• Protein structures – Unfolded! Google AI subsidiary DeepMind has cracked the problem of predicting protein structures – a major breakthrough with implications everywhere from medicine to recycling.  It won hands-down at this year’s ‘Protein Olympics‘, held every 2 years since 1994.
  • Spray-on robots: researchers in Hong Kong have invented a harmless spray that turns inanimate objects into magnetically-controlled robots – precision medicine delivery is a potentially key application.  The video’s awesome.
  • Ain’t no power: Protestors against police brutality in Nigeria are using bitcoin to channel funds to community organisers, sidestepping the local banking system which has locked them out.
  • Oxygen on Mars? The Mars Perseverance rover, launched in July, includes an experiment to extract oxygen from the Martian atmosphere.  Terraformers stay cool – its aim is to test the viability of making rocket fuel on the red planet.
  • Unfolded before. Is IBM Watson an AI or a mechanical Turk? IBM hailed it as a silver bullet for cancer treatment; the reality was very different. Terrific long read from 2017 on the hype vs reality of AI when lives are involved.