Tom Elwood -best of the internet.

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

A New Mining Ship Sucks Metals Off The Seafloor. Is That A Good Idea?

Sea floor debris accumulates a concretion of rare minerals around it over millions of years. Is mining of this "oceanic desert" more environmentally friendly than pit mining on land? Not if it doesn't decrease land mining, and not if we have no idea yet what lives on the ocean floor.

Sunday, February 26, 2023

The Country Restaurant

So intriguing - the more you read about this solitary, self-made independent resourceful chef, the deeper the mystery becomes.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/08/29/damon-baehrel-the-most-exclusive-restaurant-in-america

This device corkscrews itself into the ground like a seed

https://youtu.be/MZC_hXx1_Yc

Such a clever idea - this device passively delivers broadcast seed deep into the soil.

Thursday, February 23, 2023

Surprising Predators

Any guesses what predator in nature has the highest "kill rate," once it starts chasing its prey? You'd be surprised by the answer.

1:42 in this video: https://youtu.be/poTtbb1P6VM

Also, guess what deadly predator sends a lightning-fast harpoon at its victim, and has hundreds of chemicals in its venom and can produce a different cocktail of venom from one victim to the next? Not a creature you'd associate with speed and accuracy.

https://youtu.be/jYMjLgPFSso

If you want more detail about the second one, it's in this episode.

https://radiolab.org/episodes/golden-goose

Cone Snails Stab and Swallow Fish Whole

https://youtu.be/jYMjLgPFSso

Deadly accuracy and speed aren't things you'd associate with a snail.

The hundreds of venom compounds they produce can have human benefits.

Pain Therapeutics from Cone Snail Venoms: From Ziconotide to Novel Non-Opioid Pathways.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6214764/

The persistent researcher who has studied the cone Snails for decades

https://radiolab.org/episodes/golden-goose

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Happiness 2.0: Cultivating Your Purpose | Hidden Brain Media

Experiment: those asked to write about goals before climbing a steep hill focused on how difficult the hill was because it was an obstacle to those immediate goals. But those asked to write about their purpose in life, rated the climb less difficult.

https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/cultivating-your-purpose/

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

5 Ways ChatGPT Will Change Healthcare Forever, For Better

"For physicians, data comes from classroom lectures, published research and professional experience. For AI, it's the totality of digitally published material. A physician will recall (or look up) the relevant information that applies to a patient's symptoms. Generative AI will use billions of parameters to pinpoint appropriate text. Physicians compare possible diagnoses, whereas today's ChatGPT tests sentences. Both weigh the options and predict among (all of available possibilities) the best match."

"...next generations of generative AI will be able to monitor patients 24/7 and provide ongoing medical expertise...Syncing with wearable devices... Comparing...against the expected ranges preset by each patient's doctor...Reminding patients at home when they they're due for preventive screenings, Rx refills or daily exercise."

"Next generations of ChatGPT with video capability will be able to observe doctors and nurses, compare their actions to evidence-based guidelines and warn clinicians when they're about to commit an error."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertpearl/2023/02/13/5-ways-chatgpt-will-change-healthcare-forever-for-better/

How Millions Of Jeans Get Recycled Into New Jeans

6:59 It takes 10,000 liters of water to make a single pair of jeans.

3:08 This massive Pakistan factory has increased its use of recycled fibers from 8% to 30% of their fabric.

4:23 They extract the indigo dye and re-use it to dye the new fabric, achieving a huge reduction in water usage.

https://youtu.be/hV_-yJ6NiP8

Farming robots that will feed the world

1:48 It all started from an engineer's idea to pick up garbage on a beach...

0:46 The cost of fruit wasted last year because no one could be found to pick it was 35 million pounds in the UK alone.

4:26 it inspects for 17 different kinds of defects

5:40 it recognizes ripe fruit 🍓

7:21 for now, it's shower than a human at picking - 7:43 about 25% as fast.

https://youtu.be/hBkhUClyJvs

Effect of Dark Clothing Color of Female Pedestrians on the Severity of Accident

"clothing color had a significant influence on pedestrian accidents, and...dark clothing color increased the probability of accidents, especially at night." [although] "females in the older age group tended to wear darker clothing than younger females aged 30 or less."

"clothing had the greatest effect on increasing the probability of female pedestrian accidents"

"both pedestrian dark clothing and illumination, the crashes that occurred on an urban highway were 9 times more likely to be fatal"

"driver's age and pedestrian's clothing had a considerable effect on the distance at which the drivers initially reacted to the presence of pedestrians."

"When pedestrians wore a biological motion reflective clothing, they were recognized more often than when they wore a reflective vest."

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/mpe/2021/5567638/