Linguistic Dissection of annoying Teenage Sounds
Youtube Direktdaaaawwwwwww, via MeFi
Großartig: Linguist James Harbeck nimmt Seufzer, Grunzlaute und Arghs von angepissten Teenagern auseinander. Das Video oben ist nur eine Verdeutlichung der Liste, in der so fantastische Sachen wie „Creaky-voiced long alveolar glide with mid front unrounded vowel and glottal stop“ oder „Glottal fricative and breathy-voiced mid-low central unrounded vowel, repeated“ stehen. Sowas hätte ich ja mal gerne für angepisste deutsche Teenager, die sicher nochmal ganz eigene Abtörnsprachen entwickelt haben, aber für sowas ist sich die deutsche Akademia ja sicherlich zu fein.
Mein Favorit ist übrigens das wahrscheinlich universell gültige Rotz-hochziehen als Kommunikationsmittel:
7. Pulmonic ingressive nasal velar trill
This is another boys-only sound, what I would normally call a “grunting snot inhale” or, for short, “hoarking.” It’s “nasal” because the tongue is blocking off the mouth at the back and the air is coming in through the nose; “pulmonic ingressive” means inhaling; a “trill” is like rolling an r, but “velar” means you’re rolling not the tip of your tongue but the flap that opens and closes your nasal passages.
Don’t confuse this with the other kind of “hoarking,” which usually follows on this and is followed by spitting; that one is a simple voiceless labialized uvular fricative, (usually long, of course). Does either of these count as a speech sound? If it’s being used to communicate an attitude or an imminent threat of expectoration, a case may be made that it’s communication, not just a physical act.
The Week: A linguistic dissection of 7 annoying teenage sounds
Paul Krugmans Theory of Interstellar Trade
Ich hatte grade meinen Spaß mit Paul Krugmans Wirtschaftstheorie vom interstellaren Handel bei Lichtgeschwindigkeit: The Theory of Interstellar Trade (PDF). Das Teil ist von vorne bis hinten mit SciFi-Anspielungen gespickt – Krugman hat das Vorwort der Neuauflage von Asimovs Foundation geschrieben – und schließt mit den Worten: „Those of us working in this field are still a small band, but we know that the Force is with us.“ Hell, yeah!
This paper extends interplanetary trade theory to an interstellar setting. It is chiefly concerned with the following question: how should interest charges on goods in transit be computed when the goods travel at close to the speed of light? This is a problem because the time taken in transit will appear less to an observer travelling with the goods than to a stationary observer.
NASAs 3D-printed Pizza in Space
Die NASA ist grade – recht überschaubar mit einer 125.000 Dollar-Förderung – beim einem Entwickler für 3D-printed Food eingestiegen. Die Space-Behörde will die Technologie für Weltraumspeisen und man arbeitet explizit an 3D-gedruckter Pizza für die Mars-Mission. 3D-PRINTED PIZZA IN SPACE FTW!
Pizza is an obvious candidate for 3D printing because it can be printed in distinct layers, so it only requires the print head to extrude one substance at a time. Contractor’s “pizza printer” is still at the conceptual stage, and he will begin building it within two weeks. It works by first “printing” a layer of dough, which is baked at the same time it’s printed, by a heated plate at the bottom of the printer. Then it lays down a tomato base, “which is also stored in a powdered form, and then mixed with water and oil,” says Contractor.
Finally, the pizza is topped with the delicious-sounding “protein layer,” which could come from any source, including animals, milk or plants.
The audacious plan to end hunger with 3-D printed food
Vorher auf Nerdcore:
Pizza on the Moon
NASAs Space Food Lab
Stanislaw Lems Summa Technologiae in English for the first time in 50 Years
I know there are some people from english speaking countries reading this thing here and this is a recommendation that really comes from my heart. Stanislaw Lems Summa Technologiae is available in English for the first time since (nearly) 50 Years! I read this monster more than twenty years ago, then again and then again and it totally blew my mind, every single time – actually it is one of the reasons, why this blog is what it is.
