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Recent research from scientists at the Institut Pasteur in France has shown that neurons “detect variations in bacterial activity and adapt appetite and body temperature accordingly.”

In short, it’s evidence that shows there’s a connection between the gut and the brain. It’s important to note that the study was performed on mice and not on humans.

The scientists hope this “could lead to new therapeutic approaches for tackling metabolic disorders such as diabetes and obesity.”

Spinning this way forward and turning it into a story, what if there’s a future where the government introduces mind-control substances into the drinking water?

The story kicks off with an Erin Brokovich-type character rumbling into town on an old, beat-up truck. Her family lives off the land and has been for generations. Their water comes from their wells, so they don’t ingest any of the government’s mind-control substance.

Its common knowledge among her family that the townspeople are “different” than them, and she navigates through the town on her way to visit her brother. He moved there months ago, looking to branch out from their isolated existence.

But, her brother isn’t the same man she knew. There’s something different about him, something off. He’s lost his spark, and his sister is determined to find out what it is.

She finds out that he still eats the same food he buys at a local farmer's market. The only thing different is the water. She tests it, drinks some, and finds herself feeling apathetic.

After going back home and feeling better, she gets a water sample and sends it out for testing in another country. She waits for the results, but they come back with traces of a chemical (maybe Ketamine, which needs some research) that explains her brother’s change.

The story progresses with her trying to get her brother out of the town, and she eventually brings a lawsuit against the local government.

She doesn’t realize the corruption goes all the way to the top. She finds a lawyer from a big city firm in an area that doesn’t have tainted water, and they help her put the entire government on trial. There are death threats, payoff opportunities, and numerous legal hurdles.

In the end, she succeeds in getting the government to remove the substance. But, in a strange twist, the townspeople ask for it back because it made them blissfully unaware of their lack of progress in life.

A young man was playing PlayStation when he felt something hit his head. “It felt like if you’re wearing a bike helmet and someone just smacks the top of your head,” he said.

He looked around and saw a bullet hole in his window. Then, he freaked out, worried he’d been shot in the head.

After some investigation, it became clear that he was alright. Why? The bullet struck his gaming headset, bounced off a wall, then ended up in his bed.

Turning this into a story, what if the bullet went through the headset and carried a chip into his brain? Later, the young man discovers he can access his game by using his mind.

Like Spiderman’s Doc Ock, the chip fuses with his spine—doctors can remove the bullet but not the stray material from the headset. The story opens with him waking up in the hospital and his mother explaining what happened.

After extensive testing, he doesn’t show any signs of brain damage, so doctors let him go home. He puts on his new gaming headset (sent as a replacement by the company that heard about the shooting) and launches a new game, but he soon realizes he doesn’t need the controller to play his favorite shooter.

Major gaming companies line up, offering him money so they can research his condition in hopes of replicating it for future video game players. The young man and his single mother deal with courting massive offers from large companies, making them rich overnight.

He becomes one of the top-ranked players globally because of his direct connection to the game. An argument within the gaming community breaks out, accusing him of cheating since he isn’t using his hands on a controller or mouse & keyboard. The young man and his mother deal with mountains of negative press about his “false” victories, paralleling today’s discussions about trans athletes.

While all of this is happening, the young man just wants to live his everyday life. There’s a girl in school who he had his eye on, and he finally gets enough courage to talk to her. But, she just wants to hang out with him because she knows about his massive deals with the tech companies. He’s left sad, hurt, and confused.

The story culminates with a worldwide tournament, which starts right after he realizes that his dream girl only wants him for his money. He starts playing poorly and loses. He’s on the verge of being eliminated when his best friend asks him if they’re still on for their annual camping trip, and at that moment, he realizes that he has people in his life that are there for him regardless of his success or failure.

Inspired, he comes back to win the tournament.

Future stories could deal with interest from the military for drone operators and an entire factory of bodies kept in suspended animation whose only job is controlling external robots (or digital characters) with their minds.

Charles Darwin's notebooks contain an important sketch of a tree, the forerunner of his famous theory of evolution, written in the 1830s. They were last seen in Cambridge University's library in 2000 when they were taken out for pictures.

Librarians discovered the notebooks were missing two months later, presumed lost among millions of items. Finally, when the notebooks still hadn't turned up twenty years later, the library admitted that they were probably stolen.

Amazingly, a pink bag containing the notebooks was left in a public part of the library with no surveillance, near the librarian's office. An accompanying note wished the librarian a Happy Easter.

Turning this into a story, what if we write a book about a reverse heist?

The story starts with a person accepting a pink bag with explicit instructions about where to leave it in the library.

Then, we flashback to a young man finding the notebooks in a random part of the library. Realizing they were important, priceless documents, he holds them for safekeeping. He'll bring them back as soon as the library realizes they're gone.

