TLDR 2022-03-30

Meta has introduced new shortcuts to its Messenger platform. Users on iOS and Android can use @everyone and @silent from today. @everyone will notify everyone in a group chat and @silent will let users send messages without sending a notification. Meta is planning to add many more shortcuts later this year.

TikTok Library is a new in-app creation tool that allows creators to access select content from GIPHY. TikTok plans to expand the Library with additional content sources over time. GIPHY, launched in 2019, allows content makers to share short-form videos anywhere across the web with a link. It is owned by Meta, but the UK's Competition and Markets Authority has blocked Meta from fully integrating the service. TikTok Library will roll out to select markets on Android first before rolling out to iOS and users worldwide.

Scientists from Scripps Research have devised a way to make tissues transparent by using water-based hydrogels, allowing them to image large body parts or even entire animals. The technique results in high transparency, protein retention, and compatibility with direct fluorescent imaging and immunostaining in cleared mammalian bodies. It has been used to image SARS-CoV-2-infected cells in the whole chests of mice. The technique could help scientists better understand many diseases.

HB11, an Australian company, is using high-power, high-precision lasers to create nuclear fusion reactions. Its approach doesn't require huge amounts of heat or radioactive fuels like tritium. HB11's hydrogen-boron energy technology uses boron as a fuel and doesn't produce any nuclear waste. It is four orders of magnitude from achieving net energy gain and shows great potential for clean energy generation. Many more details about how HB11's hydrogen-boron energy technology works are available in the article.

wachy is a dynamic tracing profiler for Linux. It uses eBPF to dynamically instrument binaries with minimal overhead. wachy can provide accurate function latencies and latency histograms and features powerful runtime filtering. A video demo is available.

React 18 is now available on npm. This article gives an overview of what's new in React 18. React 18 features automatic batching, new APIs, streaming server-side rendering, Concurrent Rendering, and more.

Nike and creative collective CEKAI recently created a 3D advertisement on a billboard in Japan promoting Nike Air Max Day. This article features an interview with Nike Japan discussing the project, how the ad was created, and Nike Air Max Day. A video of the ad is available in the article.

Data sent back from NASA's New Horizons mission during its 2015 flyby of Pluto suggested the presence of relatively recent ice volcanoes on the dwarf planet. A recently published study adds more evidence to their existence. The ice volcanoes are found in an area with few impact craters and can reach up to 4.3 miles in height. Their existence suggests that Pluto's interior structure allows for either advanced heat retention or more heat overall than was previously anticipated. Ice volcanoes have also been discovered in other parts of the solar system.