Imagine scientific Futurism combined with Electronics, Engineering and that Lemian Weirdness, that only he could achieve. Kevin Kelly on Steroids right from the dawn of the space age. Read this, it’s totally and highly recommended. Yes, it is indeed that good.
With Summa Technologiae, his masterwork of non-fiction which has been translated into English for the first time, Lem has taken Western civilisation for a spin – with spectacular consequences. The book will be a fabulous shock to those who know only his science fiction, such as Solaris or The Cyberiad. Others will have caught tantalising glimpses of Summa, published in 1964, in a few essays. Diehards may even have read it in translation, notably German or Russian. […]
Summa is not for the faint-hearted. Starting with a title that pastiches Thomas Aquinas’s 13th-century Summa Theologiae, Lem sets out to replace god with reason. Zylinska’s introduction lays out the map. Is the phenomenon that is humanity typical or exceptional in the universe? Does plagiarising nature count as fraud? Do we need consciousness for human agency? Should we trust our thoughts or perceptions? Are we controlling technology – or vice versa?
It is amazing how much Lem got right, or even predicted. This ranges across artificial intelligence, the theory of search engines (he called it “ariadnology”), bionics, virtual reality (“phantomatics”), technological singularity and nanotechnology.
American Scientist: A brilliant trip back to the technological future – Stanislaw Lem’s forgotten masterwork Summa Technologiae, now in English half a century after publication, is a heady mix of prescience, philosophy and irony
Amazon.com: Summa Technologiae (Electronic Mediations)
Micro-Flower-Crystals on a Razorblade
Wim Noorduin manipuliert Kristallwachstum und hat für die Mai-Ausgabe des Science Mags diese rund 50 Mikrometer großen Karbonat-Silizium-Blumen auf einer Rasierklinge wachsen lassen.
Wim L. Noorduin […] dissolved barium chloride (a salt) and sodium silicate (also known as waterglass) into a beaker of water. Carbon dioxide from the air dissolved naturally into the water, fomenting a reaction to form barium carbonate crystals. In response to the crystals the pH of the solution surrounding them lowers, triggering a reaction with the dissolved waterglass, and adding a layer of silica to the growing structure. This reaction uses up acid from the solution and allows the barium carbonate crystals to continue to form.
As this process takes place, the shape the crystals take can be manipulated through changes to the solution–increases in carbon dioxide levels in the water creates “broad-leafed” structures. Reversing the pH gradient at the right moment can create curved, ruffled structures. “You can really collaborate with the self-assembly process,” said Noorduin.
Google goes Quantum Computing for AI-Development
Google macht ernst bei der Entwicklung künstlicher Intelligenz und Machine Learning, hat sich mit der NASA zusammengeschmissen und betreibt zusammen mit denen das Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab gegründet, in dem ein kommerzieller Quantenrechner von D-Wave Systems rumrechnet. Dürfte eine der ersten Früchte des Engagements von Ray Kurzweil sein, der ja seit Ende letzten Jahres dort an genau solchen Sachen arbeitet und die gestern auf der Google I/O vorgestellten Neuerungen an ihrer Suche dürften da bereits erste oberflächliche Anzeichen sein. Spannend!
Google and NASA are forming a laboratory to study artificial intelligence by means of computers that use the unusual properties of quantum physics. Their quantum computer, which performs complex calculations thousands of times faster than existing supercomputers, is expected to be in active use in the third quarter of this year.
The Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab, as the entity is called, will focus on machine learning, which is the way computers take note of patterns of information to improve their outputs. Personalized Internet search and predictions of traffic congestion based on GPS data are examples of machine learning. The field is particularly important for things like facial or voice recognition, biological behavior, or the management of very large and complex systems.
