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Virgin Galactic goes faster than speed of sound in flight test
Richard Branson's blog - where he shares his thoughts on business, Virgin news, leadership, life, family and the global issues he cares about the most
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The latest blog posts to take off on Hacker News. 128 posts.
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How much usage can a Lego piece take before it loses its 'clutch power'?
Have you ever asked yourself this question: "How many times can I assemble LEGO bricks before they wear out?" Well... probably never but I...
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Extracting Audio from Pictures of Gramophone Recordings
Three years ago, a survey team identified a staggering 569,148 time-based media objects on the Bloomington campus of Indiana University—that’s over half a million sound recordings, video recordings…
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F-1 Engine Recovery
Thanks to the conservation team at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, the Apollo F-1 artifacts are ready for display. A few weeks ago the first shipment of artifacts arrived at The Museum of Flight here in Seattle, and I joined museum president Doug King, adjunct curator for space history Geoff Nunn, and…
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Why do we eat grains? Thermodynamics
For generations their people had collected the seeds of tall grasses, which they cooked and ate to supplement their diet of foraged fruits, vegetables, and leaves, and hunted game, fish, and seafood.
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Analyzing my DNA
I recently bought 23andme [http://23andme.com], a service which requires you to send off a DNA sample, and in return performs a series of interesting tests concerning your health and ancestry. I bought the test as a birthday present to myself, somewhat because I was interested in the results,
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Laser Pointer
If every person on Earth aimed a laser pointer at the Moon at the same time, would it change color?
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The Myth of Japanese Longevity
Bioinformatics, genomics, and Javascript
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Gravitational Lensing to Observe Ancient Earth
I was at SFMOMA with Erika a few weekends ago and we saw an exhibit showing the work of Lebbeus Woods – a futuristic architect and illustrator.
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Exponential Economist Meets Finite Physicist
[ An updated treatment of some of this material appears in Chapter 2 of the Energy and Human Ambitions on a Finite Planet (free) textbook, also mirrors a 2022 article in Nature Physics . . ]
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Could the ancient Romans have built a digital computer?
The Romans were undoubtedly master engineers. They were experts at civil engineering, building roads, improving sanitation, inventing Roman concrete, and constructing aqueducts that adhere to tolerances impressive even by today’s standards. Perhaps the best evidence of their aptitude is the fact that many of those…
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Impact of fluoride on neurological development in children
July 25, 2012 -- For years health experts have been unable to agree on whether fluoride in the drinking water may be toxic to the developing human brain.
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The Saddest Map In America
Yep, there it is: the result of a scholarly study by Dorothy Gambrell of the “missed connections” section of Craigslist. This is where you thought you saw your future spouse or date or …
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Good sleep, good learning, good life
Discover effective online language learning with SuperMemo. Learn languages with proven courses, intelligent repetitions, and AI tools. Start today!
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Hubble
If the Hubble telescope were aimed at the Earth, how detailed would the images be?
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FedEx Bandwidth
Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway. –Andrew Tanenbaum, 1981
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Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination
Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, and business professionals.
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World's largest natural sound archive is now online
The Macaulay Library natural sound archive at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology has been fully digitized and is now available online.
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Are Placebos Really Sugar Pills?
Bioinformatics, genomics, and Javascript
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We don't know why lithium batteries work
If you are a scientist, you confront ignorance as soon as you open your eyes. For example -- I am typing this post on a laptop computer that is powered by a lithium battery. No one has the slightest idea how and why it works. Metallic lithium can intercalate between the graphene sheets in graphite…
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