"Some argue it's the only way to save the species"

"By being unreal, she is an error-proof ideal. And by being the ideal, she represents a liberation from celebrity as much as its fulfillment. A pop singer today is, mostly, a beautiful image of a person who sings other people's material, and those other people, the creators, are mostly forgotten. "There are plenty of people who can do great music but who will never get on stage because they're not young, fit, beautiful people," says Amy Fineshriber, a fan who also occasionally works for Crypton Media. She has a point. When was the last time you saw a bad-looking pop singer? Hatsune Miku spares the creators the need to have the bodies they cannot have. For the imperfect, the overweight, the shy, the normal kids with regular bodies who just love pop music, Hatsune Miku bears the burden of the perfection demanded from celebrities, so that these kids can make the music they want to hear."

"CRISPR is fast becoming a household term, with one of the key scientists exploring this gene-editing mechanism following close behind. Jennifer Doudna, PhD, a biochemist at the University of California, Berkeley, co-authored a breakthrough paper in 2012 examining how it works and suggesting how it might be harnessed by humans. Such a tool is already beginning to transform agriculture, medicine, and our understanding of the human species. It's also dusting up a fair amount of controversy. With transformative technologies come ethical questions: How should CRISPR be used, for what, and by whom? No surprise, these questions are being debated in boardrooms and in the courts as leading scientists compete for startup funding and face off against their former collaborators in patent disputes about who can use the tech."

"It's easy to believe that the human race won't be around for long, when you consider the state of the world today. But it's often been the role of the artist to bring us hope. That's why we've asked several illustrators this month to envision what humans might look like in 100 years as part of our monthly magazine, Future Human. You can check out the first and second entry here. This week's installment imagines technology as a positive force rather than one that will destroy us. Maybe we'll pour all of our workforces into a global cleanup crew. Or maybe we'll use augmented reality to build empathy and conserve resources. There are endless possibilities. Which fork in the road will you take?"

"Imagine that you could open an app, while you're riding on the subway or sitting at a bar, that could tell you everything about everyone sitting around you. Using facial recognition software, it could tap into social networks and databases to show you each person's name and occupation. It could tell you whether you share mutual friends or common interests. It could even pull up their financial or criminal records. The potential for abuse is so dire, even Microsoft's president recently called on the government to regulate the technology. Judith Donath, a social technology researcher who has spent decades studying online culture at MIT and Harvard, believes this sort of advanced facial recognition technology is inevitable. But whether it turns into the ultimate icebreaker or a digital panopticon, she says, is entirely up to us."

"Chips will offer more benefits as the technology progresses, McMullan believes. "We are developing medical uses that will monitor vital signs. Doctors will be able to proactively treat patients rather than always react," he says. McMullan believes the numbers of chipped employees worldwide will reach millions over a few years because the benefits of a sub-$100 chip are potentially huge."

"Technology has always promised a better future … eventually. Somehow the real breakthroughs have always seemed to be just around the corner. But somehow, when we weren't quite paying attention, the future actually arrived. Thanks to forward-thinking researchers calling on advances in genomics, artificial intelligence, food science, and drug hacking, a more resilient, enlightened, and cognitively-, physically-, and sexually-enhanced human already walks among us. (And her skin is amazing.) Here, eight exciting new health technologies - and where they're heading next."

"Immersion can already put you inside a giant redwood and a cell in Maine State Prison, and developers are building ways to holographically transport us into 3D digital worlds and allow us to live the experiences of another person. But how far can this go-and how will it change us? We talked to five immersive technology pioneers working across journalism, filmmaking, storytelling, and scientific research. Their ideas offer a range of perspectives about the potential of immersive technologies. What they all have in common, however, is the belief that immersive technology can be a positive force for the future - depending on what the rest of us choose to do with it."

"This software engineer let an algorithm pick where he lives, what he does-even what tattoo to get. Is he onto something?"