It's a quick lesson that takes twenty years.

We see him keeping the documents hidden from his girlfriend, who becomes his wife. He hides it from his kids and almost loses them during a move.

We see him planning the reverse heist during the chapters about the passing years. He finds a random person with instructions for finding another random person, ensuring that even if the library discovers who dropped the bag, they can't trace it back to him. We see him scouting the library, finding where the person could sneak in and place the bag with minimal chance of discovery.

Cut back to a chapter when he finds out that the library finally admits the books were stolen, and the plans for the heist begin.

The final chapters outline the reverse heist, showing the person who kept the books all those years getting his affairs for his wife and kids if he's hauled off to jail for the theft. Then, on the day of the drop, he goes to the library for a bit of light reading, watches the pink bag deposited outside of the librarian's office, and knocks on her door to report the item left behind before walking away.

Popular in the Philippines, Axie Infinity is an NFT-based video game based on Ethereum. (That's a lot of buzzwords—in short, it's a crypto video game). The game involves breeding and battling "Axies," short for the axolotl, a type of salamander.  

You can watch people playing the unique game here.

Part of the game's infrastructure is a bridge, letting players convert their crypto from one blockchain to another. On March 23, someone hacked Axie Infinity's bridge, making off with $600 million worth of crypto.

The wild part of the story? Nobody knew about the theft for six days.

Turning this into a story, what if we follow the group of hackers right after they pull off the heist?

The story opens with a tense moment when two hackers in the Philippines see if the money transfers to their account. Then, the money shows up, and the hackers sit in stunned silence. Finally, they celebrate, then plan to return to the specialized office with their computer equipment again the next day.

One woman goes back to her isolated existence, similar to Jessica Jones's character—empty apartment, drinking problem. The other woman goes back to her husband, who is addicted to Axie Infinity. He has no clue that his account is empty.

We find out that the two are childhood friends who took wildly different paths in life. The wife recruited the expert hacker because she's tired of taking care of her kids alone.

Over the next six days, we see how the women handle moving the money around to other cryptocurrencies. The wife doesn't change her spending patterns, but the lonely hacker takes care of her work on the computer in the morning and then spends the rest of the day drinking.

The lonely hacker also has a relationship with local organized crime, stealing from banks and skimming off the top. Her theft from the crime bosses is discovered soon after her crypto heist, and she's forced into taking money out to pay off her other debts, which is how the theft is found after six days.

The lonely hacker takes care of the money she owes to the crime bosses while the model wife tries handling the fallout from her husband's empty account. He's furious, depressed, and lost. He ignores the children even more.

In an attempt to cheer him up, the wife offers to help him level up his video game character again. The husband leaves her alone and takes the kids to the park while his wife injects her funds into the game, creating a behemoth account in no time at all.

The husband realizes that he likes spending time with his kids more than playing the game, while the wife becomes addicted.

The lonely hacker takes off, moving to an island and living off the grid, always keeping one eye over her shoulder.

Part of the US Department of Agriculture, Wildlife Services slaughtered 1.75 million animals last year. Crunching the numbers, that turns out to be 200 animals every hour, for all of 2021.

The government division culls the animals to protect agriculture, threatened species, and humans.

European Starlings, feral swine, and a type of invasive fish are the top three most killed animals. In addition to invasive species, they also slaughtered bears, foxes, wolves, and mountain lions.

Turning this into a story, what if a young girl realizes she can communicate with a cub bear that gets killed by Wildlife Services? Not only that, she can still talk to the bear after it dies.

Because of their link, she can communicate with all the spirits of the slaughtered animals, and she goes on a quest to save the ones still alive.

Initially, her immediate family helps her keep the animals away from Wildlife Services, then her community becomes involved after their initial success. Because of her work, both humans and animals live in an Eden-type utopia in a small town. The animals don't pose any threat, and Wildlife Services can't get into the town once the mayor gets involved.

Eventually, the local head of Wildlife Services arrives, promising swift changes. However, the young girl still goes out with her father looking for animals they can save, guided by the spirits.

The head of Wildlife Services realizes the girl is causing him problems and kidnaps her. Unfortunately, because she isn't there providing the link between humans and animals, everything within the town goes wrong, and the animals run into the waiting agents.

At the last moment, the girl's spirit animal helps her break out of the jail, and she leads the animals on a stampede.

The story ends with the head of Wildlife Services behind bars and the other agents dedicated to working with the animals so that they can create a world that works for everyone.

Ravenser Odd was a prosperous port town in Yorkshire, England, during the medieval period. It was founded in 1235 at the mouth of an estuary before being submerged by a storm in 1362.

Drawing comparisons to Atlantis, the town was large enough to send two members to parliament.

