steward Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers (a fascist militia group) has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for organizing the seditious attack on January 6th at the US Capitol.

Rhodes was involved in the planning and organization of the attack (which I will again remind you: they literally had multiple weapon caches around DC) and his actions are being broadly punished as terrorism, given that his intent was to use aggressive force to sway political goings-ons.

Rhodes referred to himself as a "political prisoner." In response, the judge said: "You are not a political prisoner." Just a real helluva exchange. Real marketplace of ideas kind of stuff.

PlayStation had an event with a bunch of reveals and whatnot

Sony held a big ol' event with a ton of announcements for the PlayStation world. I would like to tell you about them, because I am pretty hype about it.

For one, they're remaking Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. If you have not had the absolute pleasure of having played the Metal Gear Solid franchise, congratulations. You are far, far more stable of a human being than I am at this point. I love that franchise. It kills me slowly every day. They're also releasing a Metal Gear collection pack thing of the older games.

Also quite hype is a reveal trailer that Nathan Fillion will be returning as Cayde-6 in the next Destiny 2 expansion, which if you're not a Destiny player, I can assure you is a big deal.

There's a ton of other announcements, including what appears to be some kind of Steam Deck competitor thing, like a handheld streaming console for PS5 games called the "PlayStation Q" for whatever reason.

Even TikTok is not safe from AI chatbots

TikTok is in early stages of testing out an AI chatbot for use on the platform. Why? Because why the hell not, apparently.

There are claims that generative AI can help totally change the way people discover content on TikTok. I wanna say this super clearly: the discovery of content on TikTok is already the reason people like TikTok. Stop trying to fuck with it maybe????????

Anyway they say this is super early testing and they don't have concrete plans yet, which to me sounds like "we're adding AI into the app because investors want to see AI added to the app, but we literally don't know where to put it because what the hell?"

Oh, and it'll be called "Tako" (shoutout to TaZ fans)

On this day

On this day in 1865, Confederate general Edmund Kirby Smith surrendered, being the last general of the Confederate army to do so. This is because the Confederate army lost the Civil War in America, which they were fighting to try and keep using human beings as property.

After surrendering, Smith fled to Mexico and Cuba to avoid being charged with treason, and did so successfully. He returned to the US and was given amnesty. He ultimately became a professor and died from pneumonia in 1893.

Here's the weather

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