Curio Cabinet / Nerdy Curio
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FREEChemistry Nerdy CurioFree1 CQ
It's Flashback Friday, and almost the 4th of July! Enjoy these curios in honor of the holiday.
If you are a fan of fireworks (like the ones many of our American readers will soon see on July 4th), then you are a fan of pyrotechnical chemical reactions. The first firework was set off over a thousand years ago by a Chinese monk who stuffed a piece of bamboo with gunpowder and threw it into a fire. Modern fireworks are remarkably similar: a shell, an explosive, and a fuse. The only advances have to do with the extravagant colors and shapes you see today. Individual fireworks are either a tube or sphere containing explosives with a time-delayed fuse. Inside the explosives are small colored balls nicknamed “stars.” They are what you see blazing through the sky after the initial burst. As the "stars" absorb heat energy from the exploding gunpowder, their electrons move from a stable to an excited state. This causes them to release excess energy in the form of light as they move to a lower-energy state. The materials in the “star” determine what color light is emitted. Blue is a mixture of copper chloride compounds, red is a combination of strontium and lithium salts, and yellow is simply sodium nitrate. Mixtures of these primary colors create secondary colors like purple and green, just like in grade school art class. BOOM goes the chemistry!
[Image description: Fireworks exploding against a black background.] Credit & copyright: DeltaWorks, PixabayIt's Flashback Friday, and almost the 4th of July! Enjoy these curios in honor of the holiday.
If you are a fan of fireworks (like the ones many of our American readers will soon see on July 4th), then you are a fan of pyrotechnical chemical reactions. The first firework was set off over a thousand years ago by a Chinese monk who stuffed a piece of bamboo with gunpowder and threw it into a fire. Modern fireworks are remarkably similar: a shell, an explosive, and a fuse. The only advances have to do with the extravagant colors and shapes you see today. Individual fireworks are either a tube or sphere containing explosives with a time-delayed fuse. Inside the explosives are small colored balls nicknamed “stars.” They are what you see blazing through the sky after the initial burst. As the "stars" absorb heat energy from the exploding gunpowder, their electrons move from a stable to an excited state. This causes them to release excess energy in the form of light as they move to a lower-energy state. The materials in the “star” determine what color light is emitted. Blue is a mixture of copper chloride compounds, red is a combination of strontium and lithium salts, and yellow is simply sodium nitrate. Mixtures of these primary colors create secondary colors like purple and green, just like in grade school art class. BOOM goes the chemistry!
[Image description: Fireworks exploding against a black background.] Credit & copyright: DeltaWorks, Pixabay -
FREEScience Nerdy CurioFree1 CQ
Keep your head in the game! One June 23, researchers from Michigan State University published a paper in the journal Nature describing a new, flexible sensor that can detect concussions in athletes. Concussions are common in high-impact sports like football and hockey, with short-to-long-term symptoms ranging from memory loss to seizures. When just a single concussion can cause lasting damage and the best treatment is an early one, it’s important to be able to accurately detect when one occurs. While there are already helmets that use accelerometers to detect concussions, they have been found to be only moderately accurate, sometimes giving false readings because the device tracks the movement of the helmet instead of the wearer’s head directly. However, the newly developed sensor is attached directly to the body of the wearer, eliminating that source of error.
The sensor, which is placed on the nape of the neck as a patch, is composed of a thin piece of piezoelectric film that generates an electric charge when under tension or compression. Electrodes connect the film to a computer which keeps track of the charges produced, and the information can be analyzed for the type of sudden movements that result in concussions. Researchers attached the device to a dummy that was also equipped with a separate set of accelerometers and gyroscopes. When the dummy was dropped from two feet up in the air to simulate sports-related impacts, the results showed that the new device was 90 percent accurate at detecting potentially concussion-causing movements. The next step for the researchers will be to make the device wireless, so that it could be easily worn by athletes. No doubt this device could make a big impact in the sports world.[Image description: A football player wearing a maroon jersey tackles a player wearing a white jersey.] Credit & copyright: KeithJJ, Pixabay
Keep your head in the game! One June 23, researchers from Michigan State University published a paper in the journal Nature describing a new, flexible sensor that can detect concussions in athletes. Concussions are common in high-impact sports like football and hockey, with short-to-long-term symptoms ranging from memory loss to seizures. When just a single concussion can cause lasting damage and the best treatment is an early one, it’s important to be able to accurately detect when one occurs. While there are already helmets that use accelerometers to detect concussions, they have been found to be only moderately accurate, sometimes giving false readings because the device tracks the movement of the helmet instead of the wearer’s head directly. However, the newly developed sensor is attached directly to the body of the wearer, eliminating that source of error.
The sensor, which is placed on the nape of the neck as a patch, is composed of a thin piece of piezoelectric film that generates an electric charge when under tension or compression. Electrodes connect the film to a computer which keeps track of the charges produced, and the information can be analyzed for the type of sudden movements that result in concussions. Researchers attached the device to a dummy that was also equipped with a separate set of accelerometers and gyroscopes. When the dummy was dropped from two feet up in the air to simulate sports-related impacts, the results showed that the new device was 90 percent accurate at detecting potentially concussion-causing movements. The next step for the researchers will be to make the device wireless, so that it could be easily worn by athletes. No doubt this device could make a big impact in the sports world.[Image description: A football player wearing a maroon jersey tackles a player wearing a white jersey.] Credit & copyright: KeithJJ, Pixabay
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FREEEntrepreneurship Nerdy CurioFree1 CQ
You don’t have to be an artist to start a business based on pop art…you just have to be willing to collaborate! Jackson Aw founded Mighty Jaxx, a company specializing in artistic toys of pop-culture characters, without much experience in art. What Aw did have was a love of collectibles, especially toys based on his favorite comic and movie characters. In fact, the now-32-year-old Aw has been collecting toys since he was 17. In 2011, after getting inspired by the show How It’s Made, Aw began to think about making his own toys. Before taking the plunge, he took a trip to China to tour toy factories. The toy-making process was more involved than he had imagined, involving multiple machines and workers hand painting details onto each toy. There was a lot of artistry involved, even with mass-produced toys.
So Aw did what any smart businessman would do: he teamed up with an artist. With the help of a $20,000 business loan, Aw and Singaporean graffiti artist Clogtwo created Hell Lotus, a figurine of a skeletal character sitting in a “lotus position” atop a red flame shaped like a lotus flower. The figures sold out not long after debuting at 2012’s Singapore Comic Convention. For the next few years, Aw stuck with the same business model, teaming up with artists to create figures based on their works. In 2015, Aw took a leap of faith by reaching out to Warner Brothers’ Vice President of Global Toys via email. Within weeks, Aw scored a contract allowing him to make figures of many Warner Brothers’ characters, including DC Comics characters like Batman. In just one year, Mighty Jaxx’s total sales quadrupled. Today, Mighty Jaxx sells its figures in more than 80 countries and is valued at over $200 million. That’s some grown-up money for toys!
[Image description: A green-and-white robot toy, with a yellow bird perched on its hand.] Credit & copyright: vinsky2002, PixabayYou don’t have to be an artist to start a business based on pop art…you just have to be willing to collaborate! Jackson Aw founded Mighty Jaxx, a company specializing in artistic toys of pop-culture characters, without much experience in art. What Aw did have was a love of collectibles, especially toys based on his favorite comic and movie characters. In fact, the now-32-year-old Aw has been collecting toys since he was 17. In 2011, after getting inspired by the show How It’s Made, Aw began to think about making his own toys. Before taking the plunge, he took a trip to China to tour toy factories. The toy-making process was more involved than he had imagined, involving multiple machines and workers hand painting details onto each toy. There was a lot of artistry involved, even with mass-produced toys.
