Though not as mainstream as devices like smartphones and fitness trackers, more companies are now experimenting with the concept of connected clothes. Among the pioneers is London-based CuteCircuit, which has been creating fashionable smart clothing since 2004. The company’s latest innovation is the “Sound Shirt”, which allows deaf people to “feel” live music by transforming the music into touch sensations in real time.

The fashionable jacket achieves the unbelievable accomplishment by using software that changes the music into data and wirelessly sends it to the 16 micro actuators fixed inside the clothing’s fabric. The devices shake in sync with the intensity of the music being played, allowing the wearer to feel each instrument individually. For example, violins can be felt on the arms, while the deeper, heavier bass notes can be felt close to the stomach. The series of touch-like sensations across the wearer’s body enables them to feel the entire composition, resulting in an in-depth musical experience.

The designers chose to leave out wires and wove conductive textiles into the shirt’s fabric. Francesca Rosella, co-founder, and chief creative officer of Cute Circuit, explains, “There are no wires inside, so we’re only using smart fabrics. We have a combination of microelectronics and very thin and conductive fabrics. All these little electronic motors are connected with these conductive fabrics so that the shirt is soft and stretchable.”

Cute Circuit, which has been testing the “Sound Shirt” for three years, expects to make it available to the general public shortly. Priced at $3, 673, the smart jacket will not be cheap. However, twin sisters Hermon and Heroda Berhane, who lost their hearing at a young age, believe the hi-tech shirt is a worthwhile investment, especially for deaf people with a passion for dancing. “It’s almost like feeling the depth of the music, says Hermon. “It just feels as though we can move along with it.”

Heroda concurs, adding, “I think it could definitely change our lives.”

This will be an important year for pioneers developing electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft (垂直起降飞机), popularly known as flying taxis. Several firms are hoping their craft can obtain the necessary certification in 2023 to start commercial production, getting ready for the first passenger services.

Air taxis generally carry fewer than half a dozen passengers. They land and take off vertically using multiple small rotors (旋翼). With clever software controlling the rotors, they are easier to fly and readily capable of autonomous flight. The plentiful number of rotors also helps with safety, as the aircraft can continue to fly if one or more fail.

Some designs use an extra rotor or two at the back to push the aircraft along during flight. Others, like that produced by Joby Aviation, have rotors like a set of small wings providing lift, making more efficient use of the aircraft's battery and increasing range.

After thinking hard about how to certify(授予专业合格证) these flying machines, regulators(监管者) have been working with developers on safety standards. This is a multi-stage process. Besides obtaining “type” approval, which shows the airworthiness of a new type of aircraft, factories must be certified before production can begin in volume. And an airline-style licence is required if paying passengers are to be carried. Companies are working hard to get these approvals. Piloted operations are expected to be approved before autonomous flights.

In Germany, Volocopter will be flight-testing a family of eVTOLs. The firm is hoping its smallest, the two-seater VoloCity, can be certified in time for the 2024 Olympics in Paris, where the plan is to operate trips between airports and the athletes' village. Other air-taxi firms also hope to provide services in Paris, or at the World Expo, which takes place in Japan in 2025.

Scientists may have found a way to reduce shortage of type O blood. Type O is the kind of blood that hospitals most often need. What the researchers are testing is an easier way to make type O blood out of other kinds of blood.

There are four main kinds of blood. Most people born with one of these four: Type A,Type B, Type AB or Type O. Type O can be safely given to anyone. So it is commonly used when a person is injured or sick and has to have blood.

The differences among blood types are linked to whether or not red blood cells contain certain kinds of sugar molecules(分子). These molecules are found on the surface of the cells.They are known as antigens (抗原). These antigens are found with type A, B and AB blood but not with type O.

More than twenty-five years ago, scientists found that the antigens could be removed to create what they called universal-type cells. They could be removed with chemicals called enzymes(酶). But large amounts of enzymes were required to make the change.

Doctor Henrik Clausen of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark led the study. The next step, he says, is to complete safety tests. The team is working with the American company ZymeQuest to test the new method. If it meets safety requirements(*k)and is not too costly,it could become a widely used life-saving tool to increase the supply of universal blood.