<h2>Scenic Route</h2>
<p>The idea of wormholes — tunnel-like bridges connecting two points in space-time — has been around <a href="https://www.history.com/news/what-are-wormholes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">for decades</a>, with many speculating that wormholes could enable interstellar or even <a href="https://futurism.com/heres-what-wed-need-to-transform-wormholes-into-intergalactic-shortcuts">intergalactic travel</a>.</p>
<p>Now, Harvard physicist Daniel Jafferis has a dose of good news and bad news for fans of the sci-fi staple: wormholes exist, but they&#8217;re unlikely to serve as galactic shortcuts.</p>
<p>&#8220;It takes longer to get through these wormholes than to go directly, so they are not very useful for space travel,&#8221; Jafferis said in a <a href="https://www.newswise.com//articles/travel-through-wormholes-is-possible-but-slow" target="_blank" rel="noopener">news release</a>.</p>
<h2>Wrinkle in Time</h2>
<p>On Saturday, Jafferis presented a <a href="http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/APR19/Session/B02.2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">new theory on wormholes</a> at the 2019 American Physical Society April Meeting in Denver. He and his co-authors used quantum field theory tools to show that wormholes could exist and that wormhole travel is possible — but rather than being a shortcut, it&#8217;d be a longer path between two points.</p>
<p>Still, while Jafferis&#8217; wormholes couldn&#8217;t help us zip around the universe, he does think his theory could be useful in another way.</p>
<p>&#8220;The real import of this work is in relation to the black hole information problem and the connections between gravity and quantum mechanics,&#8221; Jafferis said, later adding, &#8220;I think it will teach us deep things about the gauge/gravity correspondence, quantum gravity, and even perhaps a new way to formulate quantum mechanics.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE:</strong> <a href="https://www.newswise.com//articles/travel-through-wormholes-is-possible-but-slow" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Travel through wormholes is possible, but slow</a> [American Institute of Physics]</p>
<p><strong>More on wormholes: </strong><em><a href="https://futurism.com/heres-what-wed-need-to-transform-wormholes-into-intergalactic-shortcuts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Here’s What We’d Need to Transform Wormholes Into Intergalactic Shortcuts</a></em></p>


He doesn't think they'd be very useful for space travel.

Harvard physicist: Wormhole travel is possible, but it's not fast

Slow Going

A Harvard physicist has proven that wormhole travel is possible, but rather than being a shortcut, it'd be a longer path between two points in space.

Harvard Physicist: Wormhole Travel Is Possible, but It’s Not Fast

"It takes longer to get through these wormholes than to go directly..."

<h2>Versatile Touch</h2>
<p>If we want robots to take over more tasks for humans, we need to give them more versatile hands.</p>
<p>Right now, many robot hands can only complete specialized tasks. Ones that are strong often have trouble with tasks that require a delicate touch, and soft hands often don&#8217;t pack much of a punch when it comes to strength.</p>
<p>But now, a team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University have created a <a href="http://news.mit.edu/2019/new-robot-hand-gripper-soft-and-strong-0315" target="_blank" rel="noopener">robot hand</a> that&#8217;s not only strong, but also soft — and it could usher in a new era in robotics.</p>
<h2>Show of Hands</h2>
<p>The team drew inspiration for its hand from the <a href="https://youtu.be/VgXwSdJNks8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">origami magic ball</a>. Rather than using some sort of finger-like grippers, their cone-shaped <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/openai-general-purpose-algorithms" target="_blank" rel="noopener">robot hand</a> envelopes an object and then collapses around it, much like a Venus flytrap captures its prey.</p>
<p>The pressure applied is enough for the hand to lift objects up to 100 times its own weight, but it can also handle far more delicate, light objects. A video released by MIT demonstrates the hand&#8217;s ability to pick up everything from a soup can to a banana.</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VgXwSdJNks8?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<h2>Soft, but Strong</h2>
<p>University of California at Santa Cruz robotics professor Michael Wehner, who was not involved in the project, praised the hand, noting its novelty in an interview with <em>MIT News</em>.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is a very clever device that uses the power of 3-D printing, a vacuum, and soft robotics to approach the problem of grasping in a whole new way,&#8221; Wehner said. &#8220;In the coming years, I could imagine seeing soft robots gentle and dexterous enough to pick a rose, yet strong enough to safely lift a hospital patient.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE: </strong><a href="http://news.mit.edu/2019/new-robot-hand-gripper-soft-and-strong-0315" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Robot hand is soft and strong</a> [<em>MIT News</em>]</p>
<p><strong>More on robot hands:</strong> <em><a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/openai-general-purpose-algorithms" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This AI-Operated Robotic Hand Moves With “Unprecedented Dexterity”</a></em></p>


It can lift objects up to 100 times its own weight.