"Phones, email, and texting have reduced these wait times to almost zero, but delays are still instrumental to understanding how people communicate, argues Jason Farman, a media scholar at the University of Maryland. "Waiting is seen as an antiquated practice that needs to be eliminated," he writes in his new book, Delayed Response: The Art of Waiting From the Ancient to the Instant World, before suggesting that something gets lost in a culture that prizes instantaneousness."

"Don't like the media? Think it's all "lies" or "fake"? Then you're probably not as good at reading the news as your less perpetually annoyed peers. That's one finding from a new study from the News Co/Lab at Arizona State, in collaboration with the Center for Media Engagement at the University of Texas. Those who have negative opinions of the news media are less likely to spot a fake headline, less likely to differentiate between news and opinion - but more confident in their ability to find the information they need online."

"Social media influencers ply their trade in realms far beyond fake lashes. Marketers of literature, wellness, fashion, entertainment, and other wares are all hooked on influencers. As brands have warmed to social-media advertising, influencer marketing has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry. Unlike traditional television or print ads, influencers have dedicated niche followings who take their word as gospel. There's another plus: Many users don't view influencers as paid endorsers or salespeople-even though a significant percentage are-but as trusted experts, friends, and "real" people. This perceived authenticity is part of why brands shell out so much cash in exchange for a brief appearance in your Instagram feed."

"For more than a year, Facebook has endured cascading crises - over Russian misinformation, data privacy and abusive content - that transformed the Silicon Valley icon into an embattled giant accused of corporate overreach and negligence. An investigation by The New York Times revealed how Facebook fought back against its critics: with delays, denials and a full-bore campaign in Washington. Here are six takeaways."

"The promise of Facebook was to create a more open and connected world. But from the company's failure to protect millions of users' data, to the proliferation of "fake news" and disinformation, mounting crises have raised the question: Is Facebook more harmful than helpful? On Monday, Oct. 29, and Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018, FRONTLINE presents The Facebook Dilemma. This major, two-night event investigates a series of warnings to Facebook as the company grew from Mark Zuckerberg's Harvard dorm room to a global empire. With dozens of original interviews and rare footage, The Facebook Dilemma examines the powerful social media platform's impact on privacy and democracy in the U.S. and around the world."

Good advice for blog posts: "Last night, I was editing an article for a client of mine. I had somewhat of an epiphany as I was reading her writing. I realized that writing is similar to putting together a puzzle. That's really all it is at it's simplest form. A puzzle. A Beautifully Constructed Puzzle = Fantastic Writing"

"The reason companies are getting so good at getting us hooked is that the incentives to do so are so high. The business model that drives corporate behavior has negative effects on everyone. Making money off attention, rather than off actual goods and services, is part of what Harvard professor Shoshana Zuboff describes as a move from market capitalism to a new kind of "surveillance capitalism," which relies on the extraction of customer data. In Zuboff's eyes, the "deals" we make with internet companies do not establish constructive producer-consumer reciprocities and are closer to selling our souls to the devil than they are to standard exchanges of goods and services in traditional market economies."

" Artificial intelligence is fueling the next phase of misinformation. The new type of synthetic media known as deepfakes poses major challenges for newsrooms when it comes to verification. This content is indeed difficult to track: Can you tell which of the images below is a fake?"

"What do internet-born urban legends tell us about deep-rooted societal anxieties? "

"Most people cite as culprits the tone set by our leaders and the media's adoption of rage as a business model. No doubt. But I believe the real fire starter is the tobacco of our generation, social media. It's the algorithms that have determined that the path to more engagement, clicks, and Nissan ads is paved in rage. The algorithms sense if you lean left or right, then begin shoving you to the poles and serving you increasingly provocative and extreme content you can't turn away from, to scratch a tribal itch. Social platforms did not realize that "connecting the world" could lead to very bad places, and they've been paid to ignore the problem. Some lowlights:"

"The company will match up to $7 million in donations to U.S. nonprofits on Giving Tuesday"