So Aw did what any smart businessman would do: he teamed up with an artist. With the help of a $20,000 business loan, Aw and Singaporean graffiti artist Clogtwo created Hell Lotus, a figurine of a skeletal character sitting in a “lotus position” atop a red flame shaped like a lotus flower. The figures sold out not long after debuting at 2012’s Singapore Comic Convention. For the next few years, Aw stuck with the same business model, teaming up with artists to create figures based on their works. In 2015, Aw took a leap of faith by reaching out to Warner Brothers’ Vice President of Global Toys via email. Within weeks, Aw scored a contract allowing him to make figures of many Warner Brothers’ characters, including DC Comics characters like Batman. In just one year, Mighty Jaxx’s total sales quadrupled. Today, Mighty Jaxx sells its figures in more than 80 countries and is valued at over $200 million. That’s some grown-up money for toys!
[Image description: A green-and-white robot toy, with a yellow bird perched on its hand.] Credit & copyright: vinsky2002, Pixabay -
FREEScience Nerdy CurioFree1 CQ
Move over wind and solar, there’s a new green energy in town and it’s powered by…carbon dioxide? Yep, the same greenhouse gas that’s driving climate change may soon have a widespread hand in mitigating it, thanks to Italian startup Energy Dome. The fledgling company, which began in 2020, recently announced the opening of its first carbon dioxide (CO2) battery in Sardinia, Italy. Also known as a grid-level energy storage plant, the facility both produces and stores energy without having to maintain low temperatures, as many other kinds of long-term batteries do. As Energy Dome’s name suggests, the secret to its CO2 battery is a large dome filled with carbon dioxide gas. To charge the battery, electric compressors condense the gas into liquid. This process produces excess heat, which is captured and stored. Then, when energy needs to be “withdrawn” from the battery, the heat is used to evaporate the liquid CO2, which once again fills the dome in gaseous form as energy from the process is harvested by turbines and delivered to the power grid. Although Energy Dome’s current battery only stores about four megawatt hours (MWh) of energy, it has served as proof-of-concept for the company’s larger planned facilities. In fact, Energy Dome has already sold facilities in Germany, Africa, and at least one Middle Eastern country, some of which are slated to open by 2023. These plants should be capable of storing 200 MWh of energy. The secret to Energy Dome’s ultra-speedy rollout? The fact that its CO2 batteries require no specially-made equipment. Of course, the abundance of CO2 probably doesn’t hurt, either.
[Image description: A combined photograph of wind turbines on the left and solar panels on the right.] Credit & copyright: seagul, Pixabay
Move over wind and solar, there’s a new green energy in town and it’s powered by…carbon dioxide? Yep, the same greenhouse gas that’s driving climate change may soon have a widespread hand in mitigating it, thanks to Italian startup Energy Dome. The fledgling company, which began in 2020, recently announced the opening of its first carbon dioxide (CO2) battery in Sardinia, Italy. Also known as a grid-level energy storage plant, the facility both produces and stores energy without having to maintain low temperatures, as many other kinds of long-term batteries do. As Energy Dome’s name suggests, the secret to its CO2 battery is a large dome filled with carbon dioxide gas. To charge the battery, electric compressors condense the gas into liquid. This process produces excess heat, which is captured and stored. Then, when energy needs to be “withdrawn” from the battery, the heat is used to evaporate the liquid CO2, which once again fills the dome in gaseous form as energy from the process is harvested by turbines and delivered to the power grid. Although Energy Dome’s current battery only stores about four megawatt hours (MWh) of energy, it has served as proof-of-concept for the company’s larger planned facilities. In fact, Energy Dome has already sold facilities in Germany, Africa, and at least one Middle Eastern country, some of which are slated to open by 2023. These plants should be capable of storing 200 MWh of energy. The secret to Energy Dome’s ultra-speedy rollout? The fact that its CO2 batteries require no specially-made equipment. Of course, the abundance of CO2 probably doesn’t hurt, either.
[Image description: A combined photograph of wind turbines on the left and solar panels on the right.] Credit & copyright: seagul, Pixabay
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FREENerdy CurioFree1 CQ
Imposter syndrome can be a real pain in the wallet. Especially when you’re an entrepreneur taking risks to start your own business. Confidence doesn’t always come easy, though, even if you happen to come from a business-savvy family. That was the case for 34-year-old Suneera Madhani, who today is co-founder of a successful payments start-up called Stax. Even though her parents ran several businesses, Madhani wasn’t sure she could do the same on her own. Instead, after studying finance at the University of Florida, Madhani began working for a payment-processing company that sold payment terminals—the “scanners” that businesses use to collect credit card payments from customers. Most companies that sell terminals, including the one Madhani worked for, also handle credit card payments, and charge fees between 1.5 to 3.5 percent per sale. Knowing that per-sale fees made it difficult for some businesses to estimate their costs, Madhani pitched a new idea to her bosses: how about charging businesses a flat, monthly rate instead?
Her job rejected the idea, but Madhani knew it could work, so she tried to sell the concept. Finally, her father asked why she didn’t start her own business. “″[I was] a reluctant entrepreneur,” Madhani explained to CNBC. “I was the last person to bet on me. And I think that’s the case for a lot of women.” Madhani’s brother, Sal Rehmetullah, also believed in her idea, and in 2014 they co-founded Stax. Together, they went through the hard work of finding clients and investors. At one point, a large competitor tried to buy Stax, putting forth a tempting offer that investors wanted Madhani to take. Instead, she and Rehmetullah took out a loan to keep Stax going, and today they’ve got plenty to show for it. Stax has processed more than $23 billion in transactions, secured $263 million in total funding, and has been valued at around $1 billion. In the business world, self-confidence can pay off big.
[Image description: A close-up of a credit card being swiped in a payment terminal.] Credit & copyright: AhmadArdity, PixabayImposter syndrome can be a real pain in the wallet. Especially when you’re an entrepreneur taking risks to start your own business. Confidence doesn’t always come easy, though, even if you happen to come from a business-savvy family. That was the case for 34-year-old Suneera Madhani, who today is co-founder of a successful payments start-up called Stax. Even though her parents ran several businesses, Madhani wasn’t sure she could do the same on her own. Instead, after studying finance at the University of Florida, Madhani began working for a payment-processing company that sold payment terminals—the “scanners” that businesses use to collect credit card payments from customers. Most companies that sell terminals, including the one Madhani worked for, also handle credit card payments, and charge fees between 1.5 to 3.5 percent per sale. Knowing that per-sale fees made it difficult for some businesses to estimate their costs, Madhani pitched a new idea to her bosses: how about charging businesses a flat, monthly rate instead?
Her job rejected the idea, but Madhani knew it could work, so she tried to sell the concept. Finally, her father asked why she didn’t start her own business. “″[I was] a reluctant entrepreneur,” Madhani explained to CNBC. “I was the last person to bet on me. And I think that’s the case for a lot of women.” Madhani’s brother, Sal Rehmetullah, also believed in her idea, and in 2014 they co-founded Stax. Together, they went through the hard work of finding clients and investors. At one point, a large competitor tried to buy Stax, putting forth a tempting offer that investors wanted Madhani to take. Instead, she and Rehmetullah took out a loan to keep Stax going, and today they’ve got plenty to show for it. Stax has processed more than $23 billion in transactions, secured $263 million in total funding, and has been valued at around $1 billion. In the business world, self-confidence can pay off big.
