Science and Technology links (January 24th 2021)

  1. Year 2020 was great for PC makers. We are selling more and more PCs. Reportedly, Sony sold 3.4 million PlayStation 5 in only four weeks, a record. The demand for the Facebook Quest 2 VR headset is reportedly several times the demand for the original Quest. Valve, the company that makes the Index VR headset, is unable to make enough to meet demand. The demand for computer chips is so high that car manufacturers ran out of chips and had to close car factories. The demand for workers in information technology has remained strong throughout 2020.
  2. There might be a way to predict autism in children by studying the sperm of the father.
  3. As we age, we accumulate senescent cells. In chronic large quantities, these cells are harmful. Thankfully, there are now effective therapies to remove these cells, at least in mice. Doing so makes the old mice smarter. This suggests that the senescent cells makes them dumber in the first place.
  4. Supplementing old mice with a hormone that our bodies generate during execise makes them run twice as hard.
  5. Researchers rejuvenated old human cells by 30 years. The process is tricky and most be done in a laboratory but it is conceivable that human tissue could be rejuvenated in a laboratory, prior to transplantation.
  6. Cold water immersion following an endurance workout probably reduces your muscle growth. So go easy with the cold showers and baths!

Published by

Daniel Lemire

A computer science professor at the University of Quebec (TELUQ).

2 thoughts on “Science and Technology links (January 24th 2021)”

  2. That presumes the goal is to “grow muscle”. While I recognise that this is the goal for large numbers of people, I believe that the other health benefits far outweigh muscle growth, and in fact I observe that people who stop or reduce the amount of exercise they do appear to “turn to fat” to a greater extent that their less “well built” counterparts tend to.

    Reply

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