China's launched its Chang'e 6 sample-return mission, which will haul dirt and rocks home from the mysterious lunar far side. | Continue reading
A 3,500-year-old rest house in the Sinai desert may have been used by an Egyptian pharaoh. | Continue reading
Barriss Offee is a rare character for Star Wars. Not just because she was a Jedi so horrified by the part the Order had to play in the Clone War that she took extreme action to try and stop it, but simply because the next step of her story was left untold for over a decade. Now, … | Continue reading
The languages of the earliest Americans evolved in 4 waves, according to one expert. | Continue reading
Andrej Karpathy muses about sending a LLM binary that could "wake up" and answer questions. | Continue reading
We read an interesting paper today (ht Sachin Benny with an assist from ChatGPT) in the Yak Collective weekly governance study group (Fridays at 9 AM Pacific). Sons of the Soil, Migrants, and Civil War, by James D. Fearon and David D. Laitin (World Development, V 39, No. 2, 2011) … | Continue reading
In Latin, as well as in English, the toponym "Avernus" is synonymous with "hell" or "underworld." It comes from the name of a volcanic crater lake in Campania, Italy. It means "birdless" in Ancient Greek (áornos), likely named so for the toxic fumes seeping from the area, which i … | Continue reading
"Could easily use old towels and washcloths too." Cleaner shares mopping tip that doesn't require expensive disposable pads: 'Enjoy a wallet and Earth friendly cleaning hack' first appeared on The Cool Down. | Continue reading
I spoke on 18 April at UNFOLD, an event hosted by Domus Academy in Milan as part of this year’s Design Week. Students from 6 international design schools presented their work over the day with an accompanying exhibition, and I was honoured to open the event. I chose to speak abou … | Continue reading
Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key bridge collapsed in March after it was struck by an enormous container ship that lost power while exiting the city’s port. The collision left the stricken Dali container ship stuck under the remnants of the bridge and made entry and exit of the Port … | Continue reading
The IEEE–Eta Kappa Nu honor society for engineers celebrates its 120th anniversary this year. Founded in October 1904, IEEE-HKN recognizes academic experience as well as excellence in scholarship, leadership, and service. Inductees are chosen based on their technical, scientific, … | Continue reading
Nachos is an easy snack you can make any time, any day! This easy beef nachos recipe features flavorful taco seasoned beef and black bean mixture, Pico de Gallo, your favorite veggies and of course, plenty of cheese. Easy to make ahead or right when you want it, bake it until che … | Continue reading
As Peacock preps for this summer’s Olympics (and a price increase), the streamer’s genre movie library remains as robust (and as weird) as ever. Here are 10 fantasy and horror movies to check out, including a pair of Jim Henson favorites and some very recent titles that you might … | Continue reading
Even after a commendable 16-year runtime, the company is offering discounts. | Continue reading
Health officials have warned of an ongoing tuberculosis outbreak in Long Beach, California. | Continue reading
For more than two weeks, our blog has been hobbled by problems with our Domain Name Servers (DNS). Basically, the majority of our email subscribers weren’t receiving updates when we posted something new. Also, our RSS feed took a dump. So even fewer people knew we were posting an … | Continue reading
The Transportation and Security Administration plans to vastly expand its use of facial recognition technology in the U.S., going from 25 airports with the tech to over 430 by this July. And a group of 14 senators from both parties are not happy, arguing in a new letter that, “th … | Continue reading
Google: Epic Games wants court to "micromanage" Android app distribution. | Continue reading
Microsoft shared its responsible artificial intelligence practices from the past year in an inaugural report, including releasing 30 responsible AI tools that have over 100 features to support AI developed by its customers. Read more... | Continue reading
The MIT EC^3 Hub, an outgrowth of the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub, will develop multifunctional concrete applications for infrastructure. | Continue reading
I used to have this singular focus on students writing code that they submit, and then I run test cases on the code to determine what their grade is. This is such a narrow view of what it means to be a software engineer, and I just felt that with generative AI, I’ve managed to ov … | Continue reading
We come from two sides of the political spectrum, write Christopher F. Rufo and Jenin Younes. But both of us agree that the Antisemitism Awareness Act is profoundly misguided. | Continue reading
Letter of recommendation: Make a deep skillet of your favorite taco or burrito filling, cover it with cheese and broil the whole lot of it in the oven, then scoop it up with tortilla chips. I hope you’re not asking “Why?” Because I know you heard the part about the lightly charre … | Continue reading
I have spoken at several TED conferences over the years. TEDxPSU 2010: “Reconceptualizing Security” TEDxCambridge 2013: “The Battle for Power on the Internet” TEDMed 2016: “Who Controls Your Medical Data?” I’m putting this here because I want all three links in one place. | Continue reading
