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In the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage, a spacecraft and its crew are shrunk to microscopic size and injected into the body of an injured astronaut to remove a life-threatening blood clot from his brain. The Academy Award-winning movielater developed into a novel by Isaac Asimovseemed like pure fantasy at the time. However, it anticipated what could be the next revolution in medicine: the idea that ever-smaller and more sophisticated sensors are about to enter our bodies, connecting human beings to the internet. This internet of beings could be the third and ultimate phase of the internets evolution. After linking computers in the first phase and everyday objects in the second, global information systems would now connect directly to our organs. According to natural scientists, who recently met in Dubai for a conference titled Prototypes for Humanity, this scenario is becoming technically feasible. The impact on individuals, industries, and societies will be enormous. The idea of digitising human bodies inspires both dreams and nightmares. Some Silicon Valley billionaires fantasise about living forever, while security experts worry that the risks of hacking bodies dwarf current cybersecurity concerns. As I discuss in my forthcoming book, Internet of Beings, this technology will have at least three radical consequences. First, permanent monitoring of health conditions will make it far easier to detect diseases before they develop. Treatment costs much more than prevention, but sophisticated tracking could replace many drugs with less invasive measureschanges in diet or more personalised exercise routines. Millions of deaths could be prevented simply by sending alerts in time. In the US alone, 170,000 of the 805,000 heart attacks each year are silent because people dont recognise the symptoms. Second, the sensorsbetter called biorobots, since theyll probably be made of gelare becoming capable of not just monitoring the body but actively healing it. They could release doses of aspirin when detecting a blood clot, or activate vaccines when viruses attack. The mRNA vaccines developed for COVID may have opened this frontier. Advances in gene editing technologies may even lead to biorobots that can perform microsurgery with minuscule protein-made scissors that repair damaged DNA. Third, and most importantly, medical research and drug discovery will be turned on its head. Today, scientists propose hypotheses about substances that might work against certain conditions, then test them through expensive, time-consuming trials. In the internet of beings era, the process reverses: huge databases generate patterns showing what works for a problem, and scientists work backwards to understand why. Solutions will be developed much more quickly, cheaply, and precisely. Radical transformations The era of one-size-fits-all medicine is already ending, but the internet of beings will go much further. Each person could receive daily advice on medication doses tailored to micro-changes such as body temperature or sleep quality. The organisation of medical research itself will transform radically. Enormous amounts of data from bodies living natural lives might reveal that some headaches are caused by how we walk, or that brains and feet influence each other in unexpected ways. Research currently focuses on specific diseases and organs. In the future, this could shift to the use of increasingly sophisticated digital twinsvirtual models of a persons biology that update in real time using their health data. These simulations can be used to test treatments, predict how the body will respond and explore disease before it appears. Such a shift would fundamentally change what we mean by life science. The dream here isnt to defeat ageing, as some transhumanists claim. Its more concrete: making healthcare accessible to all Americans, saving the UKs NHS, defeating cancers, reaching poorer countries and helping everyone live longer without disease. The nightmare, however, is about losing our humanity while digitising our bodies. The internet of beings is one of the most fascinating possibilities that technology is opening upbut we need to explore it carefully. Were resuming the voyage that humankind was travelling in those optimistic years of the 1960s, when we landed on an alien planet for the first time. Only now, the alien territory were exploring is ourselves. This article was commissioned in conjunction with the Professors Programme, part of Prototypes for Humanity, a global initiative that showcases and accelerates academic innovation to solve social and environmental challenges. The Conversation is the media partner of Prototypes for Humanity 2025. Francesco Grillo is an academic fellow at the Department of Social and Political Sciences at Bocconi University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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For many of us, December rushes by in a blur of holiday merrymaking and gift-giving, end-of-year invoicing and accounting, and hasty planning for the year ahead. In the rush, the thoughtful year-end reflection we might have hoped for often doesnt happen. Thats a missed opportunity. Reflection doesnt have to be complicated, though. Heres a simple end-of-year exercise to help you process the year, stay aligned with your goals, and move forward with intention. Year in Review First, remind yourself what actually happened this year. Its easy to fall prey to recency bias, focusing on the last few weeks and forgetting earlier events. We also tend to fixate on where we fell shortgoals unrealized, tasks unfinished, issues unresolved. These linger in our minds precisely because they remain incomplete. What we often overlook, though, is what weve already achieved. To get a more accurate picture, use your phones camera roll, online calendar, journals, work self-evaluations, and social media accounts to reacquaint yourself with the full year. Keep this light and stress-free. I often rediscover dinner parties and weekend trips Id forgotten, or reflect on time with family or work projects that felt all-consuming earlier in the year. Theres no rigid process here, just a deliberate stroll through the past year, noting what stands out. If its helpful, make a few notes along the way. Three Questions Next, ask yourself three questions, each of which calls for three answers. The rule of three keeps the exercise simple, efficient, and easy to revisit year after year. 1. What are the three best things I did for myself this year? This question helps you examine how you prioritized your own well-being. How quickly or slowly you arrive at your answers can be revealing in itself. Asking this question first also sends an important signal that self-care is the foundation for everything that you do. Self-care can take many forms. It might mean working out, learning to play the ukelele, or cutting back on drinking. Or it could mean landing a new client, setting a boundary with a difficult colleague, or taking a step toward a new certification. Some answers may feel significant; others may not. One of mine this year was, I went away for a summer weekend with friends. Looking back, that trip stood out as a fun highlight, and I realized how much it recharged me after a busy spring. You get to define what counts here. Where are you trying to grow? What made your life easier or better? 