Category: Technology
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Dual head-mounted listening devices
This dual-mounted listening device served as an aircraft detection device before the invention of radar in 1935. The Dutch military used the elephant-looking ears to detect approaching enemy aircraft by listening afar for engine sounds. There were various iterations of the acoustic locators. The Germans created a dual sight and sound system in 1917 that […]
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Watch styrofoam dancing to sound waves in a Kundt’s tube
Put your hands in the air and wave them like you just don’t care. What looks like a dubstep rave of little ghost people is actually styrofoam dancing to sound waves in a massive plexiglass pipe known as a Kundt’s tube. In 1866 German physicist August Kundt constructed the experimental acoustical apparatus to measure the speed of sound in […]
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Watch a Chimpanzee using Instagram
This video of a chimpanzee scrolling through Instagram is eye-opening. Touch is intuitive; the candy-colored screen all too addicting. Generation thumbs transcend humans. Still, it is the ability to communicate and tell stories that released humans from the prison of biology. This video echoes what Yuval Noah Harari noted in his book Sapiens: A Brief History […]
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The rise and tragic death of Sweden’s Broccoli Tree
“In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes,” said Andy Warhol. That was certainly true for the “broccoli tree” in Sweden. In March 2018, the once anonymous broccoli-shaped tree on the shoe of Sweden’s Lake Vättern disappeared due to the popularity of its Instagram account of over 30,000 fans. The tree became a tourist attraction […]
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The first supercomputer, IBM’s 305 RAMAC from 1956
In September 1956 IBM launched the 305 RAMAC, the world’s first supercomputer with 5 MB of data. The machine weighed over a ton — it took a team of people to transport it. To put the computer size and storage in perspective, our pocket-sized phones contain 256GB of storage. A grain of rice dwarfs the […]
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Christopher Reeves explains what Superman represents
In this video, the late Christopher Reeves who played Superman explains what the fictional superhero represents. In a world of selfishness ushered in by smart devices and social media, Superman as a friend metaphor is a subtle reminder of the power of relationships. It’s nice to know that there’s someone out there who’s willing to […]
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The original Apple Watch: Seiko’s TV Watch from 1982
In what was amazing technology for its day, the Seiko TV watch (Model T001-3) from 1982 is still one of the smallest TVs ever made with a 1 1/4″ screen. With a Liquid Crystal Video Display (LVD), the images would only appear when exposed to light. So the brighter the light, the better the screen […]
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Why pirates actually wore an eye patch
Eye patch, parrot, and wooden leg, and a limp. Those are the essential ingredients to becoming a pirate. But did you know that pirates wore an eye patch, not because of a missing eye, but because the patch increased their sight instantly inside low lit areas? Early technology to avoid temporary blindness During raids, pirates […]
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MesoSPIMs: Custom-built microscopes that can scan individual neurons in the brain
MesoSPIMs are open-source light-sheet microscopes for imaging cleared tissue. The custom-built microscopes enable scientists to look at individual neurons using sheets of light rather than cutting a brain into slices. The mesoSPIM Initiative paves the way for the future discovery and understanding of the brain’s complex organization. The studies may one day reveal vital information […]
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The musical road in the Netherlands that sings Frisian national anthem
There’s a road in the Netherlands that starts to sing the Frisian Folk Song when cars hit the right speed of 60 kph/40 mph limit. The musical road resides in the village of Jelsum in the north part of Holland. The structure of the strategically laid “rumble strips” was built in 2018 to celebrate the […]
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Pablo Picasso’s “light drawings”
“Everything you can imagine is real,” said the legendary painter Pablo Picasso. In 1949, photographer Gjon Mili captured the painter using a small electric light in a dark room to paint the artist’s iconic centaurs, bulls and greek figurines. The chaotic images vanished as soon as they were created but thanks to Mili’s two separate […]
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RIP Gary Starkweather, inventor of the laser printer
The inventor of the laser printer at Xerox, Gary Starkweather, has died at the age of 81. When Starkweather first proposed the idea of a laser printer to his boss at Xerox, they shut his idea down. But curious and determined, Starkweather persisted because he was convinced of the possibility of making precise copies. Starkweather […]