That's Interesting
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Music Is Truly a Universal Language: New Research Shows That Music Worldwide Has Important Commonalities
08th April, 2020Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s description of music as a universal language has become a well-worn cliché, usually uttered in a sentimental and not particularly serious way. In the sciences, the “universal language” hypothesis in music has been taken far more seriously.
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Isaac Newton Conceived of His Most Groundbreaking Ideas During the Great Plague of 1665
08th April, 2020Health experts worldwide say home is the best place to be right now to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Many lifesaving discoveries have been made in the wake of epidemics, such as Shakespeare, who wrote some of his best works during outbreaks of plague in London. But the best role model of productivity in a time of quarantine, is perhaps Isaac Newton. During the years 1665-67, the time of the Great Plague of London, Newton’s “genius was unleashed,” writes biographer Philip Steele. “The precious material that resulted was a new understanding of the world.”
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Plastics Watch: China to Ban Single-Use Plastics, Malaysia Rejects Waste Shipments
03rd February, 2020China announced it intends to implement a sweeping back on single-use plastics; China now has a more progressive plastics policy than does the United States.
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The future of software engineering
05th December, 2019“Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott on the future of software engineering and the better world ahead”
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Carting Lane Sewer Lamp
08th October, 2019“By the end of the 19th century, London was trying to shed its reputation as a stinky cesspool.”
“Patented by British engineer Joseph Edmund Webb in the 1890s, the so-called “sewer gas destructor lamps” were designed to extract gases from the pipes and burn them off at high heat.”
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Outside: Alternative Meat Industry
01st August, 2019Article on the alternative meat industry – where it had come from and where it might be heading.
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PBS: Why it will take more than basic recycling to cut back on plastic
26th March, 2019“In the 70 years that plastic has been around, humans have created 9 billion tons of it — most of which still exists. Are the existing strategies for tackling plastic pollution — namely reusing and recycling — really making any difference?”
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Recreating ancient artifacts may be the future of archaeology
26th March, 2019“Have you ever heard of an archaeologist who burns, hammers or smashes artifacts? That’s what Metin Eren does, except it’s with replicas. Eren is a rising star in the field of experimental archaeology. In his lab at Kent State University, he tests recreations of early stone tools, trying to understand their purpose and design–and what those meant for human development.”
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Biologist Rates The Pain Of 83 Different Insects Stings
09th January, 2019“King of Sting” Justin O. Schmidt is a biologist at the Southwestern Biological Institute. A “connoisseur of pain,” he has ranked 83 different insect stings on a pain index based on his own experience.
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The Great Telegraph Breakthrough of 1866
08th November, 2018“The transatlantic telegraph cable amounted to the information revolution of the day, tying global markets together in unprecedented ways.”
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