NYTimes: Google Buys a Quantum Computer
Google: Launching the Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab
Project Steampunk-Dickhead: Neural Network grown from Foreskin-Cells
Guy Ben-Ary und Dr. Kirsten Hudson haben für ihr In-Potentia-Projekt aus Zellen einer Vorhaut zunächst Stammzellen generiert und die per Bio-Engineering in Gehirnzellen verwandelt. Die haben dann ein „lebendes“ neuronales Netzwerk gebildet: Ein Gehirn aus einem Penis. Ein Pimmelkopf, sozusagen. Und der lebt in einem Steampunk-Dingsbums. Ich halte das Ding hier für ein bisschen bullshitty und das Steampunk-Teil für ein sinnloses Gimmick, so ein wahlloses „Wir schmeißen mal das hippe Steampunk und das hippe Bio-Engineering zusammen und packen noch Pimmel mit rein, höhö“. Aber egal, einen Pimmelkopf muss ich mir dann doch hier reinkleben, und sei es nur zur Dokumentation egalerer Science-Art.
In potēntia by Guy Ben-Ary and Kirsten Hudson, is a liminal, boundary creature of animate and inanimate matter that visually problematises the shifting cultural, ethical and political forces that govern and determine understandings of life, death and personhood.
Informed by the aesthetics of steam punk, retro-futurism and eighteenth century scientific paraphernalia, in potēntia is a speculative techno-scientific experiment that uses a stem cell reprogramming technique called induced pluripotent stem cell technology (iPS) to reverse engineer foreskin cells purchased from an online catalogue into embryonic (like) stem cells, which Ben-Ary and Hudson then transform into neurons. What results is a real functioning neural network or “biological brain” encased within a purpose built sculptural incubator, containing a DIY bio-reactor (or life-support system) as well as a custom-made electrophysiological recording setup that converts neural activity into an unsettling soundscape.
In-Potentia (via AnimalNY)
Interview auf WMMNA: In-Potentia, from foreskin cells to ‘biological brain’
Capitalism is evil, now proven by Science (and mice!)
In einem Experiment haben Wissenschaftler Belege dafür gefunden, dass wirtschaftliche Entscheidungen am Markt die Wertschätzung anderer Lebewesen beeinträchtigt. Konkret ging es darum, Überschüsse an Labormäusen aufzukaufen, die andernfalls getötet werden würden. Die Probanden haben durchaus bezahlt, die wirtschaftlichen Verhandlungen aber haben die Preise gedrückt. Daraus folgt, dass wirtschaftliches Handeln den moralischen Kompass verändert und das Leben der Mäuse an Wert verliert: Capitalism is evil.
The possibility that market interaction may erode moral values is a long-standing, but controversial, hypothesis in the social sciences, ethics, and philosophy. To date, empirical evidence on decay of moral values through market interaction has been scarce. We present controlled experimental evidence on how market interaction changes how human subjects value harm and damage done to third parties.
In the experiment, subjects decide between either saving the life of a mouse or receiving money. We compare individual decisions to those made in a bilateral and a multilateral market. In both markets, the willingness to kill the mouse is substantially higher than in individual decisions. Furthermore, in the multilateral market, prices for life deteriorate tremendously.
Commander Hadfield sings Space Oddity in Space
Commander Chris Hadfield fliegt heute von der ISS aus die Erde zurück, nachdem er ein paar Monate lang die Erde per Twitter und Reddit mit News aus dem All beschallt hat. Zum Abschied hat er jetzt mal flugs das erste Musikvideo in Space gedreht, natürlich ein Cover von David Bowies Space Oddity.
Das Teil ist keine wirklich spontane Nummer und tatsächlich war Emm Gryner daran beteiligt, die eine Weile in Bowies Liveband gespielt hat, in seinem Facebookdings erzählt sie ein bisschen was dazu:
The task was in front of me. I came up with a piano part. i then enlisted my friend, producer and fellow Canadian Joe Corcoran to take my piano idea and Chris’ vocal and blow it up into a fully produced song. Drums! mellotrons! fuzz bass! We also incorporated into the track ambient space station noises which Chris had put on his Soundcloud. I was mostly blown away by how pure and earnest Chris’ singing is on this track. Like weightlessness and his voice agreed to agree.
And voila! And astronaut sings Space Oddity in space! I was so honoured to be asked to be a part of this. You wouldn’t get too many chances to make a recording like this and not only that, to make music with someone who – through his vibrant communications with kids in schools to his breathtaking photos to his always patient and good-humoured demeanour – has done more for science and space than anyone else this generation. Planet earth IS blue, and there’s nothing left for Chris Hadfield to do. Right. Safe travels home Commander!
