Science

Ocean Microplastic Satellite Detection

Researchers at University of Michigan have discovered a technique to detect the build-up of microplastics in the ocean by measuring ocean surface roughness using the Cyclone Global Navigational Satellite System (CYGNSS).

Environment

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Night Vision Film

#268

Scientists at the Australian National University (ANU) have developed a nanocrystal ultra-thin film that can be applied to a pair of glasses to convert infrared light light into visible light, allowing the wear to see in the dark.

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The Best Physics Movies

#266

Wonder of Physics published a great list of the best science movies, many of which are rate above 7 on IMDB, which I have found is a good indicator of a good film. Special shout out for Predestination, the best time travel movie ever made.

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Tricking Birds With Magic

#266

Researchers at Cambridge studied how well hand based magic tricks work on Eurasian Jays. The clever birds saw through two of the three magic tricks, possibly because the birds had no expectations around human hand mechanics.

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Birdsong Spectrograms

#266

Soundshader published on Github a study of using the DFT shift theorem to generate spectrograms from birdsong and compare them to spectrograms generated from musical instruments.

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Russian Nuclear Spacecraft

#265

Russia's federal space agency Roscosmos announced plans for its nuclear power space tug spacecraft to go interplanetary in 2030 with missions to the Moon and Jupiter.

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Robotic Third Thumb

#265

Researchers at UCL conducted a study where participants trained themselves to use a robotic third thumb which was desisgned by the Royal College of Art. Users of the thrid thumb control its movement using their toes. The UCL study measured brain activity of participants after time using the thumb and found that the brain's representation of the hand had changed.

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Ireland's First Computer Scientist - Percy Ludgate

#264

The Irish Times published a piece this week about Percy Ludgate who is believed to be Ireland's first computer scientist. In 1914 the accountant and inventor from Skibereen presented designs for the worlds second analytical engine, a mechanical computer of the time.

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Podcast of the Week: Blindboy with Dr. Sabina Brennan

#262

Another great podcast this week was Blindboy interviewing neuroscientist Dr. Sabina Brennan about how the brain processes habits, learning, sleep, & lots more interesting topics.

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Maxwell's Demon

#261

Jonathan O'Callaghan published an interesting article in Quanta Magazine about the history of Maxwell's Demon and how the concept has moved from a thought experiment in thermodynamics in 1867 into physical experiments from 2007 onwards.

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