Scientists hope to find the town’s location using high-resolution sonar then investigate further with an archaeological expedition. They can use the information to highlight the threat of coastal erosion in today’s cities near the water.

Turning this into a story, what if we tell two parallel tales: one about the expedition and one about the inhabitants of the doomed town? Similar to Titanic, but without the connection of Rose, who was both in the past and the present.

The story starts in the past. There, a young man is running for parliament against an entrenched incumbent. He has his eye on a young woman but believes he doesn’t have a chance at her hand in marriage because of her wealthy father.

The next chapter is about the scientist’s goal of finding the lost town. He’s married with children but struggling; he hopes the discovery helps propel his stagnant career.

Through alternating chapters, we see the young man campaigning throughout the town while facing pressure from wealthy members of society. He also meets the young woman he’s fascinated with, and she helps convince her father, who becomes the bedrock in his corner.

Back in modern times, the scientist faces funding pressure and a lack of academic support. He navigates a woman falling for him and trying for an affair, which he rejects—similar to Leonardo de Caprio’s character in Don’t Look Up.

The young man waits anxiously for the final vote; it’s the same night as the catastrophic storm. As the rains fall, everyone abandons the town.

The scientist finally locates the town, and a team of archaeologists descends. They uncover a sealed box of ballots. It turns out the young man won the election all those years ago. Moreover, the young man is related to the scientist; he’s one of his distant ancestors.

The young man goes to another town with the young woman and her father. They become engaged, and he gets elected to parliament.

Archaeologists found an iron dagger in King Tut’s tomb, one of many treasures unearthed decades ago.

The problem? The Iron Age hadn’t started. So, where did the dagger’s iron come from?

Meteorites.

After researchers discovered the iron’s source, they determined the likely production method by performing an x-ray analysis. But tracing where the dagger was made took a bit more detective work.

A series of stone tablets over 3,400 years old called the Amarna letters might offer an answer. They talk about an iron dagger given to King Tut by a king in Anatolia (think: Turkey) as a wedding present when marrying the Anatolian King’s daughter.

Turning this into a story, what if an Anatolian prince goes on a quest to get the dagger back from Egypt?

The story starts with the King of Mitanni (a region in Anatolia) on his deathbed. The prince is at his side, keeping him company.

Suddenly, the King’s brother storms the capital city and the royal palace, laying claim to the throne. The only way ruling elites will accept the prince’s claim to the throne is if it’s decreed from the heavens above—the prince must have the dagger made from a meteorite.

So, he starts on a quest, heading to Egypt. His initial plan is to simply ask for the dagger back, trade for it, or promise future gifts once he regains his throne. Along the way, he performs various side quests, similar to the video game Assassin’s Creed.

His prestige increases as he helps more people when he gets closer to Egypt. One wealthy landowner even sponsors his claim, giving him a stone tablet that he can present to King Tut that details the prince’s help.

A powerful horse thief that the prince stopped earlier on his journey intercepts the prince outside of Egypt, and the prince has to fight through the ranks until he can kill the thief and enter Egypt.

He gets an audience with King Tut and asks for the dagger. King Tut’s advisors tell the King not to hand over the dagger, but the King, grateful that the prince helped rid his lands of the powerful thief, agrees to trade a decade of service as a royal guard for the dagger. Afterward, King Tut will send forces with the prince to regain the throne in his distant homeland.

Other books would highlight the battle against ancient Egyptian enemies, such as priests and warlords, until the final book, when the prince regains his throne.

A Georgia official planned to defraud the state by taking leave during multiple pregnancies. The ordeal started in October 2019, before COVID, and carried on through May 2021.

Her scheme unraveled when a coworker noticed her wearing a fake pregnancy costume.

When asked about the fake pregnancies, her friend said that she was “astounded” at the attempted fraud.

Additionally, there were two fake weddings in the works, going so far as shopping for a dress and finding a venue. The friend hasn’t talked to the con-woman since uncovering the ruse.

Turning this into a story, what if we follow the unraveling schemes as they fall apart?

The story starts with the woman announcing to the reader that she’s pregnant. Her first pregnancy, no less. We follow along as she prepares, informs her office, and gets ready for the baby’s arrival.

Out of nowhere, there’s no talk of a baby anymore. The readers are left to decide if she had a miscarriage or an abortion.

Her friends ask, but the woman deflects. The friends assume something traumatic happened and withdraw.

Then, a second baby. Again, the reader believes the narrator, following the second round of preparations. There are even wedding plans this time, suggesting there’s a man involved.

A man that the reader still doesn’t see.

The woman’s friends ask about the man and the baby, and the woman informs them about their wedding plans. But, she asks two women from separate friend groups to be her maid of honor and plans two weddings.

The reader assumes the woman has the best intentions the entire time.

