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.
Apple is the First US Company to Cross $3 Trillion
For a brief stretch on Monday during trading, Apple became the first U.S. business to cross a $3 trillion market cap. The milestone means Apple has tripled its valuation in less than four years. With new fields blossoming in virtual/augmented reality, a space where Apple has yet to even enter, there’s little reason to expect that growth pace to slow any time soon.
Yet Another New Covid Variant Discovered
French scientists have uncovered a new Covid-19 variant originating in the African nation of Cameroon. The strain has 46 mutations, meaning it resists vaccines better and is also more infectious. Twelve cases were discovered near Marseilles, France, but so far it does not seem to be pushing the Omicron variant aside. The new discovery has not yet been recognized by the WHO or given a name. The scientists who discovered it are temporarily calling it “Variant IHU”.
NASA Scientist Believes We Can Terraform Mars — and Even Venus
On his way out the door as NASA’s chief scientist, Jim Green shared a number of things he sees in our future. In an interview with DNYUZ, Green dove into a variety of topics including the possibility of terraforming Mars, or making it habitable in other creative ways. He even sees possibilities for Venus or other planets. Green, in discussing the history of Venus, believes it could have been populated with life billions of years ago.
High-Tech Medical Implants Are Here — But Still Very Limited
For years, we’ve heard of the potential of medical implants in science fiction, but the truth is they’re already being used in a variety of ways. Plenty are already in use (pacemakers, defibrillators, and cochlear implants) and have been for decades, but the next generation of implanted medical devices will open up a whole new world. Future devices, some of which are already being tested, will be able to do such things as communicate directly with physicians, alert when there is a problem, and even stimulate brain waves.
