Hello and welcome to The Edge, the newsletter that brings you groundbreaking stories from the frontiers of technology and science.
We’ve got some great stories for you today including the all-screen Mercedes-Benz dashboard, drugged neural networks and the plans for Apple’s electric car. As always, we’ve added extra stories under each article should you find yourself in a curious state of mind.
Today in history
What happened on January 9th in the past?
January 9th, 1816 - The Davy Lamp is tested for the first time at Hebburn Colliery.
January 9th, 1992 - The first exoplanets are discovered by astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail.
January 9th, 2007 - The first iPhone is introduced by Steve Jobs.
Apple
Who will partner with Apple?
Will Apple’s electric car come with Windows? Image credit: Victor Tangermann
EXCLUSIVE-Apple targets car production by 2024 and eyes "next level" battery technology
According to CNBC, Hyundai Motors is in early talks with Apple about developing their electric car. The news caused Hyundai shares to rocket 19%.
According to a Hyundai Motors rep, multiple carmakers are in talks with Apple.
A report by Korea Economic Daily suggests that Apple is aiming to release the car in 2027. Included in its proposal are both battery development and vehicle production. The news comes comes as rumours of Apple’s Project Titan resurfaced. The project, long believed to be about an electric car, was first uncovered just over five years ago, but has since remained shrouded in mystery.
According to Reuters, Apple plans to release a car as soon as 2024. Among Apple’s plans is a radical car battery redesign, cost-cutting and a significant range increase.
Musk shows that electric cars are good business.
Quick science
Other incredible stories from the world of science and technology.
Gourmet vegetable feasts take place in space.
Fascinating new knowledge about ancient Siberians.
Cyberpunk 2077 has not had an easy launch.
Cars
The Benz-board
Innovation never look this good. Image credit: Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes' new touchscreen system takes up the whole dashboard
Mercedes-Benz are knowing for making gorgeous, tech-laden cars and their latest innovation doesn’t disappoint. For their upcoming luxury EQS electric sedan, they’ve developed a wall-to-wall, 56-inch touchscreen known as the “Hyperscreen”. The screen houses everything from the entertainment system to the dials.
The display actually consists of several displays built into a single, long piece of curved glass. Under the display there are three general areas: an infotainment screen, a dashboard behind the steering wheel and an additional passenger screen.
True to their innovative nature, Mercedes have included a number of AI-based features. According to a statement, “If you always call one particular person on the way home on Tuesday evenings, you will be asked to make a corresponding call on that day of the week and that specific time of day.” Mercedes-Benz board member and CTO Sajjad Khan said in the statement that the MBUX Hyperscreen is designed to get to know the driver better and that, over time, it will deliver a tailored, personalized infotainment experience without much effort from the driver.
Mercedes’ EQ lineup is set to start production later in 2021.
A history of Mercedes.
Video of the week
“How did Medieval Banking Work”
We often think of banks as inherently modern invention but the reality is a different story. Banking goes back as far as 2000BC and has shaped the modern economy. So how did banking work in the medieval period? In this great video by History Matters, we learn how banks worked ‘back in the day’ and just how this compares to banking today.
Take a second every day
According to Allen Saunders, life is what happens to us while we are making other plans. We’re inclined to agree with him. Life is full of amazing, joyful, sad and challenging moments and it’s a fact that each of us have likely forgotten more than we’ll ever know. Appreciating life just got a bit easier with 1 Second Everyday.
1 Second Everyday is an app that lets you create a video diary of your life. The diary consists of one-second clips that you snap each day which you can watch whenever you like. 1 Second Everyday helps you keep track of the moments that matter the most. We’ve just started using it at The Edge and we love it, so get recording!
Neural networks
Virtual drugs
Giving drugs to machines - kind of. Image credit: Pixabay/Victor Tangermann
In the pursuit of science, a team of scientists want to give virtual drugs to a neural network algorithm to determine how psychedelics affect the brain.
The idea is to recreate the psychedelic hallucinations caused by DMT in a neural network based on the human brain. The scientists hope doing so might help them understand what causes the hallucinations in humans.
Scientists from the University of Geneva and Imperial College London managed to create DMT hallucinations in image-generating neural nets so that their outputs were blurry as opposed to crystal clear. The results were similar to how people describe DMT trips.
According to Geneva neuroscientist Michael Schartner, deep neural networks are perfect for learning about the human visual systems. They can illustrate how psychedelics influence perception and help guide hypotheses on how visual information can be prevented from reaching the brain.
How hallucinogens work.
What we’ve been reading
A small selection of the articles we read this week.
WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using the app
A Scandinavian 'Nabob' of the British Empire: The Discovery of a New Colonial Archive
Roblox Raises $520 million at $29.5 billion valuation, will go public through direct listing
Synchronized violin players reveal uniqueness of human networks
A Stanford Lecturer Says This Trick Is the Closest You Can Come to an Off Switch for Stress
Thanks for reading!
We hope you enjoyed this edition of The Edge.
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