Is The Movement To Eat Less Meat Actually Making A Difference?

Yes:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/eat-less-meat-environmental-effect_l_5d39d84fe4b020cd99501f2d

Scientist have made a contact lens that lets you zoom in by blinking

That would have been science fiction mere weeks ago:

https://thenextweb.com/science/2019/07/29/scientist-have-made-a-contact-lens-that-lets-you-zoom-in-by-blinking/

Wind is outpacing coal as a power source in Texas for the first time

I love seeing these milestones passed:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/25/us/texas-wind-energy-trnd/index.html

The tricky business of improving human brains

Science fiction creeps ever closer to science fact:

https://www.axios.com/neurotechnology-improving-brains-98fb08e8-7ab6-405a-a575-3f24e2e6994c.html

Scientists Have Created a Prosthetic Arm That Lets Patients Feel Touch Again

Feeling bionics, an important step:

https://gizmodo.com/scientists-have-created-a-prosthetic-arm-that-lets-pati-1836669048

Mind-Bending “Quantum Darwinism” Theory Passes Experimental Tests

A possible way to reconcile quantum mechanics with general relativity:

https://futurism.com/quantum-darwinism-theory-experimental-tests

The Human Brain Project Hasn’t Lived Up to Its Promise

R.I.P.:

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/07/ten-years-human-brain-project-simulation-markram-ted-talk/594493/

Kenya launches Africa's largest wind farm

At least Obama's birthplace gets it. ;-)

https://bigthink.com/technology-innovation/kenya-wind-farm

Taking the sting out: Australian gene editing is crossing the pain threshold

This is pretty incredible:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jul/21/taking-the-sting-out-australian-gene-editing-is-crossing-the-pain-threshold

A Finnish company is making food out of thin air

This is likely the most sustainable, eco-friendly food one can make:

https://bigthink.com/technology-innovation/protein-from-air

Forget Qubits — Scientists Just Built a Quantum Gate With Qudits

I'd never heard of qudits (with a D, not a B) before this:

https://futurism.com/forget-qubits-quantum-scientists-building-qudits

New Super-Charged Treatment Boosts T-Cell Therapy

This is really promising for defeating cancer:

https://scitechdaily.com/new-super-charged-treatment-boosts-t-cell-therapy/

Headed to Mars? Pack Some Aerogel—You Know, for Terraforming

An interesting midway solution:

https://www.wired.com/story/headed-to-mars-pack-some-aerogelyou-know-for-terraforming/

An Artificial Intelligence Program Just Beat 5 Poker Professionals In a Texas Hold'em Tournament

A.I. can now bluff? Or notice bluffing? Or is bluffing irrelevant?

https://time.com/5624968/facebook-ai-beats-professional-cardplayers/

Apparently, it can indeed bluff:

https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/11/20690078/ai-poker-pluribus-facebook-cmu-texas-hold-em-six-player-no-limit

Engineers develop chip that converts wasted heat to usable energy

Cool systems down while generating electricity:

https://nano-magazine.com/news/2019/7/10/engineers-develop-chip-that-converts-wasted-heat-to-usable-energy

7 new things we’ve learned about the brain

Just some interesting discoveries:

https://bigthink.com/mind-brain/brain

Getting more heat out of sunlight

Another interesting use for aerogel:

http://news.mit.edu/2019/aerogel-passive-heat-sunlight-0702

It seems to me that if it can easily generate over 200 degree C temperatures, that can be used to generate power with a steam turbine engine. So solar power could provide hot water, home heating and electricity, all without a single solar cell.

At U.S. Gov’t Lab, Scientists Hope To Open A Portal To A Parallel Universe

Science fiction coming true...at least on the very, very small scale:

https://mavenroundtable.io/theintellectualist/science/at-u-s-gov-t-lab-scientists-hope-to-open-a-portal-to-a-parallel-universe-yH8tcXWDrkiez9HSKYn7YA/

Planting a Trillion Trees May Be the Best Way to Fight Climate Change, Study Says

This would be a force multiplier for habitat restoration, too:

https://time.com/5620706/plant-trillion-trees-climate-change/

A tiny tweak in California law is creating a strange thing: carbon-negative oil

This could actually reverse climate change:

https://qz.com/1638096/the-story-behind-the-worlds-first-large-direct-air-capture-plant/

For first time, U.S. renewable energies surpass coal

Only briefly due to the season, but it's a milestone:

https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/renewables-coal

Researchers say they’re closer to finding cure for HIV after using CRISPR technology to eliminate disease in live mice for the first time

This could be a huge breakthrough. More rawdogging it! Woot!

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/02/researchers-used-crispr-technology-to-cure-hiv-in-living-mice.html

World’s Smallest MRI Machine Means We Can Now Scan Individual Atoms

Not sure where this will lead, really, but cool nevertheless:

https://futurism.com/the-byte/worlds-smallest-mri-scans-individual-atoms

U.S. Army to deploy tiny helicopter drones in Afghanistan

I can imagine this being a HUGE advantage:

https://bigthink.com/technology-innovation/tiny-military-drones