Chris Hadfield: Space Oddity, in diesem Video hier reflektiert er nochmal ein bisschen über das allgemeine Astronautendasein und seinen Aufenthalt in Space…
Michael Dickinson @ TED: How a fly flies
Superinteressanter Vortrag von Neurowissenschaftler Michael Dickinson über den Flugmechanismus von Fliegen. Der Mann ist… sehr entusiastisch in seinem Vortrag und spätestens beim Vergleich von Donald Trump mit einem Fliegenhirn war ich überzeugt. Und dann wird das Ding hintenraus immer interessanter und Dickinson erzählt über Engineering-Ansätze in Neuroscience und sowas. Toll!
An insect’s ability to fly is perhaps one of the greatest feats of evolution. Michael Dickinson looks at how a fruit fly takes flight with such delicate wings, thanks to a clever flapping motion and flight muscles that are both powerful and nimble. But the secret ingredient: the incredible fly brain.
Ultraconserved Words from the Ice Age
Superfaszinierend: Wissenschaftler haben eine Liste von „ultrakonservierten“ Wörtern veröffentlicht, die man am Ende der letzten Eiszeit verwendet hat und die heute noch in rund 700 Sprachen enthalten sind.
A team of researchers has come up with a list of two dozen “ultraconserved words” that have survived 150 centuries. It includes some predictable entries: “mother,” “not,” “what,” “to hear” and “man.” It also contains surprises: “to flow,” “ashes” and “worm.”
The existence of the long-lived words suggests there was a “proto-Eurasiatic” language that was the common ancestor to about 700 contemporary languages that are the native tongues of more than half the world’s people.
Icebreaker Timelapse
Youtube Direktbreaker, via io9
Cassandra Brooks von der Uni Stanford bloggt für National Geographic über ihre Erlebnisse in der Antarktis und auf dem Eisbrecher Nathaniel B. Palmer, ihr letzter Beitrag ist ein fünfminütiges Timelapse-Video mit zwei Monaten Eisbrecherei. Nice!
Time-lapse of our icebreaker, the Nathaniel B. Palmer, traveling through the Ross Sea, Antarctica. Two months of sequences, condensed into less than five minutes, with a surprise at the end.
Two Months Breaking Ice in Antarctica’s Ross Sea (Timelapse in Under Five Minutes)
Nano-Stopmotion-Movie made with Atoms
IBM haben einen Kurzfilm gedreht, ein Stopmotion-Clip aus Atomen: A Boy and his Atom. Der Film dürfte dem Plot nach – „a character called Atom who befriends a single atom and goes on a ‘playful journey’“ – halbwegs an den 1946er Kurzfilm A Boy and His Dog angelehnt sein und ich gehe schwer davon aus, dass die Parallele zum gleichnamigen Atomkriegsapokalypsenfilm entweder rein zufällig ist, oder einer von IBMs Konzeptionern war an dem Tag irgendwie subversiv drauf. Jedenfalls: Oben der Stopmotionfilm aus Atomen, hier noch ein Making Of:
The movie’s plot line depicts a character called Atom who befriends a single atom and goes on a “playful journey”. This journey involves dancing, jumping on a trampoline and playing catch. […]
IBM moved the molecules using two of its own scanning tunnelling microscopes. It’s a huge machine that weighs two tonnes, operates at minus 268 degrees Celsius and magnifies atoms — placed on a copper surface — by 100 million times. The machine moved around 5,000 carbon monoxide molecules to create the movie. Each time the molecules were arranged in the right way, the IBM team rendered a still image to create each of the 242 frames. In those frames, you can only see one atom or pixel because you look at it from above. It took roughly 10 days of 18-hour shifts to get each frame right.
IBM: IBM Research Makes World’s Smallest Movie Using Atoms (via Wired)
Flickr-Set: A Boy and His Atom
Interactive Space Exploration HTML5-Infographic:
„Behold: the entire history of Solar System exploration in one graphic. It requires a HTML5-capable browser, so only newer ones work.“
