Science and the world
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A magic treatment for paralysis?
- A self-assembling gel injected at the site of spinal cord injuries in paralysed mice has enabled them to walk again after four weeks.
- The gel mimics the matrix that is normally found around cells, providing a scaffold that helps cells to grow. It also provides signals that stimulate nerve regeneration.
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New giant Russian spy submarines
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- By examining the glowing chain reactions occurring in the animals’ neurons as they ate, the team determined that a subnetwork of neurons that produces a particular neuropeptide (a molecule produced by neurons) is responsible for the spatially localized inward folding of the body.
- Adventures with understanding larval brains
- approx 15k neurons
- general idea
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Spiders flying on electric currents
- First, they showed that spiders can detect electric fields. They put the arachnids on vertical strips of cardboard in the center of a plastic box, and then generated electric fields between the floor and ceiling of similar strengths to what the spiders would experience outdoors. These fields ruffled tiny sensory hairs on the spiders’ feet, known as trichobothria. “It’s like when you rub a balloon and hold it up to your hairs,” Morley says.
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On the behavior of the so-called “demon star”
- But scientists argue whether tiny variations in the light from Algol could be caused by even more stars orbiting in the system. To answer that, Jetsu applied a new mathematical method to years of recorded data of the light from Algol and revealed regular signals that suggest there may be up to five “companion” stars in the system.
Language, games, media
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Interesting etymology: the word “cannon” might have a Sumerian origin
- A new translation of the dialogues of Plato!
- And I should add, free to read online!
- The foreword has some “greatest hits”
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Excellent annotated summary of Dune (warning: spoilers …)
- A text game covered in the “50 years of text games” Substack that I follow
- A review
- Turns out the creator was behind Cookie Clicker !
History
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I discovered Ian Graham, who played a very important role in preserving Maya artifacts
- For anyone who ever wanted to be an archaeologist, Ian Graham could be a hero. This lively memoir chronicles Graham’s career as the “last explorer” and a fierce advocate for the protection and preservation of Maya sites and monuments across Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize. It is also full of adventure and high society, for the self-deprecating Graham traveled to remote lands such as Afghanistan in wonderful company. He tells entertaining stories about his encounters with a host of notables beginning with Rudyard Kipling, a family friend from Graham’s childhood.
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Neolithic folks made clothes from … trees !!
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How “old” toasters from half a century ago are better than modern ones
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Lidar continues to reveal interesting stuff in Central America: this time, Olmec sites
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“The Indiana Jones of low Earth orbit” Space Archaeology 😀
People, culture, society
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Neil Postman on entertainment and politics, from 1988 (!)
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(while we’re on the topic) Neil Postman talk , introduced by Alan Kay, on over-information (instead of amusement)
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Notes on a deglobalising world
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NYTimes shines a spotlight on hypocrisy
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On internet, subcultures and their effect on society
Computing and software
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Great write up on what makes Sublime Text special
- A summary of the history of the semantic web
- Transcript here
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“Batteries” within Emacs you may not be familiar with (all of this is “vanilla”, without additional plugins!)
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Genetic Evolution example (i.e. in simulation) with with a great explanation
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Some praise for Guix
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Everything old is new again: avoiding JavaScript by using htmx
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A way to do dev on the new macOS M1s, courtesy Mitchell Hashimoto
Abacus Noir 
