July 30, 2016 at 11:53PM

Today I Learned: 1) ...what tonic water tastes like. Firstly, I should note that American commercial tonic water has more high fructose corn syrup and citric acid than quinine, so tonic water has a soda-like, fruity-sweet taste. Underneath that, though, is a bitterness that adds a surprising amount of depth. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the taste of tonic water. 2) The human body is not quite symmetric -- humans have their hearts on the left side of the chest, and their liver on the right side of the abdomen, among other things. About 0.01% of the population has their organ asymmetry reversed, with the heart on the right, liver on the left, etc. Today I learned that this condition is called situs inversus, and is mostly medically irrelevant unless a doctor has to operate on you, in which case they really need to know what's up before they cut. I also learned that some, but *not* all(!) of the asymmetries in the *brain* are also reversed in situs inversus. This, I find truly puzzling. 3) There is a (prototype) wearable unicorn horn that takes videos of whatever the wearer is interested in. The horn has an EEG sensor that monitors the user's attentiveness. It detects when the wearer is focused on something, and when that happens, it starts taking video. The main goal is to use this on kids with ADHD and other attention-related difficulties, allowing researchers or teachers or parents to see what it is that gets the kids' attentions. It could also be used as a sort of passive, selective memory-recording device, like a 24/7 recording cam but selective only for the things you actually pay attention to. The horn's artistic designer, Anouk Wipprecht, has made some other amazing prototype wearables. She designed a drink-pouring dress which will dispense drinks only to people who retain a respectful distance (if you play a phone-based Truth or Dare game to the host's satisfaction, it can then add alcohol). She also designed a gorgeous dress/exoskeleton with spider-like arms on the shoulders, which sense approaching persons and will either extend aggressively or beckon welcomingly depending on the wearer's detected mood. She *also* created a somewhat-less-stylish wearable full-body Faraday cage. This is some seriously cool tech -- here's hoping that kind of wearable technology becomes commercially available.