A little something to go with breakfast …
It seems that whenever humans create technology to solve a problem, we end up causing detrimental side effects. We created the internal combustion engine, which is less than 30 percent energy efficient, and gave rise to asbestos, chromium, lead, and methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) contamination of air, lakes, and aquifers, and escalating asthma rates […]
Just an update— found this on the BBC online site (though if you’re keeping an eye on the ongoing bee crisis, you may have seen this, as it’s from March): Neonicotinoid pesticides ‘damage brains of bees.’ Apparently two research papers were recently published offering substantial evidence that neonicotinoids and coumaphos interfere with bee brain activity, […]
I’ve heard it said that bringing a book into the world is a bit like giving birth—there’s a long period of gestation followed by a surprising amount of pushing and shouting just to get the thing into readers hands. In the best of all possible […]
I mentioned bees in my last post, and here we are again. As part of an occasional series on their rooftop apiary, the San Francisco Chronicle’s August 15 Garden section highlighted a visit from Queen Turner, the head of beekeeping for the Ministry of Agriculture in Botswana. Meanwhile, the August 19 issue […]
Hot. Especially here in California, and of course in Hawaii, where I live. Summer often means high air conditioning use and rolling brownouts.
Here’s a bit from the book about using “swarm logic” to manage cooling needs:
Bees are also key subjects of research on swarm logic, whereby the behavior of a large group of individuals— like a collective of bees, ants, slime molds, or even the […]
As a recent transplant to Hawaii (I believe the term is “haole”) who has a deep appreciation of the richness and grace of this environment, I was pleased to read that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric […]
Clearly, the field of robotics is reaping the benefits of bio-inspiration. In some of my Facebook posts, we’ve seen robotic tunnel diggers and a moth in a robot driving a car. (Truly an unexpected use for robots …)
But here’s a video showing Harvard’s Ambulatory […]
Across the bay from where I live in the Bay area is a strange structure, sometimes called “the world’s safest house.” Designed by architect Eugene Tsui, this peculiar-looking and very sturdy […]
More from Vi Hart on spirals, Phi, and how plants use math …
Sieta Beckwith, currently living in Melbourne (but formerly from my hometown of Perth) provided this lovely spiral image and will receive a signed copy of The Shark’s Paintbrush as thanks!
When she posted it on Facebook, Sieta said,
This is a cactus-type plant that I saw […]