Items of Interest

Whale Song Ocean Floor Mapping

Researchers at Oregon State University have demonstracted how to map the ocean floor using whale song! The 190 dB song of fin whales takes the form of second long bursts in the 20Hz range separated by dozens of seconds and typically last for hours.

Innovation

Science

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Cistercian Number Cyphers

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Highlighted by MathematicsUCL on Twitter, Cistercian monks in the 13th century developed a cypher system to prepresent numbers from 1 to 9999 in one symbol.

Data Vis

History

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Zoom Goat

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Dot McCarthy, a farmer from Cronkshaw Fold Farm in Lancashire, has made £50,000 by hiring out her show goats on zoom for £5 per 5 min appearance! The money is being used to keep farm staff employed during the pandemic and convert the farm to newable power to improve its carbon footprint.

Business

Innovation

Life

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Free Skillfinder & E-College Courses

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Skillfinder is an Australian website that brings together a range of free short courses developed and delivered by a host of tech companies such as Adobe, Google, Microsoft, IBM, and others. Courses are available in a number of categories from Computing Basics and Coding to Machine Learning and Project Managment. E-College is a similar website that is available to residents of The Republic of Ireland, but E-college courses also include exams and certifications.

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Printed Paper Speaker

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Scientists at Chemnitz University of Technology in Germany have developed paper thin speakers which can be printed on rolls of paper called T-Paper. The paper holds two layers of conductive organic polymer with a piezoelectric layer in between that vibrates to create the sound. T-paper can be shaped into a circle and act as a hanging loudspeaker at events like tradeshows or as part of museum exhibits to broadcast audio information.

Innovation

Science

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Spinach Detectors

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Engineers at MIT have used spinach to detect explosive materials in groundwater. Carbon nanotubes in the spinach leaves emit a signal when the routes detect nitroaromatics, often found in landmines, which is picked up by an infrared camera that triggers an email to alert scientists.

Environment

Innovation

Science

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Three Years Of Clothing Tracking

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Olof Hoverfält tracked every piece of clothing that he wore for three years. The resulting analysis, data and charts published on Reaktor is a fascinating read. Olof analyses his clothing on cost per wear, performance and sustainability. His advice after three years is buy and wear what you need and love, and don't waste time on second tier clothing.

Data Vis

Innovation

Life

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MuscleWiki

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MuscleWiki is a handy tool that allows you to select a muscle and view the streches and various exercise that can target that muscle group.

Life

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Adobe Flash EOL Nightmares

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On December 31, 2020 Adobe Flash reached its official End Of Life (EOL) and on January 12, 2021 Adobe disabled Flash from running. Despite months of warnings and notices, some users did not migrate away from Flash in time and have been forced into some questionable decision making in order to keep critical services running.

Business

Tech

Web Dev

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GPS Vulnerabilities

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Kate Murphy in The New York Times wrote a fascinating article about the vulnerabilities of GPS and how GPS signals can be spoofed and interfered with by anyone from nation states to delivery drivers wanting to take longer breaks who unintentially interfere with airport tracking systems!

Tech

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