2. What were my three top wins this year? A win is something youre proud of, an accomplishment that resulted from your efforts. It can be personal or professional, but it should reflect your contribution. Rather than my team won an award, for example, try: I contributed X, Y, and Z, which led to my team winning an award. Recognizing accomplishments gives us the confidence to navigate hard moments and clarifies what matters to us. Once youve identified a win, delve deeper to think through what actions produced the outcome. Perhaps a key relationship is stronger this year. What did you do differently? What behaviors, choices, or boundaries made the difference? Look for your specific actions. Again, you define what counts. Your top three wins might not be what the outside world would call your top three wins, but you know why they were important and meaningful, and how hard you worked for them. 3. What are the three most important lessons I learned this year? As you reflect on the year and the first two questions, difficult moments may surface as well. Spend some time with them and ask: Whats the lesson here? Try to distill each lesson into a single sentence. Two of mine from this year were, Its worth paying extra to make travel easier, and Do the hard thing quickly. Yours might involve boundary setting, listening to your instincts, or not settling for less than you need. This year taught you valuable lessons. Dont leave them behind. Once youve identified your three lessons, write them down somewhere you can easily revisit them. Let your own wisdom guide you as you make decisions or face challenges in the year ahead. As the year winds down, its tempting to rush straight into goal-setting and strategy for whats next, but clarity about the future is hard to achieve without first making sense of what just happened. A simple, low-pressure reflection can create a bridge between what weve experienced and our intentions. It helps us carry forward what worked, release what didnt, and enter the new year with clearer self-knowledge and more grounded decision-making.
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In recent weeks, a project called Jmail.world has quickly recreated the online life of Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender with myriad ties to the rich and powerful. The effort started with a reproduction of the tranche of released emails in common Gmail style, searchable just like your own email app. Earlier this week, the team behind Jmail, software engineer Riley Walz and CEO of Kino Luke Igal, revealed JPhotos, which is inspired by Google Photos and is full of images that have been made public. The Jmail.world archive now includes sections imitating Google Drive, as well as JFlights, a section tracking Epsteins flight history, Jemini, an Epstein-inspired chatbot, and even Jotify. Together, they create an immersive facsimile of Epsteins digital world. To engage Jmail.world, we must suspend our disbelief, at least in part. The emails, and other documents, include the redactions of government lawyers. Jeffrey Epstein did not have a virtual reality platform for exploring his old haunts (obviously). These pictures were not uploaded to a database in this format and no one actually tracks their flights like this. Still, the endeavor feels not unlike the systems sometimes used by law enforcement to poke through the worlds of their subjects. They suck up records, and then recreate them on their own systems to mine through. In this case, the Jmail tool is available to everyone to examine. You, too, can sort through the digital refuse for evidence of one of the most odious scandals in U.S. history. It is indeed horrifying, in a pick-your-poison sort of way. [A]t some point this stuff will come out — as long [Trump] continues to top polls, wrote a New York Times reporter to Epstein in one exchange, back in 2015. Epstein responded: would you like photso [sic] of donald and girls in bikinis in my kitchen. There are the ever-flowing emails from his associates, including Ghislaine Maxwell and Steve Bannon. The back-and-forths over strategizing with reporters on the myriad allegations facing Epstein and his associates. There are the redacted images of his sometimes-naked victims. There are his critics, who email him: You are dead. And then, his morally disturbed fans. One anonymous emailer wrote to Epstein: I can’t believe they arrested you again, you are the only man on the planet who would never be bad with any women as you love them too much. Whats surprisingly striking is how much of the stuff on first glance doesnt appear like much of anything, really. There is the endless supply of updates from Quora and the boomerist conversations on political-goings. There are lots of re-forwarded news stories, articles flagged by Flipboard, updates on the markets, and, sometimes, very strange Epstein wrote to himself. In the photos, there are pictures of Epstein doing relatively normal things, like playing the piano and riding a horse. In his online orders, theres a device for mitigating back pain, Fruit of the Loom mens boxers, and CPAP machine replacement tubing. In a virtual recreation of his house, theres a reading nook, a laundry room, and storage areas. It can seem fairly benign, dull even. One has to look through the email back-and-forths to find direct references to the worst of it, but its there, if you know what to look for. His Amazon orders show he orders reveal he bought Bitcoin for Dummies, but also several books about Vladimir Nabokov, the author of Lolita. In the same database of pictures that include snapshots of a concert and pictures of a horse, and pictures of Epstein playing pingpong and petting a dog, are the pictures of horrifying crimes, including plenty of (redacted) images of victims. When he communicates with the other affluent accomplices, its often about nothing, in particular until it isn’t. Social media and the news industry have carefully mined through these emails, looking for the most concerning to highlight. But Jmail asks us to work by ourselves, in a notably more disturbing exercise, and sift through the everyday doings and digital vestiges of a very evil man.
