Telepathic Worms | Charging Room | Dog-bone Asteroid - The Convo Kit #13

I recently learned I have pandas for neighbors. Or maybe it’s a gaze of racoons? Either way, a few fun names for animal groups…

• A conspiracy of lemurs

• A dazzle of zebras

• A tower of giraffes

Extra credit: Do you know what a group of pandas is called?

-Steve

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Telepathic Worms

C. elegans, a roundworm, have been found to transfer memory through their environment. Worms exposed to threatening bacteria generate a retrotransposon absorbed by other worms.

• The “C.” stands for Caenorhabditis

• Retrotransposon = RNA copy / paste

• Observed retrotransposon: Cer1

All C. elegans that absorb Cer1 pass it on to 4 generations of offspring. Meaning a worm can be born knowing not to eat something because its great-grandparent wiggled near another worm once. If I could do this I’d have skipped that phase where I thought wearing all red was cool.

More details and a worm graphic on New Atlas.

Charging Room

Researchers have created the dream: A room that safely charges electronic devices through the air. The system utilizes magnetic fields as opposed to microwave radiation in similar technology.

• 50 watts of electricity

• Installed via small capacitors

• Eventually portable

By using magnetic fields this technology is theoretically safe to use for medical devices such as heart implants. Wireless charging would remove the need for an external power supply and the associated infection risk it. No word on if Android and Apple users will have to charge in separate rooms.

Pic of a charging room on Interesting Engineering.

Dog-bone Asteroid

Kleopatra, a bone-shaped asteroid, likely created its own moons. The porous asteroid's low equatorial gravity is thought to have thrown material that coalesced into moons.

• Full rotation = 5.4 earth hours

• Roughly 168 miles long

• Moons: AlexHelios & CleoSelene

Astronomers have known of Kleopatra for ~20 years and only recently obtained imagery capable of diving deeper. Further observations of this could offer new understanding into how celestial bodies can form. Or at least provide snacks for massive space dogs.

Further break down here. Astronomical journal deep dives here and here.

Bubble Backpack

EVOC's Commute Air Pro 18 backpack deploys an airbag if you fall off your bike. The pack detects sudden movement through various sensors and an electrified magnetic buckle.

• Detects positioning 1,000 times per second

• Airbag deployment: 200 milliseconds

• Price: $1,000+

You can get your hands on a bubbly bag as early as next spring. The airbags can be reused and only require replacement of a CO2 cartridge. Unintended use: creating space when someone is too close to you in line.

Take a look at the airbag-bag.

Concrete Battery

Energy Vault plans to store solar energy with concrete blocks. Suspended from a tower, blocks rise via solar-powered crane. Then lower when energy is needed, spinning turbines to create electricity.

• Blocks are lifted 35 stories

• One block = 70,00 pounds

• Estimated Storage Capacity: 80 megawatt-hours

The concrete blocks are made from locally-sourced products to minimize transportation impact. Bonus points for creativity, perhaps they get collaborative with these towers and house Form Energy batteries in an endless solar storage facility?

Rendering of the tower is available here.

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