How can humans become immortal(永生的)? You might have only seen the idea of uploading the human brain to a digital cloud in science fiction movies. Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, has already done so. The secret was revealed when a question posted on Twitter caught his attention.

“If you could upload your brain to the cloud, and talk to a virtual version of yourself, would you be buddies?” Musk replied on July 19, “Already did it.” The reply indicated that Musk’s brain-computer interface(接口)company, Neuralink, had already realized the technology, according to Xinhua.

Neuralink was founded by Musk in 2016. The company focuses on brain-computer interface technology which is used to connect the brain to a digital network. It is developing devices for the treatment of patients with neurological disorders(神经障碍). In other words, the company aims to create links between mind and machine, according to Psychology Today.

So how do brain-computer interfaces work? Computers designed to learn the patterns of neural activity are used to take out information from human brains. For example, if a person imagines picking up a book, the computer would then learn to identify how the brain gives that command. Next, the computer would send the signal to the machine, which would then move a robotic arm to reach for the book.

Uploading a brain is only part of Musk’s plan. He revealed to Insider that his goal is to download human mindset into robots. Just like how our memories are stored in mobile phones through pictures and videos, Musk imagines that our brains—not only how we think, but also our personalities and habits—can be diverted into robots. In this way, even after our bodies decay(腐朽), our brains are preserved. Some experts believe that this could be achievable one day, but the timeline is unclear, “The most wildly optimistic predictions place mind uploading within a few decades, but I would not be surprised if it took centuries,” wrote Michael S. A. Graziano, a professor at Princeton University, in a Wall Street Journal essay.

Founded in 1998 by Andrzej Adamcio, the company called Anmet was originally started to provide manufacturing companies with solutions for metals recycling. In 2014, Adamcio began to recognize that there was a growing need for solutions, for recycling composite wind turbine blades (复合风力发电机叶片) at the end of their life spans. Using his experience in metals recycling, Adamcio began to work on ways to recycle glass and carbon fiber composite blades, and today, wind blade recycling has become one of Anmet’s main focuses and a major area for growth going forward.

In the long term, Anmet’s recycling solution involves the physical repurposing (赋予新用途)of glass fiber wind turbine blades. The company’s services start on-site: representatives will travel to a wind farm and dismantle the blade into sections, followed by transport of the parts back to the Anmet’s facility for reconstruction into architecture or infrastructure products. There are several environmental advantages to this type of recycling. For example, repurposing blades rather than completely destroying them via burning, breaking them into pieces or other means costs less energy, is less costly and produces less emissions and dust.

The company has filed patents for other infrastructure solutions currently going through testing at Rzeszow University of Technology, including geotechnical blocks (岩土工程砌块) for road slope strengthening. Replacing typical steel or steel-strengthened concrete road barriers with repurposed glass fiber wind blade components enables greater resistance to damage from corrosive(腐蚀性的) soil environments. The blocks can be adapted in shape to fit the needs of a particular situation. So far, Anmet has built and trialed early models of these blocks, and is working toward registering them for construction use within the European Union, with hopes of extending into the U.S. market as well.

High school students perform better on tests if they are in a classroom with a view of a green space, instead of a windowless room, according to research from the University of Illinois.

“It is the first to show a relationship between studying with a green view and students’ performance,” said William Sullivan, head of the research team. “ It’s a significant finding that if you have a green view outside your window, you’ll do better on tests.” Sullivan hopes the results of their research will lead to some changes. Changes in school design, for example, “would be a much better thing than any of the things we spend money on in education today,” Sullivan said.

The research included 94 students at five high schools. Students were randomly assigned (随机分配) to one of two kinds of classrooms－windowless, or with a window looking out onto green space. Each kind of classroom had a similar size and layout (布局). The students took part in one-on-one experiments in which they did 30 minutes of activities that included a proofreading exercise, a speech and a math exercise. Following the activities, the students were given an attention test.

The findings: Students did better on both study activities and the attention test if they were in a classroom with a green view, Sullivan said.

The researchers suggest their findings can help planners improve students’ happiness and learning. For example, planners can choose sites for new schools that already have trees and other plants, or they can plant many trees on the site; architects can design classroom, dining room and hallway windows so they look onto green spaces.