[Image description: A close-up of a credit card being swiped in a payment terminal.] Credit & copyright: AhmadArdity, Pixabay -
FREEScience Nerdy CurioFree1 CQ
It's Flashback Friday, and the anniversary of the Watergate scandal. As such, enjoy these curios all about government; it’s procedures and some of the shenanigans it gets up to.
It sounds like the plot of a sci-fi blockbuster, but NASA is testing out a very real asteroid-defense system. On November 23, the agency launched DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) from Vandenberg Space Force Base. The experimental, 1,200-pound spacecraft, which launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, is meant to crash into the asteroid Dimorphos in September. Although the 525-foot-long asteroid poses no threat to earth, If DART can knock Dimorphos off course, it would prove that averting future, earth-bound asteroids might be possible.
“Although there isn’t a currently known asteroid that’s on an impact course with the Earth, we do know that there is a large population of near-Earth asteroids out there,” Lindley Johnson, Planetary Defense Officer at NASA, said in a statement. “The key to planetary defense is finding them well before they are an impact threat.” In order for DART’s mission to be considered a success, the craft will have to use its onboard camera and navigation software to locate and slam into Dimorphos at over 14 thousand miles per hour. The crash would then need to cut at least 73 seconds off of Dimorphos’s usual 11-hour, 55-minute orbit around the larger asteroid Didymos, though mission organizers are hoping for an overall reduction of 10 minutes. Knocking an earth-bound asteroid off-course by even a small amount could save the planet, provided it was done far enough in advance. Of course, it’s not quite as dramatic as blowing up an asteroid Armageddon-style, but you can still blast Aerosmith while watching NASA’s DART livesteam.[Image description: An illustration of an asteroid approaching Earth. Credit & copyright: 9866112, Pixabay
It's Flashback Friday, and the anniversary of the Watergate scandal. As such, enjoy these curios all about government; it’s procedures and some of the shenanigans it gets up to.
It sounds like the plot of a sci-fi blockbuster, but NASA is testing out a very real asteroid-defense system. On November 23, the agency launched DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) from Vandenberg Space Force Base. The experimental, 1,200-pound spacecraft, which launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, is meant to crash into the asteroid Dimorphos in September. Although the 525-foot-long asteroid poses no threat to earth, If DART can knock Dimorphos off course, it would prove that averting future, earth-bound asteroids might be possible.
“Although there isn’t a currently known asteroid that’s on an impact course with the Earth, we do know that there is a large population of near-Earth asteroids out there,” Lindley Johnson, Planetary Defense Officer at NASA, said in a statement. “The key to planetary defense is finding them well before they are an impact threat.” In order for DART’s mission to be considered a success, the craft will have to use its onboard camera and navigation software to locate and slam into Dimorphos at over 14 thousand miles per hour. The crash would then need to cut at least 73 seconds off of Dimorphos’s usual 11-hour, 55-minute orbit around the larger asteroid Didymos, though mission organizers are hoping for an overall reduction of 10 minutes. Knocking an earth-bound asteroid off-course by even a small amount could save the planet, provided it was done far enough in advance. Of course, it’s not quite as dramatic as blowing up an asteroid Armageddon-style, but you can still blast Aerosmith while watching NASA’s DART livesteam.[Image description: An illustration of an asteroid approaching Earth. Credit & copyright: 9866112, Pixabay
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FREEScience Nerdy CurioFree1 CQ
If you think AI can really think, you’ve got another think coming. A Google engineer recently made headlines when he claimed that an AI system in development had become sentient, but that’s considered highly unlikely by the majority of experts in the field. The system in question was the tech giant’s Language Model for Dialog Applications, or LaMDA, for short. Its main function is to identify patterns in language and predict what words should come next. When interacting with the system, the AI can seem very convincingly human, but not always. Mistakes are obvious and its conversational output can become downright bizarre. That’s because LaMDA, along with other AI systems like it, can’t actually think. They’re really just collecting massive amounts of data and predicting what the output should be based on probability. The results are often impressive, like the pictures created by OpenAI’s DALL-E 2 and Google’s Imagen. Both are capable of creating images out of descriptive sentences, but they struggle with anything that requires the slightest bit of interpretation. For example, ask either of them for a picture of an astronaut riding a horse, and they will give you just that. But in April, AI expert Gary Marcus tested the two systems by asking them for a picture of a horse riding an astronaut, and they just spit out the same kind of images as before. It wasn’t until one of the scientists working on Imagen came up with prompts specifying that the horse must be on the astronaut’s back or shoulder that it produced the desired results. In other words, it’s just reacting to input without reasoning or interpretation. For now, that’s about as good as AI gets, so it will likely be a long time before androids dream of electric sheep.
[Image description: A digital illustration of a woman’s face beneath a screen of computer code.] Credit & copyright: geralt, Pixabay
If you think AI can really think, you’ve got another think coming. A Google engineer recently made headlines when he claimed that an AI system in development had become sentient, but that’s considered highly unlikely by the majority of experts in the field. The system in question was the tech giant’s Language Model for Dialog Applications, or LaMDA, for short. Its main function is to identify patterns in language and predict what words should come next. When interacting with the system, the AI can seem very convincingly human, but not always. Mistakes are obvious and its conversational output can become downright bizarre. That’s because LaMDA, along with other AI systems like it, can’t actually think. They’re really just collecting massive amounts of data and predicting what the output should be based on probability. The results are often impressive, like the pictures created by OpenAI’s DALL-E 2 and Google’s Imagen. Both are capable of creating images out of descriptive sentences, but they struggle with anything that requires the slightest bit of interpretation. For example, ask either of them for a picture of an astronaut riding a horse, and they will give you just that. But in April, AI expert Gary Marcus tested the two systems by asking them for a picture of a horse riding an astronaut, and they just spit out the same kind of images as before. It wasn’t until one of the scientists working on Imagen came up with prompts specifying that the horse must be on the astronaut’s back or shoulder that it produced the desired results. In other words, it’s just reacting to input without reasoning or interpretation. For now, that’s about as good as AI gets, so it will likely be a long time before androids dream of electric sheep.
[Image description: A digital illustration of a woman’s face beneath a screen of computer code.] Credit & copyright: geralt, Pixabay
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FREEEntrepreneurship Nerdy CurioFree1 CQ
Trade up! It’s common advice in the investing world, but it can work for entrepreneurs too, when it comes to investing in equipment and opportunities. For wedding photographer Grace Torres, using every business and money-making opportunity as a stepping stone to the next was a key strategy that helped her start a lucrative business by age 23. It all began when Torres bought herself her first camera at age 13, with money she had saved up from cash birthday and Christmas gifts. During high school, she did photography as a hobby, constantly using what little money she made to upgrade her equipment. By the time she was in college, she was making around $2,000 a year as a freelance photographer, and was still using money earned from other jobs to invest in the best equipment she could. Finally, Torres reached a point where she didn’t need better equipment—it was her business management skills that needed to be upgraded. After researching online and talking with other photographers, Torres took the plunge from freelance to full-time wedding photographer.