New robot hand works like a Venus flytrap to grip objects

Hands Up

A team from MIT and Harvard has created a robot hand that's not only strong, but also soft — and it could usher in a new era in robotics.

New Robot Hand Works Like a Venus Flytrap to Grip Objects

The origami-inspired hand is both soft and strong.

<h2>Alien Life</h2>
<p>Avi Loeb, the chair of the Harvard Astronomy Department, has long been preoccupied with the question of whether humans are alone in the universe. He&#8217;s <a href="https://futurism.com/harvard-scientists-say-fast-radio-bursts-could-be-evidence-of-alien-life">speculated that fast radio bursts</a> could be messages from extraterrestrials, <a href="https://futurism.com/galactic-internet-contact-other-planets-300000-years">theorized about alien megastrucutres</a>, and <a href="https://futurism.com/astronomers-gearing-listen-evidence-aliens-mysterious-interstellar-object">suggested that an interstellar object</a> that cruised through our solar system could be a probe from another civilization.</p>
<p>Now, in a <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/astronomer-avi-loeb-on-the-interstellar-body-oumuamua-a-1246803.html">new interview</a> with the German magazine <em>Der Spiegel</em>, Loeb opened up further about his thoughts about the hunt for alien life — and what First Contact would mean for human civilization.</p>
<h2>Biggest Step</h2>
<p>If humankind were contacted by aliens, Loeb said, it could be the one of the most extraordinary incidents in human history.</p>
<p>&#8220;If you think about the history of humans, the perspective has changed as we have evolved — from a single individual to a family, a tribe, a country, and finally we even found other continents with people living there,&#8221; he told <em>Der Spiegel</em>. &#8220;If we were now to find other beings beyond planet Earth, this would be the biggest step ever.&#8221;</p>
<h2>First Contact</h2>
<p>What first contact would be like, Loeb said, is almost impossible to predict because of all the different ways that life could evolve outside of Earth.</p>
<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t tell you what this moment will look like,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But it will be shocking. Because we are biased by our own experiences. We imagine other beings to be similar to us. But maybe they are radically different.&#8221;</p>
<h2>Favorite Alien</h2>
<p>But when <em>Der Spiegel </em>asked Loeb what he favorite fictional alien was, he demurred.</p>
<p>&#8220;To be honest, I don&#8217;t like science fiction personally,&#8221; he told the magazine. &#8220;I have a problem when the action in a movie violates the laws of physics. In those cases, I cannot enjoy the experience aesthetically.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE:</strong> <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/astronomer-avi-loeb-on-the-interstellar-body-oumuamua-a-1246803.html">&#8216;Thinking About Distant Civilizations Isn&#8217;t Speculative&#8217;</a> [<em>Der Spiegel</em>]</p>
<p><em><strong>More on alien life: <a href="https://futurism.com/astronomers-gearing-listen-evidence-aliens-mysterious-interstellar-object">Astronomers Are Gearing Up to Listen for Evidence of Aliens from a Mysterious Interstellar Object</a></strong></em></p>


"If we were now to find other beings beyond planet Earth, this would be the biggest step ever."

Harvard astronomer predicts what first alien contact will be like

Aye LMAO

In a new interview, a Harvard astronomer opens up about the hunt for alien life — and what first alien contact would mean for human civilization.

Harvard Astronomer Predicts What First Alien Contact Will Be Like

"I can't tell you what this moment will look like. But it will be shocking."

