AI Nirvana, Odyssey Anniversary, Brain Glue and More Mysterious News Briefly — April 9, 2021

Mysterious News Briefly — April 9, 2021

If you think ‘cuckoo’ wasps sounds scarier than ‘murder’ hornets, it’s time to worry – insect researchers in Norway have discovered an extremely rare new species of cuckoo wasp, which are called that because they lay their eggs in the nests of other wasps like cuckoo birds do with other birds. Frode Ødegaard, who discovered them, is now cuckoo for cuckoo wasps.

A computer science teacher in India claims to have spent just $580 to build an artificially-intelligent humanoid robotic woman that can identify different objects, solve math problems, and speak 38 languages. All of his students now want to sit next to it and copy off of its paper during tests.

Elon Musk now says he supports coronavirus vaccines because any negative reactions from a second shot can be relieved with an EpiPen. Sadly, those are harder to get than the shots.

A neurologist at the University of Rochester Medical Center warns that a Parkinson’s disease epidemic is on the horizon due to increased environmental exposure to trichloroethylene (TCE), a chemical compound used in industrial degreasing, dry-cleaning and household products that experts believe is a major cause of the neurological disorder. ‘Be dirty, be healthy’ is my new philosophy.

Researchers at the University of Georgia have developed an experimental hydrogel technology they call “brain glue” which could help people with traumatic brain injuries by preventing long-term damage and tissue loss while also speeding up the healing process. Don’t get this confused with brain goo, which comes from smoking too much pot.

A natural brilliant blue coloring extracted from red cabbage by researchers at the University of California, Davis, may soon replace synthetic blue food colorings such as the widely used FD&C Blue No. 1. Needess to say, they love the color but are done with cole slaw.

Male gorillas beat on their chests as a way to audibly communicate to others how big they are, according to new research at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Nothing infuriates them more than a female who puts their call on hold.

The French Army has been testing robots during battlefield exercises and was disappointed when Spot, the headless robot dog from Boston Dynamics, ran out of battery charge and had to be carried back to the base. Or was it trying to avoid getting shot by rolling over and playing dead?

A non-profit research group fed dozens of Nirvana songs into Google’s AI program, Magenta, and it developed an entirely new track. “It’s sounds just like Nirvana,” said people who have never heard Nirvana.

While Perseverance is getting all of the attention on Mars, the Mars Odyssey spacecraft quietly celebrated its 20th anniversary of orbiting the Red Planet and sending back stunning images of its surface. On Odyssey’s anniversary pass over it, Perseverance refused to wave. Jealous?

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