At this time we are beginning our descent into a world without pilots.
Possibly.
Originally shared by Singularity Hub
Your Next Pilot Could Be Drone Software https://suhub.co/2K2auLF
Now, apply this to people living in some other unusual circumstance, like a planet with different gravity or air pressure.
Originally shared by Kam-Yung Soh
Fascinating adaptation. “Bajau divers been observed plunging more than 200 feet underwater, their only protection a pair of wooden goggles — a physiological marvel.
In 2015, Melissa Ilardo, then a graduate student in genetics at the University of Copenhagen, heard about the Bajau. She wondered if centuries of diving could have led to the evolution of traits that made the task easier for them.
“It seemed like the perfect opportunity for natural selection to act on a population,” said Dr. Ilardo.
[…]
When people plunge into water, they respond with the so-called diving reflex: the heart rate slows and blood vessels constrict as a way to shunt blood to vital organs. The spleen also contracts, squirting a supply of oxygen-rich red blood cells into the circulation.
[…]
When Dr. Ilardo compared scans from the two villages, she found a stark difference. The Bajau had spleens about 50 percent bigger on average than those of the Saluan.
Yet even such a remarkable difference might not be the result of evolution. Diving itself might somehow enlarge the spleen. There are plenty of examples of experience changing the body, from calloused feet to bulging biceps.
Only some Bajau are full-time divers. Others, such as teachers and shopkeepers, have never dived. But they, too, had large spleens, Dr. Ilardo found. It was likely the Bajau are born that way, thanks to their genes.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/19/science/bajau-evolution-ocean-diving.html
Contrary to my own reading preference, prizewinning books are more likely to be by men, about men.
And why politicians pass legislation close to major sporting events and long weekends?
Originally shared by Walter Roberson
Looks like I need to spend a bit of time polishing up that unpublished novella that’s sitting there doing nothing. It might as well sit in Tor.com’s slush instead.
User experience engineering: older than you probably thought.
Originally shared by Adafruit Industries
The ‘Lady Engineer’ Who Took the Pain Out of the Train #MakerEducation
Great feature on Olive Wetzel Dennis, an early 20th Century service engineer, from Atlas Obscura.
If you had ridden the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in the American northeast sometime in the 1920s or ’30s, you might have noticed a passenger who seemed unusually invested in her environment. While you snoozed through Cincinnati, or looked out the window at the approaching Chicago skyline, this woman was probably carefully measuring the height of the seats, or laying cloth swatches over them to check the colors.
As you chose your supper in the dining car, you might have seen her sampling every single item on offer. The next morning, when you blearily left your bunk, she might have greeted you, and asked you how you slept.
In Shadowlands, the play based on the life of C.S. Lewis, an academic colleague of Lewis mean-spiritedly speculates that Lewis put in so many feasts because he was writing for children and couldn’t put sex in the books. Here’s an alternative explanation.
In Shadowlands, the play based on the life of C.S. Lewis, an academic colleague of Lewis mean-spiritedly speculates that Lewis put in so many feasts because he was writing for children and couldn’t put sex in the books. Here’s an alternative explanation.
Despite the clickbait-style headline, this is decent advice. I speak as a reviewer who frequently gives up on books for these reasons.
Start me out with a motivated character in a dynamic, unusual situation, write with good craft, and you’ll probably hold my attention throughout and get a good review from me.
Originally shared by Standout Books
If your book only does one thing, it’s unlikely to keep your reader’s attention.
Find out more with ‘5 Reasons Readers Give Up On Books… And How To Avoid Them’.
What does an “impartial” version of the news even look like? And will people want it?
Originally shared by Singularity Hub
This Startup Is Training AI to Gobble Up the News and Rewrite It Free of Bias https://suhub.co/2ENNkEJ