LED Guide

Ars Technica: "LCD vs. LED vs. Mini LED vs. OLED: A quick guide"

Octopus Brains

Nautilus on octopus brains: "Another Path to Intelligence"

Light Posting Notice

Admin note: Posting may be lighter than usual for the next two weeks due to external obligations.

Open Access Update

"US government to make all research it funds open access on publication"

Hsieh Forbes Column: Small Steps Towards Health Deregulation

My latest Forbes column is out: "Small But Positive Steps Towards Health Deregulation"

Home Privacy For Students

"Scanning students' homes during remote testing is unconstitutional, judge says"

Keyboard Shortcuts

"The Easiest Ways to Learn All the Best Keyboard Shortcuts"

LED Light Pollution

"Several major cities have adopted LED streetlights to save energy and money. But in many cases, they worsen light pollution, which can harm humans and wildlife."

Fireproof Wood

"A fireproof wood achieves the highest class in burning test thanks to an invisible coating". (Via H.R.)

Space-Based 5G

"Space 5G Is On the Launchpad". (Via H.R.)

Metaverse Dating

"People Are Going on Dates in the Metaverse and It Sounds Very Strange"

Moore's Law Continues

"3D-Stacked CMOS Takes Moore's Law to New Heights". (Via H.R.)

Energy From Lightning Bolt?

TIL that lightning bolts don't generate that much energy. (Via Gus Van Horn.)

But even at 1 million joules, the typical lightning strike contains only about ¼ of a kilowatt-hour of power, which is not enough to make much difference on our electric bill. "We currently buy electricity at the cost of about 20 cents a kWh," [MIT electrical engineering professor James Kirtly] says. "The amount of energy from a lightning bolt would be worth only about a nickel."

Flying Car Update

"After months of trial and testing, Swedish company Jetson has conducted the first commuter flight of its Jetson ONE eVTOL." (Via H.R.

Signal Account Protection

"How a Third-Party SMS Service Was Used to Take Over Signal Accounts".

If you're a Signal user, they recommend you activate "Registration Lock" with a PIN. This will prevent others from registering a new phone with your account. 

Scoring Benefits to Eastward Travel in the NBA

"We find eastward travel increases scoring and point spread via three-pointers and field goals, with implications for point spread betting in sports gambling markets."

Fake Tutor Scam

I don't know if this is real or not. If it's real, it's both evil and almost brilliant. 

Another case of #MarketsInEverything pic.twitter.com/zxkly0axxQ

— Will Damron (@wagonweill) August 14, 2022

Snake With Legs

"Man Invents Robot Suit That Lets Snake Walk With Legs". (Via P.B.)

Cat Destruction Throughout History

"Here is a thread of cats destroying our stuff throughout history, because they've always done it and they always will and for some reason we will keep loving them for it."

Here is a thread of cats destroying our stuff throughout history, because they've always done it and they always will and for some reason we will keep loving them for it.

Two Young Women Wrapped in Yukata After a Bath. Kitagawa Utamaro, ca. 1796. https://t.co/TFnHLG7ohj pic.twitter.com/2Tbl8aHnNj

— Cats of Yore (@CatsOfYore) August 15, 2022

Fasting And Chemotherapy

"Intermittent Fasting Could Reduce Chemotherapy Side Effects".  If this result holds up in human clinical studies, it could be good for cancer patients.

Direct link to Nature article: "A nanoparticle probe for the imaging of autophagic flux in live mice via magnetic resonance and near-infrared fluorescence"

Centrifuge Launcher

"This space tech company spins rockets into space. Watch how it happens". (Via M.A.)

Polyester Comeback

Virginia Postrel: "How polyester bounced back" 

"Those two innovations -- base layer and fleece -- completely changed the world's opinion of polyester, not just the outdoor industry", says Harward. "It became seen as the high-end performance comfort fiber..."

Fake Disease Fooled Nazis

"How a deadly disease saved Jewish lives and fooled the Nazis during WWII"

Working jointly with anti-fascist activist Dr. Adriano Ossicini, Dr. Borromeo and others came up with an ingenious plan to conceal Jews in the hospital by claiming they had “Syndrome K,” a degenerative, disfiguring and highly contagious disease, which in fact did not exist.

Fearful of contracting the fatal illness, the Nazis largely steered clear of the hospital in general and the “K” ward in particular, though the patients were encouraged to cough their heads off if and when the Nazis were on the premises.

More Corneas

"Clinical Trial Restored Sight to 20 People With Corneas Made From An Unlikely Source". (Via H.R.)

Link to academic article in Nature: "Bioengineered corneal tissue for minimally invasive vision restoration in advanced keratoconus in two clinical cohorts"

Devereaux On Gold In History

Great Bret Devereaux Twitter thread on gold in history.

Let's have a fun topic and talk about GOLD(!) or more specifically why medieval and fantasy settings which use 'gold' as the main currency are pretty much bonkers.

