594 private links
Getting enough light is vital for regulating our sleep, combatting depression and seasonal affective disorder and maintaining good physical health.
På Uppsala universitet möts vi över gränser. Här möter du människor från olika bakgrunder, med olika framtidsdrömmar och med olika förutsättningar.
In this video produced by the American Chemical Society, George Zaidan does a great job presenting a short but fundamental explanation of what an electron is and why that matters (pun intended).
I can really recommend!
Via Physics World.
في ذكرى المولد النبوي الشريف خطبة الجمعة من الجامع الأزهر مع د./أحمد عمر هاشم، عضو هيئة كبار العلماء
− Kan vi producera färg av koldioxid? Svaret är ett rungande ja! Det var beskedet från Anna Berggren hållbarhetschef, Perstorp, när hon beskrev företagets planer på att bygga en anläggning för att samla in koldioxid och tillverka metanol av den.
Inspelning från IKEM:s och Kemisamfundets seminarium om vad som förenar Perstorp och Mars-resor.
- Nils Hannerz, forsknings- och innovationschef IKEM.
- Anna Berggren, hållbarhetschef, Perstorp.
- Alexis Bohlin, forskare vid Luleå tekniska universitet.
Short film by Spencer Sharp & Prince Ea, first prize winner of the Film4Climate from 2016.
Worth watching, always good to be reminded about our shared responsibility towards nature.
- https://www.connect4climate.org/article/film4climate-competition-winners-announced
- https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2016/11/14/winners-in-the-film4climate-global-video-contest-honored-in-morocco
Via Alan Ralph.
These videos were produced for the National Science Foundation by the California Institute of Technology in the 1950's.
Via 3quarksdaily.
Rowing is slowly becoming the new watersport of choice for Cairenes looking to escape the hustle and bustle of Egypt’s chaotic capital.
CairoScene.
Any reversible physical process is an energy storage technology.
An interesting take from Technology Connections.
In this one, he reminds us that simple management of heat in our homes can amount to a simple and immediately available method to distribute energy use from the hours of peak demand.
Crooked Timber says: "energy storage is a solvable problem [...] concerns about the variability of wind and solar power will come to nothing in the end".
Moving rocks up and down former mine shafts could be a workable energy storage system.
"People You May Know", an FT Film (18 min) written by James Graham on the challenges presented by big data and algorithms, is released today in collaboration with Sonia Friedman Productions and supported by Luminate.
This short film appears to be the continuation of a paper titled "The Data Delusion: Protecting Individual Data is Not Enough When the Harm is Collective" edited by Stanford's Cyber Policy Center (the report's author is the managing director of Luminate), which has an adjoining Q&A session.
I think the film is worth watching, but one should keep in mind who the producer is.
Luminate was funded in 2018 by the Omidyar Group, which is owned by Pierre Morad Omidyar, who founded eBay which in turn bought PayPal. So not exactly a video by the people for the people...
Despite the notion in the film and the paper, I think the call for collective action does not negate the validity of individual action. Feeling like you should do something about this whole data privacy nightmare?
Well, you can! Switch from Chrome to Firefox. Switch from WhatsApp to Signal (or even better, Matrix). Don't let the Facebook newsfeed be your window unto the world; use your own RSS feedreader instead. Be the change you want to see!
Via kottke.org
Per Alström är professor i ekologi och genetik och har i sin forskning kartlagt hela sju nya fågelarter.
There's an app that can identify bird species from their song or even by photo:
Merlin. Developed by Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and covers birds across most of the world. Thanks to Helen Fields for the tip.
Big downside - the app won't start until you provide an email address. It appears it won't continue working past five days unless the email address is confirmed. Why are you being snoopy, Cornell? Not nice.
This project was acquired by Alphabet in 2013 and shut down by the same in Feb 2020.
The project leaves after it this almost 2h long documentary.
https://x.company/projects/makani/
Via /u/Chris_in_Lijiang.
Lake Retba in Senegal is the world's second most saline body of water, thanks to being cutoff from the ocean some 50 years ago.
Workers produce 60000 tons of salt per year by harvesting it from the lake bottom and sun-drying it before adding iodine and filling it into bags for sale.
"How 60,000 Metric Tons of Salt Are Harvested from One of the World’s Saltiest Lakes", by Eater
For comparison, the world annual salt production (not only from lakes or oceans), is around 280 million tons. The oceans contain a virtually inexhaustible supply of salt.
Derek Muller (Veritasium) with an excellent explainer on how potash is produced.
Immersive and impressive.
Go ahead and read Jason Kottke's description, then watch ORBIT by Seán Doran.
The Molecular Shape of You by A Capella Science is not just amazing, it's genius! A must watch for any student of science. If you haven't seen it before, enjoy!
Other great videos by Tim Blais: The surface of light!, Evo-Devo and the very timely Vaccine Wellerman Seashanty.
Thanks to u/GuitHarper for the tip.
Via 3quarksdaily
There's also a Youtube playlist.