Could You Adapt to Having an Extra Thumb?
Curiosity Weekly
Warner Bros. Discovery
4.6 • 963 Ratings
🗓️ 8 July 2021
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Learn about a robotic “third thumb”; how measuring time increases entropy; and how to distinguish friends from foes.
People's brains adapted to having a robotic "third thumb" by Steffie Drucker
- UCL. (2021, May 19). Robotic “Third Thumb” use can alter brain representation of the hand. UCL News. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2021/may/robotic-third-thumb-use-can-alter-brain-representation-hand
- Kieliba, P., Clode, D., Maimon-Mor, R. O., & Makin, T. R. (2021). Robotic hand augmentation drives changes in neural body representation. Science Robotics, 6(54), eabd7935. https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.abd7935
- Video: https://vimeo.com/551468278
- Teen turns prosthetic arm into glitter-shooting unicorn horn [VIDEO] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf91U06GII8
Measuring time increases the entropy in the universe by Briana Brownell
- Pearson, A. N., Guryanova, Y., Erker, P., Laird, E. A., Briggs, G. A. D., Huber, M., & Ares, N. (2021). Measuring the Thermodynamic Cost of Timekeeping. Physical Review X, 11(2). https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevx.11.021029
- O’Callaghan, J. (2021, May 20). How does time work? Livescience.com; Live Science. https://www.livescience.com/how-does-time-work.html
- Schirber, M. (2021). Keeping Time on Entropy’s Dime. Physics, 14. https://physics.aps.org/articles/v14/s54
- Crane, L. (2020). Measuring time accurately increases the entropy in the universe. New Scientist. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2277050-measuring-time-accurately-increases-the-entropy-in-the-universe/
- A clock’s accuracy may be tied to the disorder it creates. (2021, April 28). Science News. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/clock-time-accuracy-entropy-disorder
To Scope Someone Out, See How They Judge Others by Anna Todd
- What you say about others says a lot about you, research shows. (2021). ScienceDaily. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100802165441.htm
- Wood, D., Harms, P., & Vazire, S. (2010). Perceiver effects as projective tests: What your perceptions of others say about you. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99(1), 174–190. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019390
- Schwantes, M. (2017, March 27). Asking This 1 Question Will Instantly Reveal Someone’s Personality. Inc.com; Inc. https://www.inc.com/marcel-schwantes/how-to-read-people-instantly-by-asking-1-simple-question.html
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, you're about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from Curiosity.com. |
| 0:06.0 | I'm Cody Gough. |
| 0:07.0 | And I'm Ashley Hamer. |
| 0:08.0 | Today you learn about how quickly people's brains adapted to having a robotic third thumb, how measuring time increases the entropy |
| 0:16.1 | in the universe, and how to scope someone out by seeing how they judge others. |
| 0:21.3 | Let's satisfy some curiosity. |
| 0:23.0 | Usually people use prosthetics to replace a body part that they've lost. |
| 0:29.2 | But what if you could use prosthetics to gain extra abilities. Would that even work? Well according to a team |
| 0:36.0 | of researchers at University College London, the answer is yes. People trained to use a |
| 0:42.0 | prosthetic third thumb not only learned to use it, but could do more than they could before. |
| 0:49.0 | This was a venture where Art met science. |
| 0:52.0 | Designer Danny Clode designed the robotic thumb for her graduate project, |
| 0:57.0 | which aimed to reframe how we think about prosthetics |
| 1:01.0 | as an extension rather than a replacement. A group of |
| 1:05.0 | neuroscientists at University College London happens to be investigating how the |
| 1:09.6 | brain adapts to bodily augmentation, so they teamed up. |
| 1:14.0 | Here's how the thumb works. |
| 1:16.0 | It's 3D printed and designed to be worn on the opposite side of the hand from the real thumb. |
| 1:22.0 | You control it by pressing on wireless |
| 1:24.8 | pressure sensors under your big toes, kind of like the way you would press a |
| 1:28.8 | pedal on a sewing machine. Twenty right-handed people put on the thumb and learn to use it over five days. |
| 1:36.0 | In their practice sessions, they performed tasks that required using their natural hand together with the third thumb, stuff like picking up several wine |
... |
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