Number 321
Australian Mathematicians Debunk ‘Infinite Monkey Theorem’
A single chimp has only a 5% chance of typing “bananas” in its lifetime, with more complex phrases facing astronomically lower odds.
The house paints that promise much more than colour
A firm has designed the paint to be removable – once dry, you can peel it off like plastic wrap.
‘Cloud-milking’: the zero-energy technique keeping young trees alive
The project that began in the Canary Islands mimics the way leaves capture water droplets from fog in order to produce water.
Uranus’ Moon Miranda May Have an Ocean Beneath Its Surface, Study Finds
That there may be several ocean worlds around one of the most distant planets in our solar system is both exciting and bizarre.
Giant tadpole fossil is the oldest ever discovered
Fossil was 16 centimetres long and found in Argentina.
== glad to be retired
Ghost Jobs Are Wreaking Havoc On Tech Workers
Recruiters and career coaches say they serve multiple insidious purposes.
Chinese Attackers Accessed Canadian Government Networks For Five Years
India makes it onto list of likely threats for the first time.
== just what the world needs, another search engine
OpenAI Launches ChatGPT Search, Competing With Google and Microsoft
The feature offers up-to-the-minute sports scores, stock quotes, news, weather and more, powered by real-time web search and partnerships with news and data providers.
== at what cost to the enviroment (electricty and water consumption in particular, never mind the CO2 and such produced generating the electricty, building the data centers and chips)
Meta’s Next Llama AI Models Are Training on a GPU Cluster ‘Bigger Than Anything’ Else
The race for better generative AI is also a race for more computing power. On that score, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Meta appears to be winning.
== another multimedia article, lengthy
What’s so special about the human brain?
[Torrents of data from cell atlases, brain ]> Torrents of data from cell atlases, brain organoids and other methods are finally delivering answers to an age-old question.
== paywall?, lengthy
The AI Boom Rests on Billions of Tonnes of Concrete
Big data means big concrete. And that’s undoing tech’s climate pledges
US detects H5N1 bird flu in a pig for the first time
Pigs represent a particular concern for the spread of bird flu because they can become co-infected with bird and human viruses.
Arecibo Collapsed Because of Engineering Failures That Inspectors Failed To Spot
The failure was caused first, probably, by a surprising interaction between the radio electronics of Arecibo and the traditional methods used to anchor the cables, and second by a failure of inspection teams to address the problem as it became obvious.
Move aside, moose — a new study has found the most distinct animals in Canada
‘Funny looking’ turtle and an amphibian called a mudpuppy are top contenders, researchers say
It was the solution to a cosmic puzzle beamed from ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) in May 2023, when the European spacecraft played alien as part of the multidisciplinary art project ‘A Sign in Space’.
== my father fought with the Polish Free Army after spending time in Siberia as a Russion prisoner,
== but never mentioned a bear; and I believe he fought in the Battle of Monte Cassino;
== also, my godfather was named Wojtek
The bear who was a private in the Polish army
Wojtek the bear was adopted by Polish soldiers and fought alongside them in World War Two.
Extreme drought areas treble in size since 80s - study
Forty-eight per cent of the Earth’s land surface had at least one month of extreme drought last year.
More than a quarter of new code at Google is generated by AI
AI is hugely important to Google’s products, and it sounds like the company relies on it internally, too.
== paywall?
An easier-to-use technique for storing data in DNA is inspired by our cells
Encoding information in DNA has long seemed like a promising way to secure data for the long term, but so far it has required an expert touch.
OpenAI Builds First Chip With Broadcom and TSMC, Scales Back Foundry Ambition
Broadcom helps OpenAI with chip design and securing TSMC for manufacturing.
== I am not into video games, but…
The Harris/Walz campaign has its own Fortnite map
Video games have been a visible part of the Vice President’s presidential campaign.
== don’t imagine ice build up in the paws of polar bears was something anyone saw coming
As the Arctic warms, polar bears are being injured by painful ice buildup on their paws, study says
First time these injuries have been recorded in these polar bear populations
== yjc, listen to a lot of Chopin in any given month or three (though he is nowhere near alone)
New Chopin just dropped. Unknown piece by the legendary Polish composer found in NYC
Curator describes moment he realized he ‘might be the first person in modern times to be hearing this tune’.