<h2>Sky Doctors</h2>
<p>A longstanding idea to fight the <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/ipcc-report-climate-change" target="_blank" rel="noopener">catastrophic predicted effects of climate change</a> is to release a compound into the stratosphere that would reflect some of the Sun&#8217;s energy back into space. Last week, a new report estimated that a sunlight-dimming program could <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/geoengineering-climate-change" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cost as little</a> as $2 billion dollars per year.</p>
<p>Now, in a first-of-its-kind experiment, researchers from Harvard are <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07533-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">preparing to release</a> calcium carbonate into the stratosphere in 2019 — a small-scale trial that could provide crucial data about the potential risks and rewards of a larger-scale geoengineering effort.</p>
<h2>Sun Blockers</h2>
<p>The Harvard experiment will operate at a tiny scale, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07533-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to <em>Nature</em></a>. The researchers will send a steerable balloon up into the stratosphere, where it&#8217;ll release about 100 grams of calcium carbonate. Calcium carbonate, which is the active ingredient in antacids, is a tempting candidate for geoengineering efforts because simulations show that it could stay in the air for years as it reflects sunlight.</p>
<p>After releasing the calcium carbonate, the balloon will use a laser imaging system to watch how the particles disperse — data the researchers can use to model how larger quantities of the substance might behave.</p>
<h2>Stratos-Fear</h2>
<p>Critics say that geoengineering efforts are Band-Aid solutions that treat the symptoms of climate change instead of the cause: global carbon emissions. Jim Thomas, the co-executive director of an environmental advocacy organization called the ETC Group, told <em>Nature</em> that he fears the Harvard project could push the concept of geoengineering into the mainstream.</p>
<p>But advocates say that anything that could buy some extra time in the face of looming climate catastrophe is worth exploring.</p>
<p>&#8220;I’m studying a chemical substance,&#8221; Harvard researcher Zhen Dai told <em>Nature</em>. “It’s not like it’s a nuclear bomb.”<strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>READ MORE:</strong> <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07533-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">First Sun-Dimming Experiment Will Test a Way to Cool Earth</a> [<em>Nature</em>]</p>
<div>
<p><strong>More on geoengineering: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/geoengineering-climate-change" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Scientists Want to Fight Climate Change by Dimming the Sun</a></strong></p>
</div>


"I’m studying a chemical substance. It’s not like it’s a nuclear bomb."

Harvard scientists to release sun-dimming sky chemical in 2019

Dark Skies

In a first-of-its-kind experiment, researchers from Harvard are preparing to release the sun-dimming chemical calcium carbonate into the stratosphere.

Harvard Scientists to Release Sun-Dimming Sky Chemical in 2019

But just a tiny bit, to see what happens.

<p>What is the big deal with soft robots? It seems like pretty much every week, another robot crawls onto the scene, seemingly alive with &#8220;hands,&#8221; a soft body, and even autonomous movement. They can look fairly mechanical, as in the case of<a href="https://futurism.com/exploring-worlds-oceans-seabed-soft-robotics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> underwater ROVs</a>; or they can also look shockingly organic, <a href="https://futurism.com/videos/this-soft-bot-could-change-the-robotics-industry/">like the Octobot</a> — the first autonomous soft robot in the world. In a recent study published in the <a href="https://phys.org/journals/advanced-materials/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">journal </a><i><a href="https://phys.org/journals/advanced-materials/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Advanced Materials</a></i>, researchers at Harvard University have <a href="https://phys.org/news/2018-02-d-method-embeds-capabilities-robotic.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">brought these lifelike robots t</a>o new heights by giving them the ability to sense and feel the world around them.</p>
<p>These are remarkable feats of engineering, to be sure. But soft robots are actually useful, too. And each incremental advance brings them closer to fulfilling their larger potential in a variety of applications.</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/khGqtnTH5Dw?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Take this project from Harvard, that sensing soft robot. With a better sense of touch, robots can better respond to respond to pressure, movement, and even temperature. That&#8217;s simply cool (and frankly a little freaky to watch in videos), but that quality is also important because it could improve the precision and dexterity of robots and robotic extensions.</p>
<p>Soft robots that are more responsive to different types of stimuli make them more <a href="https://www.a3automate.org/many-uses-soft-flexible-robots/">delicate and refined grippers</a> <span class="s1">— </span>or &#8220;hands&#8221; <span class="s1">— </span>for machines. Whether researchers are <a href="https://futurism.com/exploring-worlds-oceans-seabed-soft-robotics/">picking up delicate specimens</a> deep in the ocean or completing repairs on the outside of the ISS, it&#8217;s essential to have robotic extremities that are easy-to-control and dextrous. Pressure-sensitive grippers that can tell whether they&#8217;re holding a gelatinous squid or a tiny screw, and adjust their grip accordingly, could prevent time-consuming and even dangerous mistakes.</p>
<p>Soft robotics also have<a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/soft-robotics-biomedical-surgery/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> potential medical applications</a>. Robots are increasingly <a href="https://med.nyu.edu/robotic-surgery/physicians/what-robotic-surgery" target="_blank" rel="noopener">making their way into surgical procedures</a>, assisting physicians and turning major surgery into a minimally invasive procedure. If physicians used soft robots that could feel and respond to stimuli, they could be enormously more precise, and pose a smaller risk of damaging soft tissue and sensitive organs with the wrong amount of pressure.</p>
<p>When looking at a squiggling, transparent &#8220;octopus,&#8221; it can be difficult to see the practical applications of this emerging field — and one can only get excited so many times about a technology that doesn&#8217;t yet have any application to our lives. Yet despite the hype, each new advance does bring us closer to the broader use of soft robotics in place of existing technologies. When we get there, there&#8217;s no telling how much better our lives could get, or how much more scientists might know about the world.</p>


