The Guild of Scientific Troubadours

The Guild of Scientific Troubadours

ex scientia, sono

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computer science

Google can beat a human at go.

27 January 2016 grant 0

The Japanese strategy game, Nature reports, is the latest battlefield on which artificial intelligence has defeated human experts:

The best human players of chess, draughts and backgammon

… Read the rest “Google can beat a human at go.”

It’s a little reading robot for the whole wide internet.

5 November 2015 grant 0

New Scientist looks at the AI that’s been assigned the unenviable task of reading every scientific paper online and finding the important ones:

Semantic Scholar, which launches

… Read the rest “It’s a little reading robot for the whole wide internet.”

DIY Internet: How Orca Island, WA, became their own provider.

4 November 2015 grant 0

Ars Technica has an inspirational story of some folks who decided they could do a better job than their “professional” ISP:

Around that time, CenturyLink service went out

… Read the rest “DIY Internet: How Orca Island, WA, became their own provider.”

What social media app has the biggest political influence right now? Not Facebook. Not Twitter.

29 September 2015 grant 0

According to Quartz, in the African country of Tanzania at least, it’s WhatsApp:

Things are a bit different in Africa, where the mobile phone has changed not only the way people communicate

… Read the rest “What social media app has the biggest political influence right now? Not Facebook. Not Twitter.”

Science Art: Scheutz mechanical calculator (Zeichnung der Difference Engine No.1 aus dem Jahr 1853), 1867.

6 July 2015 grant 0

Scheutz_mechanical_calculator
Click to embiggen

Now, after that brief, regrettable interruption in service, a tribute to the computer.

This illustration is from The Elements of Natural Philosophy; Or, An Introduction… Read the rest “Science Art: Scheutz mechanical calculator (Zeichnung der Difference Engine No.1 aus dem Jahr 1853), 1867.”

Forget your passwords; use your brainwaves.

8 June 2015 grant 0

Science Daily takes security to a whole other level with a new system that relies on your brain’s responses to words as security instead of memorized passwords:

In “Brainprint,”

… Read the rest “Forget your passwords; use your brainwaves.”

The DNA hard drive.

17 February 2015 grant 0

New Scientist marvels at the ability of DNA to store information, with a realization that glassed-in genes could safely store information for millennia:

Just 1 gram of DNA is theoretically

… Read the rest “The DNA hard drive.”

A social network for sharing your DNA. Online, I mean.

11 February 2015 grant 0

Fusion has the details on the growing community of DNA uploaders:

Members of openSNP upload their genes along with things like their sex, age, eye color, location, Fitbit data and medical

… Read the rest “A social network for sharing your DNA. Online, I mean.”

Self-programming computers (little fake brains) fuel new start-up.

29 October 2014 grant 0

You know it’s real when there’s money involved. Well, real-ish. New Scientist has more on the Google acquisition of DeepMind Technologies and their Neural Turing Machine… Read the rest “Self-programming computers (little fake brains) fuel new start-up.”

Schizophrenia: many diseases in one

16 September 2014 grant 0

Daily Beast looks over Washington University research that’s found that the singular diagnosis of schizophrenia is actually a compound disease, caused by eight different genetic… Read the rest “Schizophrenia: many diseases in one”

Triathlete uses internet to defeat her rare genetic disease

21 August 2014 grant 0

The Atlantic gives hope to the new generation of WebMD obsessives with a fascinating tale of an athlete who used the internet to figure out what was *really* going on in her malfunctioning… Read the rest “Triathlete uses internet to defeat her rare genetic disease”

Gödel music composition to debut at Gödel Prize celebration.

8 July 2014 grant 0

Nature has more on the suitably self-recursive premiere of a uniquely mathematical piece of music:

The piece, “The Hilbert Heartbreak Hotel” by Danish composer Niels Marthinsen, was

… Read the rest “Gödel music composition to debut at Gödel Prize celebration.”

Old phones are listening.

7 July 2014 grant 0

Wall Street Journal has an interesting piece on how old smart phones are being used to listen for disrupted sleep patterns, illegal loggers, gunshots, breeding cicadas and a host of other… Read the rest “Old phones are listening.”

Science Art: “Misirlou” on hard and floppy drives, by Argalnath

16 June 2014 grant 0

Argalnath makes music from hard drives and floppy drives. Like a DJ, Argalnath spins.

Slime logic. Who needs silicon chips?

28 March 2014 grant 0

Science Daily has a lively take on computing, with new circuits made of living slime molds:

Andrew Adamatzky (University of the West of England, Bristol, UK) and Theresa Schubert (Bauhaus-University

… Read the rest “Slime logic. Who needs silicon chips?”

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Something to Believe In

GRANT: something to believe in

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RSS Help Wanted: ScienceCareers
  • Ellison Institute of Technology: Head of Responsible Innovation - Generative Biology Institute
  • Ellison Institute of Technology: Scientific Communications Manager - Generative Biology Institute
  • Ellison Institute of Technology: Postdoctoral Research Fellow - Generative Biology Institute
  • Ellison Institute of Technology: Group Leader, Cell Based Production (Growth and Morphology) - PBI
  • Ellison Institute of Technology: Principal Investigators (All Levels) - Generative Biology Institute
  • Ellison Institute of Technology: Research Assistant - Generative Biology Institute
Honorary Troubadours
  • Jonathan Coulton, Contributing Troubadour for Popular Science.
  • Laura Veirs, who knows her way around a polysyllable.
  • Thomas Dolby, godfather of scientific pop.
  • Squeaky, fact-based rock about fusion containment & rocket science.
  • Cosmos II, a.k.a. Boston University astronomer Alan Marscher.
  • Dr. Fiorella Terenzi, astrophysicist who makes music from cosmic radio sources.
  • Dr. Jim Webb, astronomy professor and acoustic guitarist.
  • Artichoke, the band behind 26 Scientists, Vols. I and II.
  • They Might Be Giants, unrelenting proponents of scientific popular song.
  • Symphonies of Science, the people who make Carl Sagan and others sing.
  • Giant Squid, doom metal about the sublime horrors of marine biology.
  • Gethan Dick,6 scientists, 6 musicians, 1 great album
Related Projects
  • Squid Pro Crow
  • Grant Bandcamp
  • Grant Soundcloud
  • Penitential Originals Playlist
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"Is it a fact—or have I dreamt it—that, by means of electricity, the world of matter has become a great nerve, vibrating thousands of miles in a breathless point of time?"
— Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables, 1851

grant balfour made this website.

Member institution: Duct Tape Aesthetic Laboratories
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