At first, Torres fell into the same trap that many young entrepreneurs do: she overworked herself. Fearing that she could become financially unstable, she took every job she could, even if she’d just worked long hours the day before. Weddings began stacking up left and right. In fact, the past two years have been record-setting years for weddings in the U.S., with 2022 seeing 15 percent more weddings than normal. In 2021, Torres photographed 46 weddings, 10 of which took place in the same month. Along the way, the hardworking entrepreneur realized that, in order to have any free time, she needed to delegate some business responsibilities, like tax prep and photo editing. After all, work-life balance is worth trading up for too.
[Image description: A woman holds a camera up to her face.] Credit & copyright: TTeng, PixabayTrade up! It’s common advice in the investing world, but it can work for entrepreneurs too, when it comes to investing in equipment and opportunities. For wedding photographer Grace Torres, using every business and money-making opportunity as a stepping stone to the next was a key strategy that helped her start a lucrative business by age 23. It all began when Torres bought herself her first camera at age 13, with money she had saved up from cash birthday and Christmas gifts. During high school, she did photography as a hobby, constantly using what little money she made to upgrade her equipment. By the time she was in college, she was making around $2,000 a year as a freelance photographer, and was still using money earned from other jobs to invest in the best equipment she could. Finally, Torres reached a point where she didn’t need better equipment—it was her business management skills that needed to be upgraded. After researching online and talking with other photographers, Torres took the plunge from freelance to full-time wedding photographer.
At first, Torres fell into the same trap that many young entrepreneurs do: she overworked herself. Fearing that she could become financially unstable, she took every job she could, even if she’d just worked long hours the day before. Weddings began stacking up left and right. In fact, the past two years have been record-setting years for weddings in the U.S., with 2022 seeing 15 percent more weddings than normal. In 2021, Torres photographed 46 weddings, 10 of which took place in the same month. Along the way, the hardworking entrepreneur realized that, in order to have any free time, she needed to delegate some business responsibilities, like tax prep and photo editing. After all, work-life balance is worth trading up for too.
[Image description: A woman holds a camera up to her face.] Credit & copyright: TTeng, Pixabay -
FREEComputer Science Nerdy CurioFree1 CQ
Supercomputers have entered a bold new realm. Recently, the Frontier supercomputer, developed by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and installed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), achieved an HPL score of 1.102 exaFLOPS per second—or 1.102 quintillion calculations per second. This makes it the first supercomputer to break the exascale barrier, a threshold of a quintillion calculations per second. TOP500, which ranks the world's supercomputers, published the results in their 59th edition, placing the Frontier system at No. 1, far ahead of the previous record-holder, Fugaku. Developed by the RIKEN Center for Computational Science in Japan, Fugaku previously held the record with just 0.4 exaFLOPS.
The Frontier system is an undoubtedly impressive machine. It includes 8,730,112 cores, consumes 29 megawatts of power, and requires a 6,000 gallon water cooling system to manage the heat produced during operation. The record-breaking supercomputer has had to overcome some incredible odds. It was in the middle of being built when the ongoing, worldwide computer chip shortages first started, and was only able to get its necessary parts thanks to the Defense Act. Despite all they’ve accomplished, the ORNL can’t rest on its laurels if it wants to keep its No. 1 rank, as both AMD and Intel are developing their own exascale supercomputers that may exceed 2 exaflops. However, there is room for the ORNL to expand on the power plant that feeds the Frontier, hopefully allowing it to keep up with the competition with up to 70 megawatts to get closer to its theoretical limits. The supercomputing race is on![Image description: A digital illustration of computer code against a background of computer banks.] Credit & copyright: Elchinator, Pixabay
Supercomputers have entered a bold new realm. Recently, the Frontier supercomputer, developed by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and installed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), achieved an HPL score of 1.102 exaFLOPS per second—or 1.102 quintillion calculations per second. This makes it the first supercomputer to break the exascale barrier, a threshold of a quintillion calculations per second. TOP500, which ranks the world's supercomputers, published the results in their 59th edition, placing the Frontier system at No. 1, far ahead of the previous record-holder, Fugaku. Developed by the RIKEN Center for Computational Science in Japan, Fugaku previously held the record with just 0.4 exaFLOPS.
The Frontier system is an undoubtedly impressive machine. It includes 8,730,112 cores, consumes 29 megawatts of power, and requires a 6,000 gallon water cooling system to manage the heat produced during operation. The record-breaking supercomputer has had to overcome some incredible odds. It was in the middle of being built when the ongoing, worldwide computer chip shortages first started, and was only able to get its necessary parts thanks to the Defense Act. Despite all they’ve accomplished, the ORNL can’t rest on its laurels if it wants to keep its No. 1 rank, as both AMD and Intel are developing their own exascale supercomputers that may exceed 2 exaflops. However, there is room for the ORNL to expand on the power plant that feeds the Frontier, hopefully allowing it to keep up with the competition with up to 70 megawatts to get closer to its theoretical limits. The supercomputing race is on![Image description: A digital illustration of computer code against a background of computer banks.] Credit & copyright: Elchinator, Pixabay
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FREEFinance Nerdy CurioFree1 CQ
Business rules were made to be broken. For proof, look no further than ALDI, a German-born grocery chain that breaks just about every “rule” associated with American grocery shopping. ALDI customers don’t have access to most recognizable food brands, aren’t provided with shopping bags, and famously must “pay” 25 cents to procure a shopping cart (though they get their quarters back by returning their carts to the corral). Strange as it may seem, ALDI has flourished since opening their first U.S. location in 1976, and even saw a surge in business during the COVID-19 pandemic. Turns out, ALDI hasn’t been successful in spite of their quirky business practices, but because of them.
ALDI’s main draw for many customers is the steep discounts they offer on just about everything they sell. These discounts are made possible by the very business “rules” the store breaks. For example, ALDI customers don’t have access to name brands because more than 90 percent of ALDI products are store-exclusive brands. Because of this, ALDI can procure the products at a cheaper price, and pass that discount on to their customers. Not paying to keep shopping bags in their stores means that they don’t have to charge customers money to make up for the cost of the bags. Even the “quarter for a cart” system helps keep things inexpensive: the quarter incentivizes customers to return their cart to the corral, meaning that ALDI doesn’t have to pay for a worker to gather the carts. ALDI is proof that knowing your business’s main strength (in this case, discounts) and leaning into it is a powerful business strategy…even if the end result looks a tad unconventional.
[Image description: A woman walks in front of an aisle of beverages at a grocery store.] Credit & copyright: kc0uvb, PixabayBusiness rules were made to be broken. For proof, look no further than ALDI, a German-born grocery chain that breaks just about every “rule” associated with American grocery shopping. ALDI customers don’t have access to most recognizable food brands, aren’t provided with shopping bags, and famously must “pay” 25 cents to procure a shopping cart (though they get their quarters back by returning their carts to the corral). Strange as it may seem, ALDI has flourished since opening their first U.S. location in 1976, and even saw a surge in business during the COVID-19 pandemic. Turns out, ALDI hasn’t been successful in spite of their quirky business practices, but because of them.
