1891
New
The latest blog posts to take off on Hacker News. 4,455 posts.
1892
How Intelligent Are Cats? (2004)
Cat owners often claim that cats are too intelligent to do the sort of tricks that dogs do willingly. Others believe cats are unintelligent because it's harder to train them to do tricks. In this article (on 2 pages) I aim to explain some of these differences and explore feline intelligence and the limitations on…
1893
A number of countries have decoupled economic growth from energy use, even if we take offshored production into account
Energy use is declining in some countries, despite economic growth.
1894
1895
We’ve got a science opportunity overload: Launching the Wolfram Institute
The Wolfram Institute will pursue opportunities in scientific research based on a new multicomputational paradigm found during a project to develop a fundamental theory of physics.
1896
The examples in the textbooks are not representative of real world problems
Bill Harris points to this cartoon from Randall Munroe. I think he (Munroe) is really on to something here. Not about Bayes’s theorem but about the sorts of examples that are in textbooks.
1897
First Light (Oxford University spinout) achieves nuclear fusion
First Light Fusion (First Light), the University of Oxford fusion spin-out, today confirms it has achieved fusion. The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) has independently validated the result.
1898
Study Tips from Richard Feynman
“Study hard what interests you the most.”
1899
The human genome is, at long last, complete
Results of automated DNA sequencing, displayed on the screen of a tablet computer. (Turtle Rock Scientific/Science Photo Library)
1900
The Reliability of Optical Disks
How long will burned CDs / DVDs / BluRays last?
1901
No increased risk of brain tumours for mobile phone users, new study finds
Longstanding fears that using mobile phones may increase the risk of developing a brain tumour have been reignited recently by the launch of 5G (fifth generation) mobile wireless technologies. Mobile phones emit radiofrequency waves which, if absorbed by tissues, can cause heating and damage.
1902
What happens when the public lose confidence in academic findings?
In an important new paper, Rafael Ahlskog and Sven Oskarsson show that half of the effect size in observational studies, even in conservative estimates, is composed of confounding.
1903
1904
How is portable AM radio possible?
If AM radio antennas were as long as a quarter wavelength of the carrier signal, you'd need an antenna as long as a football field.
1905
California study begins screening for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD
Our Expanded Access Program study site at Sage Integrative Health in Berkeley, California, began screening participants for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD in early March. Our multi-site expanded access study site for MDMA-assisted therapy for patients with treatment-resistant PTSD at the Pearl Psychedelic Institute in…
1906
1907
New type of ultraviolet light makes indoor air as safe as outdoors
A new type of ultraviolet light that is safe for people destroyed more than 98% of airborne microbes in a room within five minutes, a study found.
1908
1909
Old Spleens Suck (2021)
Why? We Just Don't Know.
1910
The flood that filled the Mediterranean Sea - in one year
"Zanclean Megaflood? What's that, a glam-rock band?"
1911
1912
Covid and the Heart: It Spares No One – Johns Hopkins
New evidence suggests anyone infected with COVID is at higher risk for heart issues—a risk that persists even in relatively healthy people long after the illness has passed.
1913
Deep learning on electronic medical records is doomed to fail
A few years ago, I worked on a project to investigate the potential of machine learning to transform healthcare through modeling electronic medical records. I walked away deeply disillusioned with the whole field and I really don’t think that the field needs machine learning right now. What it does need is plenty of…
1914
OneWeb will resume satellite launches with SpaceX as the launch provider
31 GEO satellites and Eutelsat’s OneWeb LEO constellation of +600 satellites deliver resilient, secure connectivity across land, sea and air.
1915
A 9-line summary of textbook physics
All their wonders in one table
1916
1917
Geniuses of the past were aristocratically tutored
Aristocratic tutoring I: Explaining the decline of genius
1918
Oxidation makes tea black
Oxidation radically alters everything we perceive in food. It changes the flavor, aroma, color, and texture of everything we eat and drink. Without oxidation, tea would taste unbearably bitter. Oxidation is what unlocks tea’s hidden flavors by removing bitter compounds and transforming flavorless proteins into…
1919
Visualizing black holes with general relativistic ray tracing
Okay I ended up making this write-up waaaaaay too long, so before I get into any of the jargon, let’s take a look at the finished product:
1920
iPhone lidar with applications for the geosciences
Lidar (light detection and ranging) is a common remote sensing technique used to create high-resolution three-dimensional models of landscapes and built features. Lidar uses laser pulses to measure distances to the ground or other features. Traditionally, lidar scanners are mounted to airborne or terrestrial…