Science Art: Trojeborg, a stone labyrinth from Visby, 1919
This is an illustration from Nordisk Familjebok, a Norwegian encyclopedia from the turn of the last century. The labyrinth, naturally, is much older. It’s of […]
anthropology
SONG: Migration Roads
SONG: “Migration Roads” [Download] . (available as .ogg here) ARTIST: grant. SOURCE: Based on LiveScience, 3 May 2024, “1st Americans came over in 4 different […]
Science Art: Ancient Ritual White Jade Disk of Heaven…, 1937
This is an illustration from a 1937 edition of Natural History magazine, an article called “Chinese Design.” This is a “Disk of Heaven,” or bi, […]
Exercise scientists: women hunted, men gathered
Scientific American upends the old idea that manly men evolved to hunt for meat for growing prehistoric families with physiological evidence that women – who […]
SONG: The Scientist (a penitential Coldplay cover)
SONG: “The Scientist (a penitential cover)” [Download] . (available as .ogg here) ARTIST: grant. SOURCE: This isn’t based on research It’s a cover of this […]
Women hunted, back in the hunter-gatherer days.
PhysOrg has a study that defies the conventional idea of “man the hunter, woman the gatherer” with evidence that, in more than three-quarters of contemporary […]
SONG: Content Feeds
SONG: “Content Feeds” [Download] . ARTIST: grant. SOURCE: The Markup, 1 May 2023, “The Very Hungry Algorithm: Bedtime with ChatGPT,” as used in the post […]
How do you feel when the AI starts reading your young children their bedtime stories?
As The Markup points out, this is no longer a hypothetical question, but an actual parenting challenge now: I made a note to ask his […]
Science Art: Causerie sur la Peche Fluviale en Chine, 1909.
Do two sampans make a catamaran? Looks like they did for this Chinese fisherman at the dawn of the last century, angling on the river […]
SONG: The Elephant
SONG: “The Elephant” [Download] . ARTIST: grant. SOURCE: BBC 28 Feb 2023, “Kerala: India temple replaces elephant with robot for rituals,” as used in the […]
Kerala temple introduces a robot ritual elephant.
BBC reports on a mechanical elephant that is replacing a flesh-and-blood elephant that previously conducted rituals in a temple in Kerala, India: The initiative by […]
Science Art: Papillons, from Larousse Universe, 1922
Thanks to an unexpected gift from an old friend, I was just reading an article in the print edition of Scientific American about the Sora […]
Magic mirror brings the Buddha’s enlightenment… when the light hits it just right.
CNN reports on an unexpected discovery in the Cincinnati Art Museum’s East Asian collection, where an unremarkable-looking bronze mirror was just revealed to reflect a […]
SONG: Lost Aromas (A Rose)
SONG: “Lost Aromas (A Rose)” [Download] . ARTIST: grant. SOURCE: Discover 25 Jan 2022, “Smells Are Going Extinct, So Researchers Are Working to Preserve Them,” […]
On the extinction of smells, and the attempt to preserve an aroma.
Discover reports on the growing field of “scent researchers” who are attempting to bring back smells that have long since gone away, and to record […]