Advocacy
How to store data for 1,000 years
"You know you're a nerd when you store DNA in your fridge." At her home in Paris, Dina Zielinski, a senior scientist in human genomics at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, holds up a tiny vial to her laptop camera for me to see on our video call. It's hard to make out, but she tells me that I should be able to see a mostly clear, light film on the bottom of the vial – this is the DNA.
By Gu Wei Di Qi2 years ago in Earth
The school that created a city for the blind
At the age of eight, Leon Portz was gradually losing his eyesight due to a congenital condition when he was given his first computer. By the age of nine, he had figured out how to speed up the machine-generated voice that read out websites and other electronic texts, allowing him to grasp the information faster. He now listens to texts at five times the standard speed, which is unintelligible to an untrained ear.
By Turnell Feliu2 years ago in Earth
Designed to Last: 10 of the world's most ingenious buildings
"The shifts in how we live and work have radically altered our cities," writes Ruth Lang in new Gestalten book Building for Change: The Architecture of Creative Reuse. "The spatial demands of working patterns have been utterly transformed over the past 50 years." Many of our buildings could last for 50, or even 100, years; yet "fashion and changing patterns of use often curtail this lifespan, which sometime barely stretches to a decade". Instead of abandoning these structures, however, designers are developing innovative solutions "which find value in the buildings that have been left behind… in place of our obsession with newness".
By Gu Wei Di Qi2 years ago in Earth
October Garden Jobs To Keep You Busy!
With the weather having noticeably cooled, and the clocks going back at the end of the month we're moving quickly towards winter! Frosts become a possibility depending where you are but it's still a lovely season for spending time in your garden!
By Jordan Catto2 years ago in Earth
How did the pocket wolf go extinct?
The pocket wolf used to be the largest marsupial carnivore that survived into modern times. Although its skeletal structure and physical appearance are similar to those of the gray wolf, and the pattern of its back fur resembles that of the tiger, taxonomically speaking, the pocket wolf belongs to neither the canine nor the feline family, and it is different from any of the extant carnivores in the northern hemisphere. Kangaroo wolves belong to the marsupial order, Kangarooidae. As we know, the wombat (koala), wombat, and various kangaroos living in Oceania are its "close relatives". The reason why the appearance of wolves and tigers is similar to that of wolves and tigers is that they reproduce in a similar natural environment, resulting in the phenomenon of "convergent evolution".
By Richard Shurwood2 years ago in Earth