Archive for the 'Off Topic' Category
The Nocturnals
February 23rd, 2022Via: The Atlantic: While most people are fast asleep, some ultra-introverts are going about their lives, reveling in the quiet and solitude. They challenge a core assumption of psychology: that all humans need social connection.
“My DIY R/C Boat Pulled Me 20 Miles”
November 10th, 2021Via: rctestflight:
What’s It Like Hauling Nuclear Weapons Across The Country?
July 20th, 2021Via: FreightWaves: Listening to the radio or music is allowable so long as it does not interfere with convoy communications, Johnson said.
ALiEn: Artificial Life Environment
June 11th, 2021Via: https: Alien-Project: ALiEn is an artificial life simulation program based on a specialized physics and rendering engine in CUDA. It is designed to simulate digital organisms embedded in artificial ecosystems and to mimic conditions for (pre-)biotic evolution.
Physicists Measure the Gravitational Force Between the Smallest Masses Yet
June 10th, 2021Via: Scientific American: The research effort born on that day has now produced its first result: a measurement of the gravitational force between two tiny gold spheres, each about the size of a sesame seed and weighing as much as four grains of rice—the smallest masses whose gravity has been measured to date. … It […]
Tiny Animal Revived After 24,000 Years Entombed in Siberian Permafrost
June 8th, 2021Via: New Scientist: A tiny animal called a rotifer has been revived after spending 24,000 years frozen in permafrost. It is the longest a rotifer has been observed to survive in such extreme cold. While simple organisms like bacteria can often survive millennia in permafrost, “this is an animal with a nervous system and brain […]
The Sabbatical YouTube Channel
March 30th, 2021Sabbatical Tommy’s travel videos are fascinating. So far, besides English (he’s from New York), I’ve seen him speaking Spanish, Nahuatl, French, Chinese, Russian and Swahili. My eyes bugged out when he was translating Swahili into Chinese for the girl he hitched a ride with in Zanzibar. I wonder if he has a “day job” in […]
The Ancient Method That Keeps Afghanistan’s Grapes Fresh All Winter
March 26th, 2021Via: Atlas Obscura: “We use mud from the village, mix it with straw and water, and then form the bowls,” explains Ahmadi’s daughter Sabsina, 11, who, during the harvest, helps her father after school. After laying the bowls in the sun for about five hours, they place the grapes in the dry bowls, which they […]
Microbes Unknown to Science Discovered on The International Space Station
March 16th, 2021Via: ScienceAlert: Researchers from the United States and India working with NASA have now discovered four strains of bacteria living in different places in the ISS – three of which were, until now, completely unknown to science. … All four of the strains belong to a family of bacteria found in soil and freshwater; they […]
‘Smallest Reptile on Earth’ Discovered in Madagascar
February 10th, 2021Via: BBC: Scientists believe they may have discovered the smallest reptile on earth – a chameleon subspecies that is the size of a seed. Two of the tiny lizards were discovered by a German-Madagascan expedition team in Madagascar. The male Brookesia nana, or nano-chameleon, has a body of just 13.5mm. This makes it the smallest […]