It turns out sensitive robots could improve everything from surgery to deep-sea exploration.

We now have soft robots with a sense of touch. But why?

Robots & Machines

Soft robots are more than just cool new inventions — they could have applications in everything from space exploration to medicine.

We Now Have Soft Robots With a Sense of Touch. But Why?

You should be excited. They're cool. And also useful. 

<p>Organ transplantation is a miracle of modern medicine, but it has a pipeline problem: roughly 20 people <a href="https://unos.org/data/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">die every day</a> while waiting for an organ transplant. Scientists at Harvard Medical School think they may be able to solve that problem by sprucing up old organs from pigs and animals, giving the organs and their new owners alike a new lease on life.</p>
<p>Surgeon Harald Ott and his lab have developed a method that strips animal organs of their cells by washing them in a detergent, leaving behind a tissue scaffold that can be seeded with human stem cells from the patient in need. This would prevent a patient&#8217;s body from rejecting the organ, and mean that transplantees would not need to spend their lives on anti-rejection drugs. As the cells grow on this scaffold, the lab uses a bioreactor that pumps the organ, keeping it healthy by stimulating it in the same way it would move in the body.</p>
<p>The team <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/610178/cant-get-new-lungs-try-refurbished-ones-instead/?utm_source=newsletters&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=2018-02-20&amp;utm_campaign=the_download" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has successfully refurbished</a> lungs, kidneys, hearts, and <a href="https://hsci.harvard.edu/news/harald-ott-and-team-mgh-creates-functional-stem-cell-derived-small-bowel-segments" target="_blank" rel="noopener">portions of intestines</a> from rats and pigs to make them human-donor compatible, and then transplanted those organs back into animals. Though the human cells in these transplanted organs made them incompatible with the rats&#8217; and pigs&#8217; bodies, the organs worked — showing significant promise for future human trials. The lab also <a href="http://www.massgeneral.org/News/pressrelease.aspx?id=1910" target="_blank" rel="noopener">successfully re-grew muscle</a> within human cadaver hearts that had been similarly stripped of their cells.</p>
<figure id="attachment_123752" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="wp-image-123752 size-large" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2018/02/humanheart-1200x1553.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="1553" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">A human heart partially re-seeded with human stem cells being cultured in a bioreactor. Image credit: Bernhard Jank, Ott Lab, Center for Regenerative Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital</figcaption></figure>
<p>&#8220;Your iPhone breaks, your battery breaks, you switch it out. Medicine, in some ways, is possibly moving in that direction,&#8221; Ott<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-lab-grown-organs-could-save-lives-1514412958" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> told the <i>Wall Street Journal</i></a>. &#8220;I could measure you up, basically, take an organ off a shelf, ideally make it personalized so that you wouldn&#8217;t reject it, and then I would implant it into you.&#8221;</p>
<p>However, Ott estimates it will be at least a decade before these organs will be ready for clinical trials in humans. In the mean time, Ott is among a wide group of scientists seeking to improve the transplantation process. From better methods of <a href="https://futurism.com/a-new-technique-could-revolutionize-organ-transplants/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">preserving donor organs</a>, to <a href="https://futurism.com/gene-editing-breakthrough-could-let-us-to-transplant-pig-organs-into-humans/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gene editing pig organs</a> for humans, to even bio-printing and <a href="https://futurism.com/artificial-organs-entering-era-transplants-obsolete/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">growing human organs in the lab</a>, the era of patients waiting endlessly on transplant lists may be coming to an end.</p>


The team has already modified organs from rats and pigs to make them human-donor compatible.

