Items of Interest

AI Master Fingerprints

Researchers at New York University and University of Michigan used a AI generative adversarial network (GAN) to generate a set of master fingerprints that can fool low security fingerprint scanners 76% of the time. At more realistic security levels, the master fingerprints can are falsly matched by sensors 22% of the time.

1961 Cork

The BBC Archive Twitter account posted a fascinating video of writer Frank Connor talking about his native Cork in 1961. While his nostalgic meanderings about Cork are somewhat interesting, the real gem here is the footage of inner city Cork from 1961 and its inhabitants going about their daily lives.

Overcoming Failure

Taylor Pearson has a great post on overcoming failure, which he terms the Bucky Method after Buckminster Fuller. I won't spoil the article for you, it's worth reading to see how Taylor does a fine job of combining theories and thoughts from multiple sources into a structured methodology of advice and a practical framework to repeatedly work on projects while building constructive failure into the mix.

Spatial Web & Web 3.0

This is an interesting article by Singularity Hub on the possibilities for the next generation of the web, what they term the spatial web and web 3.0. The article describes how 5G, AI and the IoT landscape could allow realtime generation of AR and VR scenes sources from multiple public cameras in realtime, allowing the user to embed in a street protest, sporting or news event. Other technology possibilities discussed are always-available AR virtual sales people and ads, yay!

First Ionic Flight

Inspired by the shuttlecraft of Star Trek, researchers at MIT have successful performed the first ionic flight of a solid state fixed wing aircraft using electroaerodynamic thrust! layers of wires underneath the wings create a 20,000 Volt differential between the front and the rear wires, with cause charged electrons to travel through the air from the positive wires to the negative wires. The charged particles push air particles over the wing as they travel, creating a small amount of lift.

Podcast Of The Week: The Blindboy Podcast Live with Will St Leger & Tonie Walsh

I'm busy playing catchup with the latest Blindboy podcast episodes and this week I listened to the live podcast with Will St Leger and Tonie Walsh, and it was amazing! If you haven't listened to The Blindboy Podcast yet, the mainstay episodes are Blindboy giving us a podcast hug in his studio speaking straight about wide ranging topics from the historical significance of lapis luzuli to Carl Jung's collective self consciousness, with plenty of hot takes in between.

New Galaxy Discovered

A team of astronomers have discovered a new galaxy called ANT 2 while working through data captured by the European Space Agency's GAIA satellite. The new galaxy previously went undetected because of its low density and position behind the shroud of the Milky Way's disc.

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