ALDI’s main draw for many customers is the steep discounts they offer on just about everything they sell. These discounts are made possible by the very business “rules” the store breaks. For example, ALDI customers don’t have access to name brands because more than 90 percent of ALDI products are store-exclusive brands. Because of this, ALDI can procure the products at a cheaper price, and pass that discount on to their customers. Not paying to keep shopping bags in their stores means that they don’t have to charge customers money to make up for the cost of the bags. Even the “quarter for a cart” system helps keep things inexpensive: the quarter incentivizes customers to return their cart to the corral, meaning that ALDI doesn’t have to pay for a worker to gather the carts. ALDI is proof that knowing your business’s main strength (in this case, discounts) and leaning into it is a powerful business strategy…even if the end result looks a tad unconventional.
[Image description: A woman walks in front of an aisle of beverages at a grocery store.] Credit & copyright: kc0uvb, Pixabay -
FREESTEM Nerdy CurioFree1 CQ
Preparing for the future is hardly a breeze. Scientists at Florida International University (FIU) are developing a new hurricane simulator that will mimic Category six winds. The National Hurricane Center (NHC), which is based out of FIU, uses the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale to rate hurricane winds based on sustained maximum wind speed. Category five means winds of 157 miles per hour and up. Currently, there is no Category six, but that may have to change due to increases in extreme weather caused by climate change. To prepare, the NHC is building the National Full-Scale Testing Infrastructure for Community Hardening in Extreme Wind, Surge and Wave Events (NICHE). When completed, it will be one of the most advanced storm-simulators on the planet. For now, the FIU has the Wall of Wind—an airplane hangar filled with 12 giant fans. The Wall can produce winds of up to 160 miles per hour, and is often used to knock down model buildings to simulate hurricane damage. A field behind its hanger allows researchers to track where debris fly. Still, The Wall’s winds fall far short of the 215-miles-per-hour winds of Hurricane Patricia in 2015 and the 184-miles-per-hour winds of Hurricane Dorian in 2019.
Hurricanes aren’t just more powerful nowadays, but more frequent. According to NOAA, the three busiest hurricane seasons on record in the U.S. have all happened since 2000. In order to better understand the destructive potential of more powerful hurricanes and test construction methods, NICHE will simulate not just the wind, but also the rain and storm surges produced by them. Richard Olson, director of FIU’s Extreme Events Institute, stated earlier this year, “Climate change is fueling more intense and more dangerous storms, and cutting-edge research and testing capabilities are clearly needed to meet the nation’s evolving risks.” Hold on to your hats.
[Image description: A distant view of Hurricane Catarina, from 2004.] Credit & copyright: WikiImages, Pixabay
Preparing for the future is hardly a breeze. Scientists at Florida International University (FIU) are developing a new hurricane simulator that will mimic Category six winds. The National Hurricane Center (NHC), which is based out of FIU, uses the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale to rate hurricane winds based on sustained maximum wind speed. Category five means winds of 157 miles per hour and up. Currently, there is no Category six, but that may have to change due to increases in extreme weather caused by climate change. To prepare, the NHC is building the National Full-Scale Testing Infrastructure for Community Hardening in Extreme Wind, Surge and Wave Events (NICHE). When completed, it will be one of the most advanced storm-simulators on the planet. For now, the FIU has the Wall of Wind—an airplane hangar filled with 12 giant fans. The Wall can produce winds of up to 160 miles per hour, and is often used to knock down model buildings to simulate hurricane damage. A field behind its hanger allows researchers to track where debris fly. Still, The Wall’s winds fall far short of the 215-miles-per-hour winds of Hurricane Patricia in 2015 and the 184-miles-per-hour winds of Hurricane Dorian in 2019.
Hurricanes aren’t just more powerful nowadays, but more frequent. According to NOAA, the three busiest hurricane seasons on record in the U.S. have all happened since 2000. In order to better understand the destructive potential of more powerful hurricanes and test construction methods, NICHE will simulate not just the wind, but also the rain and storm surges produced by them. Richard Olson, director of FIU’s Extreme Events Institute, stated earlier this year, “Climate change is fueling more intense and more dangerous storms, and cutting-edge research and testing capabilities are clearly needed to meet the nation’s evolving risks.” Hold on to your hats.
[Image description: A distant view of Hurricane Catarina, from 2004.] Credit & copyright: WikiImages, Pixabay
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FREEEntrepreneurship Nerdy CurioFree1 CQ
Fishing has gone high-tech, and gotten fairer in the process. Aruna, an e-commerce startup founded by three university students in Indonesia, is helping fishermen in their country get a fair price for their goods. Fishermen who participate in Aruna can look up current selling rates for specific kinds of fish, then use that information to sell their fish directly to businesses around the world for a fair price. It’s a far cry from how the fishing industry in Indonesia used to work. Until recently, most fishermen were caught up in a long, complicated supply chain, with a lot of middlemen. “What happens mostly is that the fishermen don’t get paid,” Aruna co-founder Utari Octavianty explained in an interview with CNBC. “The middlemen will say that they will pay you tomorrow, but he would not. That’s why fishermen get poorer and poorer. It has happened to my family before too.” Octavianty and her two co-founders, Indraka Fadhlillah, and Farid Naufal Aslam, decided to start their own business in 2015. Although their families wanted them to stay away from jobs related to the fishing industry, due to their firsthand experiences of poverty in that job sector, the three friends knew that they could use their technology backgrounds to create change. Indeed, giving fishermen direct access to their customers has not only shortened the industry’s supply chain, it helps fishermen make two to three times more than they usually would, according to Octavianty. Aruna has so far raised $65 million in Series A funding, and today it’s used by over 26,000 fishermen in 150 Indonesian fishing communities. During the 2019 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit, Indonesian President Joko Widodo praised Aruda’s positive impact on his nation’s fishing industry and economy as a whole. Not too shabby for a seafood-focused startup!
[Image description: A fisherman tosses a net over water at sunset.] Credit & copyright: Quangpraha, PixabayFishing has gone high-tech, and gotten fairer in the process. Aruna, an e-commerce startup founded by three university students in Indonesia, is helping fishermen in their country get a fair price for their goods. Fishermen who participate in Aruna can look up current selling rates for specific kinds of fish, then use that information to sell their fish directly to businesses around the world for a fair price. It’s a far cry from how the fishing industry in Indonesia used to work. Until recently, most fishermen were caught up in a long, complicated supply chain, with a lot of middlemen. “What happens mostly is that the fishermen don’t get paid,” Aruna co-founder Utari Octavianty explained in an interview with CNBC. “The middlemen will say that they will pay you tomorrow, but he would not. That’s why fishermen get poorer and poorer. It has happened to my family before too.” Octavianty and her two co-founders, Indraka Fadhlillah, and Farid Naufal Aslam, decided to start their own business in 2015. Although their families wanted them to stay away from jobs related to the fishing industry, due to their firsthand experiences of poverty in that job sector, the three friends knew that they could use their technology backgrounds to create change. Indeed, giving fishermen direct access to their customers has not only shortened the industry’s supply chain, it helps fishermen make two to three times more than they usually would, according to Octavianty. Aruna has so far raised $65 million in Series A funding, and today it’s used by over 26,000 fishermen in 150 Indonesian fishing communities. During the 2019 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit, Indonesian President Joko Widodo praised Aruda’s positive impact on his nation’s fishing industry and economy as a whole. Not too shabby for a seafood-focused startup!
[Image description: A fisherman tosses a net over water at sunset.] Credit & copyright: Quangpraha, Pixabay -
FREESTEM Nerdy CurioFree1 CQ
It's Flashback Friday! This week we’re throwing things waaay back with these curios all about ancient times and practices.