Refurbished organs could save millions on the transplant list

Health & Medicine

A surgeon is giving animal organs a makeover using a tissue scaffold that can be seeded with human stem cells from the patient in need of a transplant.

Refurbished Organs Could Save Millions on the Transplant List

The method spruces up animal and human organs with new stem cells. 

Historically, robots have been fairly durable but clumsy.

Flexible, foldable robot muscles are more powerful than ever before

Origami-inspired robot muscles allow us to produce new soft robots, which are stronger and appear more organic than previous versions.

Flexible, Foldable Robot Muscles are More Powerful Than Ever Before

<h2>Healing Arsenal</h2>
<p>Bandaging technology has come a long way in the almost 100 years since Band-Aids were first introduced. Now, researchers from the <a href="https://www.unl.edu/" target="_blank">University of Nebraska-Lincoln</a>, <a href="https://hms.harvard.edu/" target="_blank">Harvard Medical School</a>, and <a href="http://web.mit.edu/" target="_blank">MIT</a> are ready to usher in the next century of wound care with a smart bandage whose individual fibers store medications that can be deployed using a smartphone or another mobile device.</p>
<figure style="width: 360px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://futurism.com/images/wearable-technology/"><img src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/07/Homepage-Thumbnail-1.jpg" alt="Wearable Technology" ></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text center"><strong><a href="https://futurism.com/images/wearable-technology/" target="_blank">Click to View Full Infographic</a></figcaption></strong></figure>
<p>The bandage is made up of electrically conductive fibers that are coated in a gel that can house medications — anything from antibiotics to painkillers in any effective combination. Individual fibers can then be activated via voltage from a connected microcontroller no larger than a postage stamp using a connected mobile device.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is the first bandage that is capable of dose-dependent drug release,&#8221; Ali Tamayol, assistant professor of mechanical and materials engineering at Nebraska, explained <a href="http://news.unl.edu/newsrooms/today/article/smart-bandage-could-promote-better-faster-healing/" target="_blank">in a press release</a>. &#8220;You can release multiple drugs with different release profiles. That&#8217;s a big advantage in comparison with other systems. What we did here was come up with a strategy for building a bandage from the bottom up.&#8221;</p>
<h2>Bring on the Biotech</h2>
<p>As Tamayol noted in the press release, &#8220;This is a platform that can be applied to many different areas of biomedical engineering and medicine.&#8221; Not only could it be useful for dealing with battlefield injuries, it could also help in the treatment of chronic wounds, which are common in patients living with diabetes.</p>
<p>An estimated 25 million Americans could be experiencing these wounds right now, and as Tamayol explains, &#8220;The medical cost associated with these types of wounds is tremendous. So there is a big need to find solutions for that.&#8221;</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3d6uFlRuPZY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>This isn&#8217;t the only next-generation bandage in development, either. A team from Swansea University’s Institute of Life Science has created bandages loaded with <a href="https://futurism.com/futuristic-smart-bandages-use-5g-data-track-human-health/">nanoscale sensors</a> that can instantly transmit health information to medical professionals using 5G wireless data. <a href="https://futurism.com/regenerative-bandage-heals-wounds-4x-faster-than-a-standard-bandage/" target="_blank">Heat-responsive bandages</a> that cause wounds to heal faster are also in the works.</p>
<p>Technology is providing us with remarkable ways to enhance our natural biological processes, and this emerging field will create new avenues of treatment for medical professionals to consider. Some are even experimenting with the use of tech to <a href="https://futurism.com/brain-dead-brought-back-life-thanks-new-biotech-experiments/">revive brain dead individuals</a>.</p>
<p>However, most of these technologies are in their infancy and will take time to develop before they are approved for widespread use. In the interim, we can look forward to a time when technology and human biology work together to create a healthier world.</p>


This is the next generation of wound care.

