【推荐1】Researchers at the MIT Media Lab have created a device that can hear silent speech, called AlterEgo. It’s similar to a virtual assistant like Siri or Alexa, which you can ask questions of and get answers from, but completely silent. The device was invented by a graduate student Arnav Kapur and his professor Patti Maes, as a way to increase human intelligence by bringing humans and machines closer together.

The first model looks like a headset, but instead of having a microphone, it attaches to the face. AlterEgo does not read thoughts. What it does read are called “subvocalizations,” While speaking silently, the mouth area makes some tiny movements that can’t be seen. The device has a set of sensors placed along the side of the face to pick up on the movements made by subvocalizations. These are fed into a machine that matches specific movements with their words. Then, instead of earbuds, the device talks back to the user by transmitting sound through the bones of the face into the inner ear, allowing the user to receive silent feedback. Thus the user can ask and receive answers to questions completely silently.

AlterEgo was first tested with a group of 10 subjects who subvocalized math equations for AlterEgo to solve. At the time it had 92 percent accuracy. Since then, the inventors have been working to increase its accuracy. Its current uses include browsing on Roku, solving equations, recommending chess moves, and other basic tasks.

There are many potential advantages of AlterEgo over a cell phone. Being hands-free and completely silent, it allows users to ask a question without interrupting their conversations. It would also allow a user who is in a very noisy environment (such as an airport runway or a factory with loud machinery) to communicate easily, or for someone who must stay silent (such as a military agent) to communicate freely. Perhaps most importantly, it has potential for people with disabilities who are unable to speak normally.

【推荐3】The 2024 Consumer Electronics Show is upon us and we’ve chosen four most functional-seeming ones to share with you.

Combining the health benefits of a pedal (脚踏) desk with the energy savings of a body-powered phone charger, Ampera Bike seems ideally suited for office multitaskers. A half-hour of pedaling can charge the average phone about 50 percent. The bike, small and unnoticeable enough for a home office, allows workers to finish the same tasks moving as they did sitting still.

For many, walking is a challenge because of aging, illness or muscle weakness. That’s why WIM, a robotic assist device tied around your waist and legs, was created. It reduces the energy needed to walk by 20 percent, potentially enabling walkers to go farther and feel less tired. The entire device weighs 3 pounds and folds up to the size of a purse. WIM can also be used in an exercise mode, providing resistance similar to walking in water and targeting specific muscles.

How do you feel when looking in the mirror in the morning? BMind Smart Mirror can take one look, use AI and natural language processing to analyze your expressions and gestures, tell your moods and then offer “personalized mental health coaching” to help. This technology that can monitor for heath changes has the potential of improving the quality of millions of lives.

People with hearing loss have difficulty listening to a specific voice in a noisy space. OrCam Hear addresses this issue with a system of earphones and an AI-powered app. The app samples voices and creates speaker profiles, which then allows users to select to select their wanted voice and deaden other ones, making a game-changing, experience for hearing aids in general.

【推荐1】When a marketing genius walks into your store, it might benefit you to pay attention, even if that genius is only a small child. When a store owner saw a young girl playing an imaginary hopscotch(跳房子) game using his wood flooring, it sparked (引发) a brilliant idea.

The store owner marked out a hopscotch board in multi-colored tape leading to the sales window. When the girl returned, she immediately began using the new store hopscotch board.

Once the board was in place, the store owner noticed an amazing thing happening in the store. It started with a grown man looking a little nervous and glancing (瞥) around the store. The owner thought he might be checking for cameras to steal something. But what he did next shocked the owner. The man started jumping along the hopscotch board!

With total ignoring “how it looked,” the grown man hopped along the hopscotch board like a seasoned professional! And he smiled! But that was just the beginning of the surprise for the store owner. As more people entered the store, more and more of the adult customers took the opportunity to hop to the cash register.

The simple addition of a hopscotch board brought smiles, laughter, and true joy into the tiny convenience store. People were smiling and feeling happier. The in-store cameras record the hoppers merrily jumping along.

Big, small, men, women, old, and young: everyone seems to enjoy the opportunity to be a kid again. The feeling may only last for a few seconds, but if it brings joy to your life, do it!

Some customers carefully walk around the board. However, many enjoy those few seconds of being a kid again. The response delighted the store owner. If you’re the type of person who would hop along the board, share the hopscotch game with your fellow hoppers!

【推荐2】Lions, tigers, and bears definitely aren’t meant to live as a pack. But not every animal has been through the misery that established the bond between three normally opposing male predators (捕食者).

Back in 2001, police searched a drug dealer’s house in Atlanta, Georgia. In the basement, they came across a heartbreaking sight. There sat three terrified cubs (幼崽) found skin and bones that certainly didn’t belong in anyone’s home.

The African lion, Leo, had been stuffed inside a small container with an open wound on his face. Shere Khan, the Bengal tiger, looked bony, and the black bear, Baloo, was wearing a chain so small that it had become embedded into his flesh.