Alright, who ordered the roast duck and cauliflower skewers with a side of Mount Vesuvius eruption? This past month, archaeologists uncovered a frescoed street food stand in the ancient city of Pompeii near Naples, Italy. The well-preserved artifact was known then as a thermopolium or "hot drinks counter" in Latin. There is a fresco painting of a sea nymph in blue hues to the left of the stall; at the forefront are images of chickens and ducks which may indicate what was on the menu in 79 C.E.: remnants of poultry as well as pig, goat, and snails were found in clay pots at the site along with containers for wine. Researchers have uncovered about 165 acres of Pompeii's remains, which were buried under Mount Vesuvius' volcanic debris. The food stalls and their contents will provide further insights into the daily diets of ancient Roman culture. But what we really want to know is what time the food chariots came around to serve lunch!
Image credit & copyright: Pompeii Archaeological Park/Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism/Luigi Spina/Handout via REUTERS
It's Flashback Friday! This week we’re throwing things waaay back with these curios all about ancient times and practices.
Alright, who ordered the roast duck and cauliflower skewers with a side of Mount Vesuvius eruption? This past month, archaeologists uncovered a frescoed street food stand in the ancient city of Pompeii near Naples, Italy. The well-preserved artifact was known then as a thermopolium or "hot drinks counter" in Latin. There is a fresco painting of a sea nymph in blue hues to the left of the stall; at the forefront are images of chickens and ducks which may indicate what was on the menu in 79 C.E.: remnants of poultry as well as pig, goat, and snails were found in clay pots at the site along with containers for wine. Researchers have uncovered about 165 acres of Pompeii's remains, which were buried under Mount Vesuvius' volcanic debris. The food stalls and their contents will provide further insights into the daily diets of ancient Roman culture. But what we really want to know is what time the food chariots came around to serve lunch!
Image credit & copyright: Pompeii Archaeological Park/Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism/Luigi Spina/Handout via REUTERS
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FREEBiology Nerdy CurioFree1 CQ
Scientists are really shooting for the moon with these plants. Researchers at the University of Florida were recently able to grow plants on Lunar soil collected during the Apollo missions, according to a paper published in Communications Biology. The soil used is Lunar regolith, which is powdery and razor-sharp at the microscopic level. That’s challenging enough when cultivating crops, but the scientists also had a limited quantity of the soil. After several attempts to acquire Lunar regolith from NASA, the agency finally loaned them just 12 grams to be used in their experiments. To make the most of the soil, the scientists created thimble-sized wells filled with 1 gram each. They then planted arabidopsis, also known as thale cress, along with a mix of nutrients and water. Surprisingly, the plants were able to sprout in the alien soil, although they did appear to struggle compared to the control group. The sprouts in the Lunar regolith tended to grow slower and were smaller in size. Most importantly, the scientists were able to deduce how the plants reacted to the stressful environment at the genetic level. Lead author Anna-Lisa Paul told Science News, “By seeing what kind of genes are turned on and turned off in response to a stress, that shows you what tools plants are pulling out of their metabolic toolbox to deal with that stress.” This means that, if humanity ever does create livable colonies on the moon, plants might be able to be genetically engineered to grow better there. Such plants could provide oxygen and food to lunar explorers. Now that would be some out-of-this-world horticulture.
[Image description: Bean sprouts grow inside small cups.] Credit & copyright: KlausAires, Pixabay
Scientists are really shooting for the moon with these plants. Researchers at the University of Florida were recently able to grow plants on Lunar soil collected during the Apollo missions, according to a paper published in Communications Biology. The soil used is Lunar regolith, which is powdery and razor-sharp at the microscopic level. That’s challenging enough when cultivating crops, but the scientists also had a limited quantity of the soil. After several attempts to acquire Lunar regolith from NASA, the agency finally loaned them just 12 grams to be used in their experiments. To make the most of the soil, the scientists created thimble-sized wells filled with 1 gram each. They then planted arabidopsis, also known as thale cress, along with a mix of nutrients and water. Surprisingly, the plants were able to sprout in the alien soil, although they did appear to struggle compared to the control group. The sprouts in the Lunar regolith tended to grow slower and were smaller in size. Most importantly, the scientists were able to deduce how the plants reacted to the stressful environment at the genetic level. Lead author Anna-Lisa Paul told Science News, “By seeing what kind of genes are turned on and turned off in response to a stress, that shows you what tools plants are pulling out of their metabolic toolbox to deal with that stress.” This means that, if humanity ever does create livable colonies on the moon, plants might be able to be genetically engineered to grow better there. Such plants could provide oxygen and food to lunar explorers. Now that would be some out-of-this-world horticulture.
[Image description: Bean sprouts grow inside small cups.] Credit & copyright: KlausAires, Pixabay
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FREEWork Nerdy CurioFree1 CQ
A high-ranking job at established businesses is an end-goal for many, but for some aspirational entrepreneurs it’s just a stepping stone. 49-year-old Faisal Masud spent years working in high-level positions at business powerhouses like Amazon and Google. Using what he learned there, Masud helped launch an e-commerce startup called Fabric in 2016. Fabric creates software that allows retailers to sell goods online, similar to businesses like Shopify, although Fabric is more tailored to medium and large-scale businesses. Since e-commerce software is a hot commodity these days, it’s no surprise that the startup is well-funded by investors. But the hard truth is that even well-funded startups often die. That’s where Masud’s expertise came in. As Fabric’s CEO, he employs many work principles that he learned at specific large businesses. For example, having empathy for employees, rather than seeing them as cogs in a machine, is something that Masud learned during his years at Google. The concept of “ownership”, wherein a particular person “owns” a particular developmental idea and has final say over its implementation, is something he learned at Amazon. “Culturally, we’ve built a company that’s sort of a hybrid of all the companies I’ve worked at,” Masud told CNBC. “We’re able to take the best pieces out of the places I’ve had experiences and apply those.” Talk about lifelong learning.
[Image description: A digital illustration of hands reaching out of computer screens, one holding a $100 dollar bill, the other holding a brown shopping bag.] Credit & copyright: Mediamodifier, PixabayA high-ranking job at established businesses is an end-goal for many, but for some aspirational entrepreneurs it’s just a stepping stone. 49-year-old Faisal Masud spent years working in high-level positions at business powerhouses like Amazon and Google. Using what he learned there, Masud helped launch an e-commerce startup called Fabric in 2016. Fabric creates software that allows retailers to sell goods online, similar to businesses like Shopify, although Fabric is more tailored to medium and large-scale businesses. Since e-commerce software is a hot commodity these days, it’s no surprise that the startup is well-funded by investors. But the hard truth is that even well-funded startups often die. That’s where Masud’s expertise came in. As Fabric’s CEO, he employs many work principles that he learned at specific large businesses. For example, having empathy for employees, rather than seeing them as cogs in a machine, is something that Masud learned during his years at Google. The concept of “ownership”, wherein a particular person “owns” a particular developmental idea and has final say over its implementation, is something he learned at Amazon. “Culturally, we’ve built a company that’s sort of a hybrid of all the companies I’ve worked at,” Masud told CNBC. “We’re able to take the best pieces out of the places I’ve had experiences and apply those.” Talk about lifelong learning.
[Image description: A digital illustration of hands reaching out of computer screens, one holding a $100 dollar bill, the other holding a brown shopping bag.] Credit & copyright: Mediamodifier, Pixabay -
FREEComputer Science Nerdy CurioFree1 CQ
It's Flashback Friday! In honor of Cher’s birthday, enjoy these curios about things that were going on in the 1960s and 70s, during the height of the pop star’s career.