Harvard's futuristic "intelligent bandages" can repair your body

The doctor is wrapping a bandage in the hand of a man

A team of researchers have developed a smart bandage that delivers medications to a wound when triggered by a mobile device.

Harvard’s Futuristic “Intelligent Bandages” Can Repair Your Body

The drugs are deployed via a smartphone.

<h2>Going Green</h2>
<p>When it comes to the environment, greener is generally better. Except of course, when it comes to ecosystems that are specifically defined by freezing temperatures and ice.</p>
<p>In recent years, the Arctic sea ice has noticeably been getting greener. Scientists knew that the green was coming from <a href="http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/phyto.html">phytoplanktons, microscopic marine plants</a> that are growing under the sea ice. But these tiny organisms need sunlight, and it is impossible for them to grow and thrive in areas where the sun can’t reach them, like under thick ice.</p>
<p><img class="alignright" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/04/sea_ice_light_penetrationV2-1200x1393.jpg" alt="The Arctic Is Rapidly Turning Green, and It’s a Serious Problem" width="407" height="472" /></p>
<p>Today, international researchers conclude that the record low levels of sea ice in the Arctic are actually to blame for the increase in phytoplanktons. Instead of the ice reflecting the sunlight, it has thinned to a point that sunlight is now penetrating it, thus allowing phytoplankton colonies to thrive below the ice.</p>
<p>&#8220;[W]e went from a state where there wasn&#8217;t any potential for plankton blooms to massive regions of the Arctic being susceptible to these types of growth,&#8221; said one of the team members, Chris Horvat, in a <a href="https://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2017/03/solving-mystery-of-arctic-s-green-ice">press release</a> from Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). Horvat is first author of <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/3/e1601191">the research paper</a> and a graduate student at the SEAS.</p>
<h2>Greener Isn’t Always Better</h2>
<p>Their conclusion is based on a mathematical model that allowed them to build a computer simulation of the ice conditions from 1986 to 2015 — and it confirmed their theory that the ice thickness was not only decreasing, but <a href="http://www.livescience.com/47179-arctic-melt-pond-photos.html">melt pools</a> were also rising.</p>
<p>Based on their findings, it seems that only a small fraction, around 3 or 4 percent, of the Arctic sea ice would allow phytoplankton growth 20 years ago. By 2015, almost 30 percent of the sea ice was thin enough to allow phytoplankton to thrive in the summer.</p>
<figure style="width: 360px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://futurism.com/images/our-warming-world-the-future-of-climate-change-infographic/"><img src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2016/09/climate-change-timeline_home_v1-900x600.jpg" alt="Our Warming World: The Future of Climate Change [INFOGRAPHIC]" ></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text center"><strong><a href="https://futurism.com/images/our-warming-world-the-future-of-climate-change-infographic/" target="_blank">Click to View Full Infographic</a></figcaption></strong></figure>
<p>This nearly 10x increase of thin ice could radically shift how the affected ecosystem works. If conditions beneath the ice of the Arctic sea continue to become more hospitable for phytoplanktons, they could eventually opt to grow under the icy waters and make themselves unavailable to sea creatures that depend on them as a food source.</p>
<p>“All of a sudden, our entire idea about how this ecosystem works is different,&#8221; Horvat said in the press release. &#8220;The foundation of the Arctic food web is now growing at a different time and in places that are less accessible to animals that need oxygen.&#8221;</p>
<p>Because of <span class="wp-glossary wpg-tooltip" data-termid="73337" data-content="full" data-qtipstyle="dark">climate change</span>, scientists believe this greening will continue. This is new information adds to <a href="https://futurism.com/watch-136-years-of-climate-change-in-new-nasa-video/">the evidence</a> that we need need to <a href="https://futurism.com/stephen-hawking-america-must-take-action-against-climate-change/">address the impact</a> we are having on our environment. After all, what happens in the Arctic isn’t an isolated event — the entire planet is interconnected.</p>


Earth & Energy

Researchers have determined that thinning Artic sea ice has caused a massive bloom of phytoplankton that is growing under it.

The Arctic Is Rapidly Turning Green, and It’s a Serious Problem

Thin Arctic sea ice has grown from 3% to 30% over the past 20 years.

