Episode 472: Untenable Mycorrhizae

This episode contains: Steven and Ben are joined by Ben's son playing video games in the background. When do you get "you time" when you're a parent? Steven's looking for that time. Ben suggests recontextualizing "you time" by indoctrinating his son with Star Trek. With two kids: turns out when one kid wants something, the other doesn't. Why do kids want to fight things that COULD BE FUN!??! JUST GET IN THE CAR! I guess "giving things a chance" is a form of maturity. Ben is going to a kids birthday, and then his friend's wedding. Is this the Science Faction Therapy Hour? HELL NO.

Now You See Me: Let's talk about digital assistants for the visually impaired. OKO App leverages AI to help blind pedestrians recognize traffic signals.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/gusalexiou/2023/08/10/oko-app-deploys-ai-to-make-crossing-the-street-safer-for-blind-pedestrians/?sh=55bff018687b

At the end of 2020, the New York City Department of Transportation had a class action lawsuit filed because only 443 of the city's 13,200 signalized intersections were accessible to visually impaired pedestrians via audible and tactile features. That's less than 4% of intersections in NYC. Enter OKO, a "digital seeing eye dog" of sorts that uses iPhone's camera to notify the user when a street is safe to cross. 

Dot Go. The First Object Interaction App for the Visually Impaired.
https://www.dandad.org/awards/professional/2023/236909/dot-go-the-first-object-interaction-app-for-the-visually-impaired/

Dot Go is the first object interaction app. It not only detects objects in the environment but also connects them to actions. These could be internal actions, like sounds and vibration, or external actions in other apps, websites, and even smart home devices. For example, a bus stop sign could trigger an app to open and buy a ticket. Anyone can easily build and share custom solutions with the community. Is this like Pokemon Go? Can it be more like Pokemon Go?

Dot Pad tactile display makes images touchable for visually impaired users
https://techcrunch.com/2022/03/10/dot-pad-tactile-display-makes-images-touchable-for-visually-impaired-users/?guccounter=1

Dot Pad is a smart braille device that not only allows for easy display of text, but tactile representations of imagery, potentially opening an entirely new layer for education and accessible content. Dot Pad gives the low vision community access to maps, diagrams, charts, and other illustrations, allowing easy access to content on the internet. By making productivity apps accessible, Dot Pad creates whole new career opportunities and a more inclusive workplace.

Envision Adds ChatGPT AI Sight Assistance To Its Smart Glasses For The Blind
https://www.forbes.com/sites/gusalexiou/2023/04/30/envision-adds-chatgpt-ai-sight-assistance-to-its-smart-glasses-for-the-blind/?sh=16c2aa05446f

Google Glass-like devices can now use ChatGPT to capture text through the glasses' camera, then use their voice to ask direct questions about what it sees. This may range from questions like “What is the balance of this bill” to “What are the vegetarian options on this menu?”

Blind people may want to know... how do sighted people actually lose things?

Between the forest and the trees, don't get lost! Plant and forest researchers do not 'anthropomorphize' plants. This is not more Little Shop of Horrors talk. There has been a trend in science articles to anthropomorphize plants, and it needs to stop. Why? Conjecture gets equated with fact, and that is dangerous for science. Poetry is fantastic but has no place in a scientific journal.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/09/230920111155.htm

Mid-shop Patreon-only talk: Now we have more Little Shop of Horrors talk. We talk about the upcoming film The Creator.

Science Fiction: Episode six of Ahsoka was peak Star Wars and Devon's not here to be a party pooper. "Far, Far Away" had Claudia Black as one of the Mothers of Dathomir. HOW COOL ARE EXTRAGALACTIC STORIES? Between this and Star Trek Discovery Season 4, you're gonna see something new when you go extragalactic. Too bad we'll never actually travel outside the galaxy. We finally get Star Wars Rebels season 5, with Ezra and Thrawn. The implied stories about Thrawn's broken  stormtroopers feels like the best of old Star Wars. Remember Jedi Survivor? We now have stormtrooper zombies, right? Great casting for Ezra Bridger. 

Episode 899 of Star Trek is that Very Short Treks episode that is all about how boogers are gross: "Worst Contact". Gates Mcfadden, Jonathan Frakes, and microwaved fish! Lower Decks got the 900th Star Trek ever with "Something Borrowed, Something Green". You get so much more Tendi this week, the Mistress of the Winter Constellations herself. Steven throws shade on how Star Trek episodes are counted. Star Trek's non-canon animation is just copying Star Wars, no? Remember Star Wars Visions, or Droids, or the holiday special.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem was cool, fun and nostalgic, which is just what we expected. Steven and his family watched it at Ben's house, since it's now streaming on Paramount+. There's a crazy amount of comedic vomit in it. This film reallly emphasizes the "Teenage" part of it all. This film was written for us: twelve year olds living in forty year old bodies. The design of the film is excellent: doodles and graffiti and asymmetrical faces were all great design decisions. There is nothing as disgusting as a man-rat making out with a cockroach-woman. All of the voice actors for the turtles were recorded in group recording sessions, and worked really well. Get ready for the sequel and the Tales of the TMNT tv show. Steven gushes about TMNT toys.

After-show Patreon-only talk: Portal 2 is now in VR.