Thoughtful Forest

AI, your age, and your bugs.
THE GIST Getting old isn’t only happening to you, it is happening to your personal microorganism community as well. What we didn’t quite realize until as of late (thanks to a study out of UCSanDiego) is that you can actually predict the age of a person based on what’s going on with the critters in their bodies. How? Using machine learning artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. THE BACKGROUND The human body is host to millions of microorganisms, many of which are bacteria, and make up what is called the ‘microbiota’. Most of this community of tiny life is acquired in the process...
AI, your age, and your bugs.
THE GIST Getting old isn’t only happening to you, it is happening to your personal microorganism community as well. What we didn’t quite realize until as of late (thanks to a study out of UCSanDiego) is that you can actually predict the age of a person based on...
Pay Attention to Peat!
Two articles have been released this week - both focusing on the significance of peat as a factor of climate change. The interesting thing is both studies look at two fairly different aspects of the matter and in two very different regions of the world. My first...
Meerkats who have more sex have been found to age faster!
True story, according to a recent study breeding takes years off their little lives - but interestingly enough non breeding individuals STILL die younger. Let's explore why this is such a fascinating fact. If you are unfamiliar with the relationship between mating...