<h2>Stackable Homes</h2>
<p>As cities continue to fill with people, eventually there will be nowhere left to spread but up. And since sky-high rent in cramped, decaying apartments isn&#8217;t exactly the ideal living situation of the future, Jeff Wilson, a Harvard researcher, imagined a better reality.</p>
<p>While dean of Huston-Tillotson University in Texas, Wilson spent a full year living in a dumpster. He was inspired by this experience and came to embrace the idea of &#8220;tiny living,&#8221; a minimalist lifestyle that creates an alternative, streamlined way of life without clutter.</p>
<p>According to Wilson, &#8220;While the experiment was extreme, the experience I gained by living small and simple made a big impression &#8230; At the end of the year, I left the dumpster with the concept for a new category of housing — a beautiful, small footprint home designed as a solution for the growing housing crisis.&#8221;</p>
<figure style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/03/Kasita-outside.jpg" alt="*3* Harvard Engineer Invents Stackable Homes That Take Just 3 Weeks to Build" width="1200" height="800" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Image Credit: Kasita</figcaption></figure>
<p>In 2015, this concept took shape as <a href="https://kasita.com/" target="_blank">Kasita</a>, a housing startup designed to deliver pre-fabricated, affordable, minimalistic housing units boasting 352 square feet of space for a cost of $139,000. Each unit can be used individually or stacked and combined to house multiple families. Kasita homes take only weeks to construct and can be installed in as little as one day. Theoretically, they could be bought and moved from location to location with little difficulty.</p>
<p>Kasita hopes to deliver the first of its homes by June 2017, and it currently has a waitlist for preorders.</p>
<h2>Inside a Kasita</h2>
<p>Kasita&#8217;s tiny homes merge the concept of home ownership with the realities of a growing population. If potential homeowners are comfortable with the minimalist lifestyle, they could enjoy a drastic decrease in the cost of ownership and also the simplicity that seems to go hand in hand with tiny homes.</p>
<figure style="width: 460px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://futurism.com/images/these-are-the-skyscrapers-of-tomorrow/" target="_blank"><img src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/03/460-skyscrapers-of-the-future.jpg" alt="*3* Harvard Engineer Invents Stackable Homes That Take Just 3 Weeks to Build" width="460" height="307" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text"><a href="https://futurism.com/images/these-are-the-skyscrapers-of-tomorrow/&quot;" target="_blank">CLICK TO VIEW FULL INFOGRAPHIC</a></figcaption></figure>
<p>Given the pricy rents and high home ownership costs in increasingly crowded cities, small, stackable living could be the next big thing. When the first Kasita homes are installed this summer, we&#8217;ll find out how people really feel about these minimalistic homes, but Jeff Wilson definitely knows a thing or two about living simply and efficiently. If his idea catches on, long gone could be the days of having a mortgage that takes a lifetime to pay off.</p>
<p>Take a look at these futuristic, stackable homes for yourself.</p>
<p>This image offers a peek inside the living/kitchen space of a Kasita housing unit, which do not come furnished.</p>
<figure style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/03/Kasita-Kitchen.jpg" alt="*3* Harvard Engineer Invents Stackable Homes That Take Just 3 Weeks to Build" width="1200" height="675" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Image Credit: Kasita</figcaption></figure>
<p>This photo provides an overhead look at the living/dining/kitchen space in one of the units.</p>
<figure style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/03/Kasita-Bench.jpg" alt="*3* Harvard Engineer Invents Stackable Homes That Take Just 3 Weeks to Build" width="1200" height="800" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Image Credit: Kasita</figcaption></figure>
<p>White walls and plenty of windows help prevent the units from feeling cramped. The windows even adjust their transparency based on the light outside.</p>
<figure style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/03/kasita-bed.jpg" alt="*3* Harvard Engineer Invents Stackable Homes That Take Just 3 Weeks to Build" width="1200" height="800" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Image Credit: Kasita</figcaption></figure>


Future Society

These tiny houses could be the future of cities.

/Harvard

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Harvard’s Futuristic “Intelligent Bandages” Can Repair Your Body

Earth & Energy

The Arctic Is Rapidly Turning Green, and It’s a Serious Problem

Future Society

A Harvard Engineer Invented Stackable Homes

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