🧠 #BrainFood 10.10.24

Zoom will let AI avatars talk to your team for you - kind of

We’re almost there folks, just a little bit longer before AI you does all there work for you!

Zoom is getting one step closer to letting AI avatars attend meetings for you. As part of a broader AI expansion, Zoom announced it will soon let you create an AI avatar of yourself that you can use to send brief messages to your team.

‘Entire ecosystem’ of fossils 8.7m years old found under Los Angeles high school

What significant fossil discoveries were made at San Pedro High School?

Researchers uncovered two major fossil sites beneath San Pedro High School in Los Angeles, revealing marine fossils that are approximately 8.7 million years old from the Miocene epoch and a 120,000-year-old shell deposit from the Pleistocene epoch. Notable finds include the remains of saber-toothed salmon and megalodon, marking this as the largest marine bone bed discovered in Los Angeles and Orange counties123.

Why is this discovery considered unique and important?

The fossil sites provide a rare glimpse into an entire ecosystem from a bygone era, showcasing over 200 species, including some previously unseen in Southern California. The density of fossils found is unprecedented for California, offering valuable insights into the region's prehistoric marine life and geological history, which was largely underwater during much of its past245.

What are the implications for future research and education following this discovery?

The fossils have been allocated to various educational institutions for ongoing research, enhancing understanding of ancient ecosystems. Local students are also engaged in learning about paleontology through hands-on experiences with these fossils, fostering a new generation of scientists and increasing community awareness about the area's rich geological history

TIL a man named Christopher Thomas Knight ran out of gas in rural Maine in 1986, entered the woods, and lived there for 27 years without human contact.

I mean, we’ve all wanted to do this right?

✨ Christopher Thomas Knight, known as the "North Pond Hermit," lived in isolation for 27 years in the woods of Maine, surviving primarily through a series of nearly 1,000 burglaries from nearby cabins and farms. He entered the wilderness at age 20 in 1986, seeking solitude and avoiding human contact, with only two brief exceptions during his seclusion. Knight was captured in 2013 while attempting to rob a camp, later serving seven months in jail and reflecting on his experiences, which he described as both freeing and identity-erasing. His life story has garnered significant media attention, inspiring a book by journalist Michael Finkel titled The Stranger in the Woods.

Ever wondered what it’d be like to hear Greed Day’s Dookie album played on… a toothbrush, gameboy cartridge, floppy disk…

I wish I had this much free time.

When an album hits a big milestone like its 30th anniversary, it gets the usual remasters on the usual formats. But Dookie isn't a usual album.

Instead of smoothing out its edges and tweaking its dynamic ranges, this version of Dookie has been met­icu­lously mangled to fit on formats with uncom­promis­ing­ly low fidelity, from wax cylinders to answering machines to toothbrushes. The listening experience is unparalleled, sacrificing not only sonic quality, but also convenience, and occasionally entire verses.

The result is Dookie Demastered: the album that exploded the format of punk rock, re-exploded onto 15 obscure, obsolete, and otherwise inconvenient formats, the way it was never meant to be heard.

The Most Popular Halloween Costume the Year You Were Born

I got John Travolta. What’d you get?

Watch: Mass testing of Unitree Go1 robot dogs in factory

Everything is gonna be just fine!