Just Plain WEIRD #2
Cow cuddling is getting ever more popular, but what’s the science behind using animals for relaxation? Credit: cottonbro from Pexels – By Scotty Hendricks 2021 Feb 27 – An Indian non-profit hopes to help people relax by giving them cuddle sessions with cows. …
Roseann Bacha-Garza (left), a borderlands historian, stands with Olga Webber-Vasques at the grave of the latter’s great-great-grandfather, the abolitionist John Ferdinand Webber, in the family cemetery. – By John Burnett/NPR 2021 Feb 28 Heard on All Things Considered 13-Minute Listen Download – In …
The sagas suggest she settled in Newfoundland and eventually made eight crossings of the North Atlantic Sea As historian Nancy Marie Brown points out, “Asking not ‘Are the sagas true?’ but ‘Are they plausible?’” is a far better barometer for testing the Viking …
Service from MyHeritage uses deep learning technique to automatically animate faces. ‘Some people love the Deep Nostalgia feature and consider it magical, while others find it creepy and dislike it,’ MyHeritage says. Photograph: MyHeritage.com – Alex Hern UK technology editor @alexhern Last modified …
Epidemiologist Shanna Swan says low counts and changes to sexual development could endanger the human species. Swan offers advice on how to protect themselves from damaging chemicals and urges people to ‘do what we can to safeguard our fertility, the fate of mankind, …
ENIAC was built to compute gunnery tables. US Army – By David Szondy 2021 Feb 25 – Seventy five years ago, the world was introduced to ENIAC, the first ever electronic, programmable, general purpose, digital computer, in a demonstration that not only ushered in …
During this time, Earth’s inhabitants would have been subjected to some dazzling displays — northern and southern lights, caused by solar winds hitting the Earth’s atmosphere, would have been frequent. – By Amy Woodyatt, CNN Updated 2021 Feb 19 – The reversal of …
The Underwater Museum of Cannes consists of six head-like sculptures, each of which weighs 10 tons. Jason deCaires Taylor – By Adam Williams 2021 Feb 15 – Any unsuspecting swimmers diving off the coast of Cannes, France, may think they’ve stumbled onto some kind …
A clownfish checks out the programming on the UV-TV. University of Queensland – By Ben Coxworth 2021 Feb 19 – Unlike us, many animals can see ultraviolet light. If you’re using a video screen to study their visual perception, therefore, that screen really ought …
Massive craters have been appearing in parts of the Russian Arctic. This one appeared between May 15 and June 9, 2020. – By Katie Hunt, CNN Updated 2021 Feb 17 – The massive crater appeared violently and explosively in the Siberian tundra last …
