How long until the dead outnumber the living on Facebook? Researchers have the answer. Why your next salad might be grown by robots. And listening to the songs of the stars.
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Trending on Reddit, the number of dead people could outnumber the living within 50 years, according to the Oxford Internet Institute. This future “Zombie Facebook” is based on an analysis of Facebook’s 1.4 billion members in 2018. But if Facebook’s growth continues at its current rate, this creepy epoch could be reached even sooner. The researchers are using the data to raise awareness around who exactly has the right to all this data. As one of them says, “Controlling this archive will, in a sense, be to control our history.” Of course, if Facebook is still around 50 years from now, I’m guessing it won’t complain about having this problem.
Trending on LinkedIn, will your next salad be grown by robot farmers? A Bloomberg Businessweek feature looks at the trend of robots planting crops in California greenhouses. Companies like John Deere, and startups like Iron Ox are investing in artificial intelligence-powered robotic systems that can grow things like lettuce. In fact, Iron Ox has created a team of robots to tackle this task. There’s the transplanter, which is a big arm and pincer that can move around invididual plants. Then there’s the Angus, a 1,000 pound robot that can transport huge hydroponic beds.The system even includes a stereo-vision camera that “sees” the plants in 3D.
Trending on Google, What do stars sound like? Based on open source software GYRE, something like this:
What you’re hearing is the effort of Jacqueline Goldstein, a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison astronomy department. She wants to understand starquakes, or the vibrations that stars give off as they fuse hydrogen into heavier elements. Using data like this, scientists hope to be able to understand what’s happening in the hot molten core of stars in the nearby galaxy. Since GYRE is open source, it’s free for scientists to use and to modify.
That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast network. Remember to add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home daily briefing.
We’ve been asking you how you listen to Hashtag Trending. Danny Fabre tweeted at us that he listens 3 ways: through his iPhone when on the road, with his Google Mini in his office, and on his Lenovo smart screen in his kitchen.
I use my iPhone when I'm on the road, Google mini in the office and Lenovo smart screen in the kitchen!
— Danny (@dannyfabre) April 26, 2019
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