Every day we wake up, drink a cup of coffee, and get ready for work. Following are a handful of stories from around the tech world condensed to fit into one single cup of coffee. These are the things you need to know before you step foot out of your door (or in front of a webcam) and into the real world this morning.
So sit back, grab a cup, and start your morning off right with a few “Quick Bytes” from Innovation & Tech Today.
Doctors Find Proof of Brain Activity After Death
Space is known as the final frontier, but death, and what happens afterward, is still the greatest mystery for humankind. And while that mystery may not be unlocked any time soon, doctors in Estonia recently collected some unique data on what happens in the brain in the moments just before and just after death, shedding a little more light on it.
While monitoring the brain of a patient, doctors unintentionally collected the first electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings of a dying human brain. The patient was hooked up to the EEG to monitor brainwave activity in an attempt to detect and treat his newly developed epileptic seizures, when he had a sudden heart attack. International collaborators were then able analyze the EEG readings of his brain 30 seconds before and after death.
Results concluded brain waves were active during the entire 60 seconds. Gamma waves, which are most present during dreaming and play an important role in memory retrieval, and alpha waves, which are associated with information processing and the visual cortex, were the two most active.
This suggests that life may indeed flash before one’s eyes as he or she crosses into the great unknown. It’s a phenomenon many who have had near-death experiences attest to, with no substantiated proof to back up the claim – until now.
Pterosaur Fossil Discovery Gives New Insight Into Its Evolution
A near-complete pterosaur skeleton fossil discovered in Scotland has changed our understanding of the evolution of the pre-historic bird forever.
About 70% of the animal’s skeleton was preserved in the fossil, one of the study authors told NBC News.
The discovery reveals the pterosaur soared through the skies of a primeval Earth 170 million years ago, 25 million years earlier than previously thought. With an 8-foot wingspan, it would have been the largest flying animal during the mid-Jurassic period, according to findings published in the journal Current Biology on Tuesday.
The rare, well-preserved fossil was found in 2017 on Scotland’s Isle of Skye, but the implications of the discovery have only now presented themselves.
“It’s been the entrenched idea for a long time that the big pterosaurs are the ones in the Cretaceous and before that they’re all quite small,” said Greg Funston, a paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh and author on the paper.
Truth Social
Former president Donald Trump is hitting back after being banned indefinitely from several social media platforms. Trump, in characteristic fashion, opted to launch his own platform, called Truth Social, rather than beg forgiveness from tech giants Twitter and Meta.
The app is now live and available on the Apple app store.
Created by Trump Media & Technology Group, a company set up by Trump shortly after he left the White House in 2021, Truth Social resembles Twitter in its software format. Users can post text comments, photos, and videos to a feed, according to a video on the app as well as comment on and like other users’ posts. Users can also “retruth” a post, a functionality similar to Twitter’s retweet.
EU Proposes Data Sharing Bill
Large companies may have to start sharing non-personal data to smaller ones. The European Union is proposing a bill called the Data Act, that would force big tech companies to share non-personal data with smaller ones.
Proposed Wednesday, the bill aims distribute the commercial and industrial data only a few big companies have access to currently.
The European Commission said it anticipates the legislation could add 270 billion euros, equivalent to $305.76 billion, to the European economy by 2028.
Big tech companies argue the bill would push companies operating in Europe to store more data with European providers, rather than using American companies. The bill is the latest aimed at breaking up big tech with similar measures being proposed in the UK and Canada, and Apple recently being fined for not allowing local dating apps to use third-party payment providers.