With roots dating to 1946, radio station WMBR airs daily on 88.1 FM. | Continue reading
With a rich nuttiness and bold flavor from shallots, garlic, red chiles, palm sugar, and tamarind paste, peanut sauce is a delicious staple in Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia. Here’s how to make it at home. | Continue reading
My thanks to Conversation Tree Press for sponsoring Six Colors this week. This is a very different kind of Six Colors sponsor, but they’re doing something special.… | Continue reading
Restrictions on gas hookups aim to tackle a key source of pollution: carbon burned in furnaces, water heaters, stoves, and other appliances. City abruptly reverses landmark decision to ban gas hookups: 'We have ceased enforcement' first appeared on The Cool Down. | Continue reading
It began when collector John Pottie found what he thought was a print of a game of billiards. Removing the art from the frame, he realized it was actually woven silk. How could such a small piece of art be created from fibers and a loom? The fascination ignited; soon the National … | Continue reading
MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering grad students are undertaking a broad range of innovative research projects. | Continue reading
‘Twas the afternoon before Star Wars Day, and all through the internet, Hasbro was stirring our wallets with yet another big stream of reveals from the galaxy far, far away. Appropriately, given that 2024's Star Wars Day coincides with the 25th anniversary of The Phantom Menace, … | Continue reading
It's a must-have for homes with picky eaters. READ MORE... | Continue reading
Each week, Atlas Obscura is providing a new short excerpt from our upcoming book, Wild Life: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Living Wonders (September 17, 2024). You’re walking in the woods in Mozambique, humming to yourself. Suddenly, a small brown bird appears. You glimpse h … | Continue reading
Physical media is very popular these days. Nostalgia, fandom, and streaming burnout have caused certain segments of American society to switch off their Amazon Prime accounts and fire up their Blu-ray players. One of the many advertised benefits of physical media is that it offer … | Continue reading
Yan Lianke at Literary Hub: In China we have a saying that reading a banned book on a snowy night is one of the true joys of life. From this, one can well imagine the kind of satisfaction that reading a banned book may bring—like candy locked up in a cabinet, it releases a sweet… | Continue reading
April saw plugin EVs take a 56.9% share in Sweden, up modestly YoY from 55.7%. The BEV share fell slightly YoY, while PHEV share climbed higher. Overall auto volume was 21,977 units, up some 7% YoY. The new Volvo EX30 was March’s bestselling BEV, its first time in the top ... [co … | Continue reading
Daniel Immerwahr in The Guardian: The German forester Peter Wohlleben’s surprise bestseller, The Hidden Life of Trees (published in English in 2016), has inaugurated a new tree discourse, which sees them not as inert objects but intelligent subjects. Trees have thoughts and desir … | Continue reading
Infections can trigger pregnancy complications, and now, new miniature versions of the placenta are helping show why. | Continue reading
Can we buy tickets yet? The post This Blue Is Mine Sounds Like the “Mental Breakdown or Alien?” Movie We Didn’t Know We Wanted appeared first on Reactor. | Continue reading
Thanks to Listen Later for sponsoring this week’s posts at Pixel Envy. Some sponsors provide their own Friday posts, but I was asked to write a little something of my own for Listen Later and I am happy to do so. I only accept sponsorships for products I actually like and would u … | Continue reading
The Maud Rise polynya has been sporadically opening up in Antarctica's ice since at least the 1970s. Now climatologists finally know why. | Continue reading
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The Acorn giveaway has ended, and I have winners to announce! The winners! Congratulations to: Theo Thevenot Steve Gutierrez You should have received an email with details, please let me know if you didn’t hear anything! But I didn’t win! If you didn’t win, sorry, but Acorn is st … | Continue reading
Here's what we looked at this week:A good example of improving an existing product's UX by listening to customers' pain points: Star-M's special Raceway Bit speeds installation times for electricians. Milwaukee's alternative designs for vacuum-based drill dust shrouds.Elements Ed … | Continue reading
Jeremy Hsu in New Scientist: Artificial intelligence is enabling India’s politicians to be everywhere at once in the world’s largest election by cloning their voices and digital likenesses. Even dead public figures, such as politician and actress Jayaram Jayalalithaa, are getting … | Continue reading
Wooden wind turbine blades can outperform conventional composites while reducing costs and improving recycling rates. The post Elegant Wind Turbine Blades Made Of Wood Can Outperform Composites appeared first on CleanTechnica. | Continue reading
On a cold New Year's Eve in 1967 in Ashley, North Dakota, newlyweds Donna and Delbert Eszlinger sliced excitedly into a large, round yellow onion. First, they split it lengthwise down the middle. Then, carefully, the couple peeled back the onion’s layers, laying 12 fresh, eye-wat … | Continue reading
After burning, the remains were dumped in construction fill. | Continue reading