Retro Star Wars-inspired tech gets a modern reboot
Holograms might change the way you play video games.
The Rock has announced that he will be rebooting his 2002 Mummy spin-off, The Scorpion King. Until the scorpions reign supreme again, we've got the best nature, science, and tech news right here on the Inverse Daily
And now, our question of the week: What overlooked superhero do you think needs to have their own video game? Who needs to truly leap off the page and into pixels and hasn't gotten their fair shot yet? No superhero is too obscure! Shoot an email to newsletter@inverse.com and we'll publish our favorite responses at the end of the week!
This is an adapted version of the Inverse Daily newsletter for November 12, 2020. Subscribe for free and earn rewards for reading every day in your inbox.
Unlock the swag — 5 steps cities can take to avoid future lockdowns
As coronavirus cases continue to surge, policymakers are weighing strategies to tamp down transmission — without wreaking economic devastation. It's a tall order. While lockdown measures have helped curb an estimated 60 million infections in the United States, shutdowns don't come without costs. The number of people not in the labor force who want a job spiked by 4.5 million in April and has remained elevated.
Instead of locking down completely, some scientists suggest targeted, context-specific policies that can limit the spread of Covid-19.
"It doesn't have to be all or nothing." →
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Face time — This wrinkle-faced bat uses a bizarre face mask for sex
Despite their huge presence in our cultural landscape and the news, we know strangely little about bats —especially their mating habits.
But a new study published Wednesday in PLOS ONE has unearthed a treasure trove of behavioral information for the first time about the male Centurio Senex bat, which lives in Mexico, Central America, and the northern parts of South America.
Specifically: a strange face mask that it uses to entice the ladies to reproduce.
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Ultra-rare — Scientists capture ghostly images of rare deep sea squid in Australian waters
The deep sea is our planet's most mysterious environment, where strange creatures lurk like something straight out of Jaws.
Now, a new study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE sheds some light on one of these creatures — the deep sea bigfin squid (Magnapinna sp.). This cephalopod is one of the rarest sights in the ocean, and this is the first time the squid has been spotted in Australian waters.
Thankfully, scientists managed to snap a picture before the squid disappeared once more into the inky depths.
Scientists have been waiting a long time for this →
More like this:
Coming soon ...
Few creatures stand out as powerfully in the American mythos as the wolf. Working together as a pack, wolves can dominate their environment as predators. Their impact can be so tremendous that scientists have encouraged their reintroduction to the wild for years. But new research has surprised scientists with how deep that impact can be.
Check back later this week on Inverse for a look into the delicate and dangerous nature of ecosystems.
Choices — Tesla’s electric car lineup: your guide to the Model S, 3, X, Y, and beyond
Tesla has helped to transform the electric car from eco-curiosity into a sought-after piece of tech — but choosing between the company's offerings can be tricky.
The company's lineup is pretty straightforward, but from there, the special features and other options can be overwhelming at first glance. But Inverse has the answer to your most pressing questions, including which ones will offer full self-driving, which is the cheapest Tesla, and which offers the most battery range.
Here's what you need to know.
Find the right Tesla for you →
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Use the Force — Retro Star Wars-inspired tech gets a modern reboot
When the fate of a galaxy far, far away was at risk, the embattled Princess Leia turned to a trusted technology to get her message out: holograms.
Invented by scientist Dennis Gabor more than 70 years ago, holograms have since played a bigger role in science fiction than they have in our daily lives. That's because the technology required to produce these mind-bending projections has needed just too much computing power — and too much hardware — for holograms to be practical in everyday use.
But researchers at the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology in South Korea are taking a new approach to holographic technology. The device they've come up with is both extremely small and runs off a single, custom processing chip in real-time.
Together, the researchers believe these advances could finally bring holograms to your smartphone — changing gaming and communication forever.
More like this:
- Scientists made mice hallucinate by shining holograms onto their brains
- The 6 Star Wars technologies inventors and scientists have already made real
And if that's not enough for you, check out the best animated steampunk movie leaving Netflix soon.
I also want to say that after a day of unexpected technical difficulties, I'm happy to be back writing Inverse Daily. I want to publicly thank Nick and the whole behind-the-scenes team of the Daily (Evan and Chelsea) for their tremendous work, day in and day out, especially over the last few days.
Thank you for reading! Follow me on Twitter if you want, where I tweet too much.