It’s been quite a while since Apollo 11 delivered the first humans to the moon. Nobody was more excited by that accomplishment than Margaret Hamilton. She lead the software team that programmed the computers that ran the control systems that enabled the astronauts to find, land on, and return from the moon. Surprised such a critical technical position was held by a woman in the 1960s? That's because jobs like computer programming were considered “women’s work.” The process of programming was extremely labor intensive. First, series of instructions were hand written onto paper coding pads. These were then translated onto punched cards by “keypunch girls,” who sent them to the male machine operators who fed the code decks through card readers. But Margaret Hamilton was no keypunch girl. She led the team at MIT that programmed the two guidance computers--one on the command module and one on the lander module. The code was so complex and lengthy that, when printed out single spaced, it was taller than Margaret (see photo below). The equivalent of more than 20 phone books of hand written and compiled computer instructions! Margaret's code likely saved the entire Apollo 11 mission. Three minutes away from landing on the Moon, multiple false alarms were rapidly triggered by the rendezvous radar system. This flooded the computer's processor, which was trying to perform its normal landing functions. Thanks to Hamilton's design principles, which assumed the program would break and included graceful recovery procedures, the computer simply rebooted itself. It restarted almost instantaneously, with fresh memory, and completed the landing sequence without incident. Hamilton's approach to creating the Apollo software led to many best practices for programming that are still used today. In fact, she invented the term “software engineering” to describe her methodic and redundant approach to coding. I have a feeling if Margaret were Mark we would already know this story.
Credit & copyright: Draper Laboratory; restored by Adam Cuerden, Wikimedia Commons, image cropped for size, Public Domain.
It's Flashback Friday! In honor of Cher’s birthday, enjoy these curios about things that were going on in the 1960s and 70s, during the height of the pop star’s career.
It’s been quite a while since Apollo 11 delivered the first humans to the moon. Nobody was more excited by that accomplishment than Margaret Hamilton. She lead the software team that programmed the computers that ran the control systems that enabled the astronauts to find, land on, and return from the moon. Surprised such a critical technical position was held by a woman in the 1960s? That's because jobs like computer programming were considered “women’s work.” The process of programming was extremely labor intensive. First, series of instructions were hand written onto paper coding pads. These were then translated onto punched cards by “keypunch girls,” who sent them to the male machine operators who fed the code decks through card readers. But Margaret Hamilton was no keypunch girl. She led the team at MIT that programmed the two guidance computers--one on the command module and one on the lander module. The code was so complex and lengthy that, when printed out single spaced, it was taller than Margaret (see photo below). The equivalent of more than 20 phone books of hand written and compiled computer instructions! Margaret's code likely saved the entire Apollo 11 mission. Three minutes away from landing on the Moon, multiple false alarms were rapidly triggered by the rendezvous radar system. This flooded the computer's processor, which was trying to perform its normal landing functions. Thanks to Hamilton's design principles, which assumed the program would break and included graceful recovery procedures, the computer simply rebooted itself. It restarted almost instantaneously, with fresh memory, and completed the landing sequence without incident. Hamilton's approach to creating the Apollo software led to many best practices for programming that are still used today. In fact, she invented the term “software engineering” to describe her methodic and redundant approach to coding. I have a feeling if Margaret were Mark we would already know this story.
Credit & copyright: Draper Laboratory; restored by Adam Cuerden, Wikimedia Commons, image cropped for size, Public Domain.
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FREEBiology Nerdy CurioFree1 CQ
Ever think of using pond scum for your math homework? Scientists at the University of Cambridge have developed a generator that was able to power a computer for six months using the power of photosynthesizing algae. They published a paper about their invention, which is about the size of a AA battery, in Energy & Environmental Science. The generator consists of an aluminum casing and clear plastic that contains Synechocystis sp., also known as blue-green algae. Placed on a windowsill at the home of one of the researchers, the algae inside the device was able to photosynthesize, which in turn generated a small electric current in the form of bio-photovoltaic energy. That electric current was harvested, and provided 0.3 microwatts of power to an ARM Cortex-M0+ chip, a microprocessor that is often used in the “Internet of Things,” according to the paper. To simulate an actual device’s workload, the microprocessor was made to calculate sums of consecutive integers in 45 minute cycles. The researchers hope that this technology can be scaled up so that it can be used in low-energy applications, replacing conventional batteries and photovoltaic generators that require the use of environmentally hazardous materials. While the bio-photovoltaic energy produced by the device is very small compared to what can be produced by photovoltaic units of comparable size, one advantage it has is that it can produce energy even in the dark, as the algae continues to process surplus food. Clearly the sun isn’t setting on the future of clean energy.
[Image description: A beaker of algae sits inside a larger glass container.] Credit & copyright: ckstockphoto, Pixabay
Ever think of using pond scum for your math homework? Scientists at the University of Cambridge have developed a generator that was able to power a computer for six months using the power of photosynthesizing algae. They published a paper about their invention, which is about the size of a AA battery, in Energy & Environmental Science. The generator consists of an aluminum casing and clear plastic that contains Synechocystis sp., also known as blue-green algae. Placed on a windowsill at the home of one of the researchers, the algae inside the device was able to photosynthesize, which in turn generated a small electric current in the form of bio-photovoltaic energy. That electric current was harvested, and provided 0.3 microwatts of power to an ARM Cortex-M0+ chip, a microprocessor that is often used in the “Internet of Things,” according to the paper. To simulate an actual device’s workload, the microprocessor was made to calculate sums of consecutive integers in 45 minute cycles. The researchers hope that this technology can be scaled up so that it can be used in low-energy applications, replacing conventional batteries and photovoltaic generators that require the use of environmentally hazardous materials. While the bio-photovoltaic energy produced by the device is very small compared to what can be produced by photovoltaic units of comparable size, one advantage it has is that it can produce energy even in the dark, as the algae continues to process surplus food. Clearly the sun isn’t setting on the future of clean energy.
[Image description: A beaker of algae sits inside a larger glass container.] Credit & copyright: ckstockphoto, Pixabay
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FREEEntrepreneurship Nerdy CurioFree1 CQ
This gives new meaning to “from rags to riches.” While many people have sold the odd bauble or two online, few put in the effort to make a business out of online selling. Such effort can pay off in big ways, though. For 26-year-old medical student Olicia Hillier, selling old clothing online helped her buy her own home. The trick? Taking it seriously and treating it like a business. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, with student loans looming and little savings to speak of, Hillier decided to “flip” a few thrift store clothing finds on the clothing-selling app Poshmark. She started with a t-shirt she had bought for five dollars, selling it for twenty. She soon realized that many Poshmark sellers were selling inventory that wasn’t from their own closets, but rather from thrift stores or other discount retailers. After some research, HIllier began zoning in on which styles sold best, and which brands buyers were willing to pay the most for. Soon, her shop was filled with items that were practically guaranteed to sell for a decent price. Hillier developed a routine to help keep her side-hustle on track: buying clothes on Friday, cleaning them through Saturday, taking listing photos on Sunday, creating the listings themselves on Monday, and shipping orders the rest of the week. “You’ve got to be regimented and have a routine,” Hillier told CNBC. “If I didn’t love it so much, I wouldn’t make the time for it.” Eventually, her side-hustle morphed into a full-blown business, and even helped Hillier afford the down payment on a home. Last year, her online business made around $85,000. That’s a lot of dough for resold clothes!