But their nightmare was finally over. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources took them to Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary, a nonprofit animal rescue in Locust Grove. “When they were first brought to the sanctuary, Baloo, Shere Khan, and Leo were injured, frightened and clinging to one another for comfort,“guardian Allison Hedgecoth told HuffPost. And as they got more comfortable, they accompanied each other, cuddled, and played together. Clearly, they were a bonded trial .

Sanctuary staff anticipated the need to separate the friends once they reached maturity, as they would likely grow apart. After all, it’s the natural order in the animal kingdom. But the trio, known as BLT (bear, lion, tiger), never left each other’s sides. The sanctuary ultimately decided to keep them together.

Baloo, the playful one, loved teasing Leo with gentle bites. And the affectionate Shere Khan could often be found curling up to either of his brothers. “Even though they live in a three-acre enclosure, they’re usually within 100 feet of each other,” Allison told Inside Edition. “That’s proof that they’re not just coexisting or cohabiting, they actually do enjoy each other’s company.”

【推荐3】I recently took my mom on a special trip to Brenda Gantt's restaurant. Brenda is a celebrity chef and my mom was delighted at the idea of meeting her in person.

While most of us looked forward to her Saturday breakfast, I was quickly attracted by a holiday tradition that Brenda shared with us. It turns out that in addition to being a master in the kitchen, Brenda also enjoys crafting. She just happened to mention a fairly easy project that I now plan to use for my Thanksgiving table this year.

Brenda told us how long ago she had made personalized "seating cards ” out of tree branches or small trunks. "You cut them thick enough so that they sit up at the table, " she said. These personalized “cards” have become a beloved and time-honored part of her family. She shared that they still have the one saying “Big Daddy” in honor of her late husband.

I got the help from my son and husband, who cut nice branches for me to use. I can't wait to see the fun my children will have personalizing them. And as an added bonus for the adults, the craft time might even provide a short window of quiet during our usually noisy holidays.

Like Brenda, my family also has a special "Big Daddy" --- that's what our children have always called my dad, continuing the tradition of what I called my dad's dad. Even though Big Daddy always sits at the head of the table, it will be fun to have a special decoration this year to reserve his space... and everyone else's too!

【推荐2】An associate university professor in Florida has completed his research mission and set a new world record in the process: living 100 days beneath the ocean’s surface.

On Friday morning, Dr. Joseph Dituri felt the sun’s rays for the first time since he began the project 22 feet below the waters of Key Largo, Florida, on March 1.   

Dituri,55, a biomedical engineer who teaches at the University of South Florida and calls himself “Dr. Deep Sea”, spent just over three months at the bottom of the Emerald Lagoon in Jules’ Undersea Lodge, the only underwater hotel in the United States.

The research project, Project Neptune 100, was organized by the Key Largo-based Marine Resources Development Foundation and focused on ocean conservation research and studying how high pressure affects the human body.

The US Navy veteran said he’d noticed one impact: The water pressure seems to have shrunken his height by half an inch. Dituri stood at 6 feet 1 inch tall before starting his mission, the University of South Florida stated in a news release.

The scientist began the project with a belief that increased pressure could help humans live longer and prevent aging-related diseases, the news release said. Dituri said he hopes his underwater research will benefit the treatment of a variety of illnesses, including traumatic brain injuries.

Dituri also used the project as an educational experience for the youth. “We have interacted with thousands of school children to get them interested in science, technology, engineering and math, “Dituri told Guinness World Records on June 8. While underwater, he continued teaching his college students virtually.

Dituri broke the Guinness World Record for longest time living underwater at the 74-day mark of his project, on May 13. The previous record stood at 73 days, two hours and 34 minutes, set at the same location al Dituri’s successful attempt.

【推荐3】Science is a process that builds upon existing theories and knowledge by continuously revising them. Every aspect of scientific knowledge can be questioned, including the general rules of thinking that appear to be most certain. So why is science trustworthy if it is always changing? If tomorrow we will no longer see the world as Newton or Einstein found it to be, why should we take seriously today’s scientific description of the world?

The answer is simple: Because at any given moment of our history, this description of the world is the best we have. The fact that it can be made better can’t diminish (降低) the fact that it is a useful instrument for understanding the world.

Consider a folk healer’s herbal medicine. Can we say this treatment is “scientific”? Yes, if it is proven to be effective, even if we have no idea why it works. In fact, quite a few common medications used today have their origin in folk treatments, and we are still not sure how they work. This does not imply that folk treatments are generally effective. To the contrary, many of them are not. What distinguishes scientific medicine is the readiness to seriously test a treatment and to be ready to change our minds if something is shown not to work. A research doctor in a modern hospital must be ready to change his theory if a more effective way of understanding illness, or treating it, becomes available.

What makes modern science uniquely powerful is its refusal to believe that it already possesses ultimate truth. The reliability of science is based not on certainty but on a complete absence of certainty. As John Stuart Mill wrote in “On Liberty” in 1859, “The beliefs which we have most warrant (依据) for, have no safeguard to rest on, but a standing invitation to the whole world to prove them unfounded.”