It’s been a busy, eventful month here in Malaysia and things have been interesting on the science front as well.

• Last month I had an entry about brain organoids and the ethical implications therein. This here is an article about the same thing except using stem cells edited using CRISPR to more closely resemble Neanderthal DNA. The hope is that it would yield insights into behavioral differences between Neanderthal and humans.
• In space news, a reexamination of old data showed that the Galileo spacecraft apparently passed through a plume of water shooting into space while doing a flyby of Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons. With both water and apparently enough energy in the system to send geysers into space, this makes the moon an even more attractive prospect to search for life.
• One story that made the rounds a fair bit is how California police apparently use genealogical data to trace a murderer. Using DNA found at crime scenes dating from the 1970s, they matched it to people living in the 1800s, then followed the family trees back to the present to find descendants who most closely fit the profile they were looking for. It’s an impressive piece of detective work boosted by modern technology that would put any CSI episode to shame but as usual raises all kinds of privacy concerns as information about one person can reveal information about others.
• I’m not sure how legitimate this next bit is as it seems rather far-fetched but SCMP is usually a reliable source so here it is. The article is about how large companies in China are collecting data directly from the brains of their employees by having them wear headgear with sensors that monitor brainwaves. The idea is that they can then measure fatigue, emotional spikes, attention loss etc. Needless to say all this data is extremely useful and valuable, allowing the employers to have far more control and knowledge over the performance of different employees, how best to arrange shifts and work routines and so on but it’s pretty scary to give this level of power to companies.
• Finally here’s a more wide-ranging article about how a variety of companies have learned to use classical music to deter unwanted people from loitering near their premises. The practice was apparently first used by 7-11 stores to repel loiterers in the 1980s but is now common in many transit systems. Baroque music in particular seems to work best to discourage transients from being too comfortable but as the article states, it feels sinister to weaponize classical music in this manner.