[Image description: Colorful t-shirts hang from a rack.] Credit & copyright: meandcolors, PixabayThis gives new meaning to “from rags to riches.” While many people have sold the odd bauble or two online, few put in the effort to make a business out of online selling. Such effort can pay off in big ways, though. For 26-year-old medical student Olicia Hillier, selling old clothing online helped her buy her own home. The trick? Taking it seriously and treating it like a business. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, with student loans looming and little savings to speak of, Hillier decided to “flip” a few thrift store clothing finds on the clothing-selling app Poshmark. She started with a t-shirt she had bought for five dollars, selling it for twenty. She soon realized that many Poshmark sellers were selling inventory that wasn’t from their own closets, but rather from thrift stores or other discount retailers. After some research, HIllier began zoning in on which styles sold best, and which brands buyers were willing to pay the most for. Soon, her shop was filled with items that were practically guaranteed to sell for a decent price. Hillier developed a routine to help keep her side-hustle on track: buying clothes on Friday, cleaning them through Saturday, taking listing photos on Sunday, creating the listings themselves on Monday, and shipping orders the rest of the week. “You’ve got to be regimented and have a routine,” Hillier told CNBC. “If I didn’t love it so much, I wouldn’t make the time for it.” Eventually, her side-hustle morphed into a full-blown business, and even helped Hillier afford the down payment on a home. Last year, her online business made around $85,000. That’s a lot of dough for resold clothes!
[Image description: Colorful t-shirts hang from a rack.] Credit & copyright: meandcolors, Pixabay -
FREEBiology Nerdy CurioFree1 CQ
It's Flashback Friday! Enjoy these creepy curios in honor of Friday the 13th!
On this spooky day, we're focusing our Daily Curio on the world's scariest (or, at least, deadliest) feline, the black-footed cat. Yes, I'm talking about the bundle of fur shown above. Don't be fooled by his nocturnal doe eyes—he's a relentless killing machine. Taxonomically known as Felis nigripes, this little guy comes from South Africa and weighs just 2.4 to 4.2 pounds. That's 200 times smaller than a lion. But don't let the black-footed cat's size fool you. The hunting success rate for lions hovers around 20 percent. The black-footed cat, meanwhile, succeeds in nabbing its prey at an incredible rate of 60 percent. That's a hard-earned stat, too. In fact, the black-footed cat has an accelerated metabolism. Which means the furball is always hungry—and always hunting. On average, it kills 10-14 rodents and birds nightly. Pound for pound, that means the black-footed cat snags more prey in one night that a leopard does in six months. Leopards, with slower metabolisms, generally hunt for 8-10 days then pick at their prey over the course of 3-4 days. Black-footed cats catch their food much faster using a myriad of techniques, including bounding through grass, staking out holes, flanking. So, if there's a takeaway from this Curio, it's to avoid hand-feeding South Africa's "cute stray kittens"!
Image credit & copyright: Zbyszko, Wikimedia Commons, image cropped for size, this image is hereby distributed under the same license linked here.
It's Flashback Friday! Enjoy these creepy curios in honor of Friday the 13th!
On this spooky day, we're focusing our Daily Curio on the world's scariest (or, at least, deadliest) feline, the black-footed cat. Yes, I'm talking about the bundle of fur shown above. Don't be fooled by his nocturnal doe eyes—he's a relentless killing machine. Taxonomically known as Felis nigripes, this little guy comes from South Africa and weighs just 2.4 to 4.2 pounds. That's 200 times smaller than a lion. But don't let the black-footed cat's size fool you. The hunting success rate for lions hovers around 20 percent. The black-footed cat, meanwhile, succeeds in nabbing its prey at an incredible rate of 60 percent. That's a hard-earned stat, too. In fact, the black-footed cat has an accelerated metabolism. Which means the furball is always hungry—and always hunting. On average, it kills 10-14 rodents and birds nightly. Pound for pound, that means the black-footed cat snags more prey in one night that a leopard does in six months. Leopards, with slower metabolisms, generally hunt for 8-10 days then pick at their prey over the course of 3-4 days. Black-footed cats catch their food much faster using a myriad of techniques, including bounding through grass, staking out holes, flanking. So, if there's a takeaway from this Curio, it's to avoid hand-feeding South Africa's "cute stray kittens"!
Image credit & copyright: Zbyszko, Wikimedia Commons, image cropped for size, this image is hereby distributed under the same license linked here.
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FREEEngineering Nerdy CurioFree1 CQ
Water, water, everywhere…and plenty to drink. Engineers at MIT have just developed a portable device that can desalinate saltwater, or turn it into freshwater, without the use of filters. Desalination is usually an energy intensive process because it requires a high-pressure pump to move water through a filter. However, MIT’s new, filterless device can render water safe to drink by using nothing more than a $50 solar panel to power it. It works by using a technique called ion concentration polarization (ICP), which applies an electrical field to membranes that surround the water. The membranes then repel charged particles like salt and pathogens, sending them into a separate stream of water to dispose of them. While ICP can remove both dissolved and suspended solids, a single pass isn’t enough to get rid of all the contaminants. To overcome this, the suitcase-sized desalination plant uses a two-stage process: water is passed through six ICP modules, then again through three more. Even after all that, the water that comes out can still contain unacceptable levels of salt, so the device passes the water through an electrodialysis module to get rid of the salt ions that are still present. In all, using only 20 watt-hours per liter of water, the device can produce 0.3 liters per hour of water that more than meets World Health Organization quality standards. The creators of the device envision it being used by everyone from small island communities to soldiers on long-term missions with access to seawater. And the next step? Building it bigger. One of the creators, Junghyo Yoon, stated in a press release by MIT, “Right now, we are pushing our research to scale up that production rate.” Now there’s a refreshing idea.
[Image description: A man pours bottled water into his mouth on the beach.] Credit & copyright: Olichel, Pixabay
Water, water, everywhere…and plenty to drink. Engineers at MIT have just developed a portable device that can desalinate saltwater, or turn it into freshwater, without the use of filters. Desalination is usually an energy intensive process because it requires a high-pressure pump to move water through a filter. However, MIT’s new, filterless device can render water safe to drink by using nothing more than a $50 solar panel to power it. It works by using a technique called ion concentration polarization (ICP), which applies an electrical field to membranes that surround the water. The membranes then repel charged particles like salt and pathogens, sending them into a separate stream of water to dispose of them. While ICP can remove both dissolved and suspended solids, a single pass isn’t enough to get rid of all the contaminants. To overcome this, the suitcase-sized desalination plant uses a two-stage process: water is passed through six ICP modules, then again through three more. Even after all that, the water that comes out can still contain unacceptable levels of salt, so the device passes the water through an electrodialysis module to get rid of the salt ions that are still present. In all, using only 20 watt-hours per liter of water, the device can produce 0.3 liters per hour of water that more than meets World Health Organization quality standards. The creators of the device envision it being used by everyone from small island communities to soldiers on long-term missions with access to seawater. And the next step? Building it bigger. One of the creators, Junghyo Yoon, stated in a press release by MIT, “Right now, we are pushing our research to scale up that production rate.” Now there’s a refreshing idea.
[Image description: A man pours bottled water into his mouth on the beach.] Credit & copyright: Olichel, Pixabay