Suddenly, we see her in HR, facing questions about her pregnancy suit. This is the first time the reader realizes she has made it all up. But, the woman doubles down, breaking down in tears at the questioning.

Her friend, who has two children and went through a second marriage after her first divorce, comes by to check on her and is met with anger at the door. Then, the friend starts asking too many questions, telling the woman that she knows the groom is made up.

Facing a threat to her fiction, the woman flies into a rage. Then, once she settles down, she decides her friend can’t continue living. What’s more, she’ll take her friend's place in the marriage and as the mother of two children.

From there, it turns into a thriller, with a final showdown at an abandoned building, where the police come and haul the con-woman away. The epilogue shows the friend entering the woman’s house, where she discovers all kinds of baby products in preparation for the child that never was, and a shrine dedicated to her.

The reader finds out that the entire book was made up, that the woman wanted to take over her friend’s life.

Researchers at the University of Oxford made a family tree spanning 100k years using genetics. It includes over 3.6k people.

In theory, someone could use the information to figure out who their ancestors were and their relations to everyone today.

The team that created the family tree is a part of the Big Data Institute. Their big breakthrough was using algorithms to sort through the mountains of data—the various databases held both modern and ancient genomes.

Turning this into a story, what if an algorithm in a dystopian future presented users with potential mates to optimize the genetic variation with a population?

For example, a young woman swiping through tinder would only see potential mates with the best genes, according to the algorithm.

Nowadays, first and second cousins are considered taboo, but what if you knew someone was your sixth cousin? Would that affect your consideration of them as a partner?

In this dystopian future, it would.

But this will have a Romeo and Juliet twist, with a bit of Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror.

In short, two fourth cousins fall in love. They’re the same gender/biological sex, so they can’t reproduce, and the algorithm can’t let their relationship stand because it contradicts the algorithm’s mandate.

Instead of zombies, like in Planet Terror, the algorithm sends androids after the couple, who have to navigate the wasteland while staying alive.

The people they meet in the city don’t help them because they are under the spell of the seeming utopia. But, outside the city, the locals aren’t fans of the AI. They permit infidelity in their relationships, only marrying who the algorithm demanded so they would be left alone.

The final battle would occur at an abandoned fueling station, where one part of the couple seemingly sacrifices themselves. Later, we find out that they surrendered themselves to the AI and married who the algorithm said so they could get close to the center and take down the system from within.

Peloton has released a new feature on their stationary bikes: gaming. Instead of pumping legs with a celebrity trainer, users can play a game and try and earn points for hitting specific targets.

From a tester: “I’m pedaling to hit specific beats, fill up breakers by pedaling furiously, or keep up a stream by maintaining a cadence, all the while using the bike’s resistance knob to switch between six lanes.”

If anyone has seen Black Mirror season one, episode 2, there’s a good chance you can guess where this story idea is headed. In the episode, members of society pedal on stationary bikes to earn credits.

But, instead of bikes (since it’s already been done before), let’s bring back a classic: the Wii Fitness. This game used the Wii Fitness Balance Board as the input.

In an interconnected future, super apps track everything from eating and exercise to spending habits. Even little things, like putting the cart back at a grocery store parking lot.

All of it goes into your society score, which affects your credit rating and how much you pay for insurance.

One man opts out of the system. Based on how he lives, he would have a very high society score, but he does everything without his phone/tracking device, so the state never knows.

His credit score tanks and his insurance costs skyrocket.

The story follows an investigator who works for the state. They’re responsible for looking into people who aren’t “playing the game” and figuring out what incentives can get them back on the right track.

His first case is a woman who spends all her money on porn, leaving very little for food and going into debt for significant expenses. The investigator reassigns her from her job as a personal trainer to a content creator to continue what she wants to do in a productive capacity.

The goal is optimization, not standardization.

His next case is the man who opted out of the system. He can’t communicate digitally since the man has gone off the grid. The investigator packs his bags and goes to the man’s address, finding him without issue.

The man lives the state’s ideal life, just untracked. The investigator begs and pleads with the man to opt back into the constant surveillance when he realizes there aren’t any incentives to accomplish the goal.

During his time in the small town, the investigator discovers that the community works together to help each other get positive scores. For example, young, healthy people exercise for those who can’t or don’t want to; in turn, they help the young people with their accumulated credits.

The man off the grid convinces the investigator to give untracked living a try, and he discovers an entire way of life he never knew existed.

There’s a honeymoon period when everything is going well that ends when the state sends a senior detective looking for the missing investigator.

The community is divided about helping the investigator, but the untracked man makes an impassioned plea and convinces them to help him escape.

The senior detective holds the entire community hostage until the investigator gives himself up. In the end, we see the investigator back at his desk in the government offices, working hard to help the untracked man and his community continue subverting the government.

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The Hysteria of Bodalís + The Return of the Operator

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