And also what a more grounded currency system might look like! 1/

— Bret Devereaux (@BretDevereaux) August 10, 2022

No AI Inventors

"AI Can't Be an 'Inventor' Under the U.S. Patent Act"

This To That

Helpful website to help you find the right adhesive to fasten material A to material B. (Via Gus Van Horn.)

(Update: Link was broken, now fixed!)

Dance Moves

Video: "Best of Favorite Dance Moves". This will put a smile on your face! :-) 

Jet-Powered Bicycle

"Watch a YouTuber put a homemade jet engine on his bicycle". (Via H.R.)

The article also notes, "Do not try this at home!"

Crypto Aftermath

"The Crypto Collapse is 'Flooding the Market' with Rolex and Patek Philippe Watches"

Surprised Weatherman

This is a totally awesome video: "Weatherman finds out he has touch screen this whole time." 

Treasure Finding Tech

"Sunken jewels, buried treasure uncovered in the Bahamas from iconic 17th century Spanish shipwreck". (Via H.R.)

Boom And United

"This Is What Your United Flight Could Look Like in the Near Future: Production for Boom Supersonic's Overture passenger jet is set to begin in 2024"

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by United Airlines (@united)

Sandman Review

NPR: "For fans and non-fans alike, Netflix's The Sandman is a dream come true"

Not A Star

"French scientist Etienne Klein apologises after 'James Webb Telescope' image revealed as slice of chorizo". As friend SDW quipped, "Goes well with a moon made of cheese.":

Etienne Klein, a director at France's Atomic Energy Commission, posted a picture purportedly showing Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our sun...

However, Professor Klein has now admitted that the glowing celestial body shown was in fact nothing more than a slice of Spanish chorizo sausage.

Photo de Proxima du Centaure, l’étoile la plus proche du Soleil, située à 4,2 année-lumière de nous.
Elle a été prise par le JWST.
Ce niveau de détails… Un nouveau monde se dévoile jour après jour. pic.twitter.com/88UBbHDQ7Z

— Etienne KLEIN (@EtienneKlein) July 31, 2022

TikTok Vigilantism?

NYT: "A Stranger Filmed Her on the Train. TikTok Users Decided She Had Monkeypox."

Summary: A woman with neurofibromatosis (a non-infectious disease than can cause skin lesions) is filmed by stranger while she is on NYC subway. The video is posted to TikTok with strong implication that she has monkey pox, and the woman receives many reactions including threats of physical violence.

This is one of the downsides of the widespread use of personal cameras. (There are many good aspects as well.)

The article correctly notes that the filming was legal, given that it was in a public setting with reduced "reasonable expectation of privacy."

Hazing And Solidarity

"Does hazing actually increase group solidarity? Re-examining a classic theory with a modern fraternity"

Using an American social fraternity, we report a longitudinal test of the relationship between hazing severity and group solidarity. We tracked six sets of fraternity inductees as they underwent the fraternity's months-long induction process. Our results provide little support for common models of solidarity and suggest that hazing may not be the social glue it has long been assumed to be.

AR Glasses For Hearing Impaired People

"New AR glasses allow deaf people to 'see' conversations by turning audio into subtitles"

Shorter Days?

"Earth Sets New Record for Shortest Day" 

If Earth's fast rotation continues, it could lead to the introduction of the first-ever negative leap second.

Not Dead Yet

Nature: "Pig organs partially revived in dead animals -- researchers are stunned"

Synthetic Embryos

"Synthetic mouse embryos created from stem cells -- without sperm, eggs, or a uterus". (Via G.F.)

Related: Academic paper in Cell.

Surgery In Space

"Astronauts will undergo surgeries aboard the ISS thanks to an autonomous robot". (Via H.R.)

In a previous experiment, retired NASA astronaut Clayton Anderson took the robot’s controls while at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, directing MIRA to perform surgery-like tasks in an operating room 900 miles away at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. 

Farritor and Rachael Wagner, an engineering graduate student, will write software, configure MIRA to fit inside a space station experiment locker and exhaustively test the device to make sure it’s robust enough to survive launch and its systems will perform as anticipated in space.

AI Protein Folding Update

"'The entire protein universe': AI predicts shape of nearly every known protein"

Apple Watch Guying Guide

"Apple Watch buying guide: Which wearable is best for you?"

Note: I own multiple watches, but do not own a "smart watch".

Necrobiotics

"In this work, an inanimate spider is repurposed as a ready-to-use actuator requiring only a single facile fabrication step, initiating the area of 'necrobotics' in which biotic materials are used as robotic components. (H/T: A.O.)

Related:

Rice University engineers repurposed deceased spiders as mechanical grippers [full paper: https://t.co/pBAVO5CzRn] pic.twitter.com/L8RJcKaBFQ

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) July 28, 2022

Feynman Physics Lectures Online

"Now, anyone with internet access and a web browser can enjoy reading a high quality up-to-date copy of Feynman's legendary lectures.

"This edition has been designed for ease of reading on devices of any size or shape; text, figures and equations can all be zoomed without degradation."

(This is an oldie-but-goodie reminder post.)