== yjc
Ancient oak named after a band is UK Tree of the Year
The Skipinnish oak is on Lochaber’s Achnacarry Estate
Webb’s latest Phantom Galaxy image sheds light on stellar feedback
This time, Webb used more than one instrument to capture the celestial body.
== I have used Strava for cycling for some years (but currently I am not cycling)
Fitness App Strava Gives Away Location of Foreign Leaders, Report Finds
In recent years, journalists and curious observers have discovered that individuals tasked with sensitive operations, particularly soldiers, have shared their physical activity on Strava, endangering their mission, their identity and even their safety.
The Fediverse Is Getting Its Own TikTok Competitor Called Loops
This week, an app called Loops began accepting signups on its new platform for sharing short, looping videos.
PhD student finds lost city in Mexico jungle by accident
The team discovered three sites in total, in a survey area the size of Scotland’s capital Edinburgh, “by accident” when one archaeologist browsed data on the internet.
== yjc
Old Growth
This series celebrates the majesty and resilience of primeval wilderness unaltered by humans
== don’t if any of you have web site or blog, but interesting concept
Every webpage deserves to be a place
If you’ve visited the actual website you may notice somebody else’s cursor pass by as you’re reading.
== yjc
Good Movies as Old Books
I envision some of my favorite films as vintage books.
Alarm call as world’s trees slide towards extinction
The number of threatened trees now outweighs all threatened birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians put together.
== yjc, big fan of miso and miso soup
The miso miracle: how to use the ingredient that makes every dish delicious
Central to Japanese cooking, it has apparently been around since 200BC.
The Search for Room-Temperature Superconductivity is Continuing
Workable technology could all but eliminate energy losses while significantly advancing neuromorphic AI computing.
Can the EU Hold Software Makers Liable For Negligence?
The EU throws a nand hrenade on software liability.
OpenAI’s Whisper invents parts of transcriptions — a lot
Yet, it’s being used in medical settings.
== a pretty impressive mutlimedia article
Iceland’s Plan to Drill Into a Volcano to Test ‘Limitless’ Supercharged Geothermal Energy
Iceland’s plan is to drill down 1.2 miles — about 2 kilometers — into a magma chamber that’s around 1,800 Fahrenheit (nearly 1,000 degrees Celsius).
== yjc
The Tech Secrets Behind Disneyland’s ‘Enchanted Tiki Room’
The incredible reason for Disneyland’s first fully air-conditioned attraction.
Did Capturing Carbon from the Air Just Get Easier?
A new type of porous material called a covalent organic framework quickly sucks up carbon dioxide from ambient air
Singapore Approves 2,600-Mile Undersea Cable to Import Solar Energy from Australia
A multi-billion dollar project to pipe solar-generated electricity 4,300 km (2,672 miles) to Singapore from Australia has received conditional approval from the island state’s energy market regulator.
Researchers Develop New Lithium Extraction Method With ‘Nearly Double the Performance’
Researchers have developed a nanofiltration technology to extract lithium from low-grade saltwater brines with high magnesium content.
B.C. atmospheric river a successful first test of community-led rain management project
The St. George Rainway runs along East Vancouver’s St. George Street.
==?? paywall
NASA is developing a Mars helicopter that could land itself from orbit
The largest and most ambitious Martian drone yet could carry kilograms of scientific equipment over great distances and set itself down on the Red Planet unassisted.
Graphene-Based Memristors Inch Towards Practical Production
They promise analog computing capability in hardware, the ability to hold state without power, and to work with less power.
‘We have emotions too’: Climate scientists respond to attacks on objectivity
Researchers criticised and gaslighted after sharing fears with Guardian say acknowledging feelings is critical to their work.
== yjc
Hacker Returns $19.3 Million To Drained US Government Crypto Wallet
Most of the funds drained from a U.S. government crypto wallet in an apparent attack Thursday were sent back early Friday.
Oceanographer Stefan Rahmstorf explains why Amoc breakdown could be catastrophic for both humans and marine life
Because she was a samurai
She made electric shadows
Beyond our fingertips