Hsieh Forbes Column: 11 Bizarre Consequences Of The Pandemic

My latest Forbes piece is now out: "11 Bizarre Consequences Of The COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic".

User Guide for SpaceX Starship

"SpaceX unveils users' guide for giant Starship rocket". (Via H.R.)

Zoom Security

"How to Keep Your Zoom Chats Private and Secure"

Novel Energy Soure

"Scientists tap unused energy source to power smart sensor networks". (Via H.R.)

Science Of Face Masks

"Face masks for COVID-19: A deep dive into the data". (Via H.R.)

Dense Earth

"This Is Why Earth, Surprisingly, Is The Densest Object In Our Solar System"

Sunflower Growth

"Time Lapse of a Sunflower Growing from Seed to Flower"

British House Names

"What Do the Names of British Houses Mean?"

Tranquilizer Dart

"What Actually Happens When a Tranquilizer Dart Hits You?"

Asteroid Deflection

"Planetary defenders validate asteroid deflection code"

Gaming For Non-Gamers

NYT: "For the Uninitiated and Bored, an Introduction to the World of Gaming"

Light Data

"Does a USB drive get heavier as you store more files on it?"

Short answer, "no". It actually gets very very very slightly lighter:

When you save data, a binary zero is set by charging the float gate of the transistor, and a binary one is set by removing the charge. To charge it, we add electrons, and the mass of each electron is 0.00000000000000000000000000091 grams. This means that an empty USB drive (which mostly holds zeros) weighs more than a full USB drive (which has ones and zeros). Add data, reduce the weight. However, you would need to weigh more USB drives than exist on the planet together at once before the difference in weight became easily measurable.

Stewart/McKellan Mysteries

"Someone Comes Up With A Mystery TV Show Starring Patrick Stewart And Ian McKellen, And Their Concept Goes Viral".

This would be a friggin' awesome show.

MacBook Air 2020 Review

"MacBook Air 2020 review: The most boring Mac is among the best". (Via H.R.)

Computation And Battles

"How computational power -- or its absence -- shaped World War naval battles"

Video Meeting Tips

"The Dos and Don'ts of Online Video Meetings"

Molecular Wakes

"People leave molecular wakes that may give away their secrets"

Hot Tiles

"Picking Up Glowing Hot Space Shuttle Tiles with Bare Hands"

Full Spectrum Sensor

"Scientists create quantum sensor that covers entire radio frequency spectrum". (Via H.R.)