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After the crystal ball drops on New Years Eve in New York City, it will rise again, sparkling in red, white, and blue to usher in 2026 and kick off months of celebrations for the nations upcoming 250th birthday. The patriotic touches at this year’s Times Square gathering, including a second confetti drop, will offer an early glimpse of whats ahead: hundreds of events and programs, big and small, planned nationwide to mark the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Im telling you right now, whatever youre imagining, its going to be much more than that, said America250 Chair Rosie Rios, who oversees the bipartisan commission created by Congress in 2016 to organize the semiquincentennial anniversary. Its going to be one for the ages, the most inspirational celebration this country and maybe the world has ever seen. Rios and her group worked with the Times Square Alliance business district and One Times Square, the building from where the ball is dropped, to make the changes to this year’s ceremonies. They’re also planning a second ball drop event on July 3, the eve of the nation’s birthday, in the same beautiful style that Times Square knows how to do it,” Rios said. It will mark the first time in 120 years there will be a ball drop in Times Square that doesn’t occur on New Year’s Eve, she said. A New Years Eve ball was first dropped in Times Square in 1907. Built by a young immigrant metalworker named Jacob Starr, the 700-pound (318-kilogram), 5-foot- (1.5-meter-) diameter ball was made of iron and wood and featured 100 25-watt light bulbs. Last year, the Constellation Ball, the ninth and largest version, was unveiled. It measured about 12 feet (3.7 meters) in diameter and weighs nearly 12,000 pounds (5,400 kilograms). The only years when no ball drop occurred were 1942 and 1943, when the city instituted a nightly dimout during World War II to protect itself from attacks. Crowds instead celebrated the new year with a moment of silence followed by chimes rung from the base of One Times Square. This year, the stroke of midnight will also mark the official launch of America Gives, a national service initiative created by America250. Organizers hope to make 2026 the largest year of volunteer hours ever aggregated in the country. On the following day, America250 will participate in the New Years Day Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, with a float themed Soaring Onward Together for 250 Years.” It will feature three larger-than-life bald eagles representing the countrys past, present and future. We want to ring in this new year from sea to shining sea. What better way to think about it than going from New York to California, Rios said. This has to be community-driven, this has be grassroots. Were going from Guam to Alaska, from Fairbanks to Philadelphia, and everything in between. President Donald Trump has also announced the Freedom 250 initiative to coordinate additional events for the 250th anniversary. Rios said she sees the wide range of celebrations and programs planned for the coming months, from large fireworks displays and statewide potluck suppers to student contests and citizen oral histories, as an opportunity to unite a politically divided nation. If we can find something for everyone … having those menus of options that people can pick and choose how they want to participate,” she said. Thats how were going to get to engaging 350 million Americans. Susan Haigh, Associated Press
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As cases of a new, highly contagious “super flu” surge across the nation this holiday season, more and more Americans are looking for ways to treat the symptoms, which include everything from fever and chills, to headaches and vomiting. A variant of influenza A H3N2, called subclade K, which is being blamed for an early and severe flu season in the United Kingdom, has hit residents in New York, Rhode Island, Colorado and Louisiana the hardest, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While flu vaccines usually have an efficacy rate of 40% to 60% an early report from the U.K. estimates this super flu strain has an efficacy rate of 32% to 39% in adults, and 72% to 75% in children, Northeastern University associate clinical professor, Brandon Dionne said. Four antiviral drugs recommended by the CDC to treat the flu There are four FDA-approved antiviral drugs recommended by CDC to treat flu this season: Tamiflu (oseltamivir); Xofluza (baloxavir); Relenza (zanamivir); and Rapivab (peramivir). Tamiflu (oseltamivir) is most commonly prescribed in the U.S. Xofluza (baloxavir) is a pill, given as a single dose by mouth, and is approved for early treatment of uncomplicated flu in people 5 years and older. (It is not recommended for treatment of flu during pregnancy, while breastfeeding, in those with progressive illness, or in hospitalized patients.) Relenza (zanamivir) is a powdered medication that is inhaled and approved for early treatment of flu in people 7 years and older. It is not recommended for people with breathing problems like asthma or COPD. (Oseltamivir and zanamivir are given twice a day for five days.) Rapivab (peramivir) is given once intravenously by a health care provider, and is approved for early treatment of flu in people 6 months and older. CDC recommendations Antiviral drugs work best when started within 1 to 2 days after flu symptoms begin; and the CDC recommends prompt treatment for people who have flu (or suspected flu) and are at increased risk of serious complications such as: pregnant women, people with asthma and chronic lung disease, diabetes (including gestational diabetes), or heart disease.
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