Påtrillade godbitar

Psychology, sustainability and other. And other other.

[nosemouth]

Madonna

[explore-blog]

Charming visualization from this altogether delightful children’s book about space – an imaginative and illuminating primer on the cosmos to spark awe in the souls of budding Sagans. 

[psysus]

[new-aesthetic]

The majority of internet traffic to Central and South America flows through a single building in Miami, known as the Network Access Point of the Americas. Bypassing that route with a new cable would require years of work and billions of dollars, and likely would have little effect on NSA surveillance, Soghoian says. The US already has a nuclear submarine explicitly dedicated to tapping undersea internet cables, and has proven its ability to hack into the computer networks of foreign governments.

Cutting the cord: Brazil’s bold plan to combat the NSA | The Verge (via new-aesthetic)

[new-aesthetic]

The promise of the Internet was that it would liberate people and bolster democracy, but it has become a tool for suppression and control. In fact, it is one of the most powerful instruments of control ever invented. The most essential challenge we face today is related to the real effect of the Internet. Will it impart power to people and liberate them, or will it impart more strength to the centers of power and help them oversee, control and suppress the population? That is the struggle of our generation, and it has yet to be decided.

Quote of the Day: Control Over the Internet Is the “Struggle of Our Generation” | Mother Jones (via new-aesthetic)

Can't it be both?

[new-aesthetic]

Empathy for military robots could affect outcomes on the battlefield | PBS NewsHour, via @GarethOwenLloyd

Julie Carpenter, a Ph.D. in education at the University of Washington, interviewed 23 explosive ordnance disposal personnel who regularly used robots on the job. She found that the soldiers often anthropomorphized their robots, assigned them human attributes such as genders and names, and even displayed a kind of empathy toward the machines.

"They would say they were angry when a robot became disabled because it is an important tool, but then they would add ‘poor little guy,’ or they’d say they had a funeral for it," Carpenter said.

"These robots are critical tools they maintain, rely on, and use daily. They are also tools that happen to move around and act as a stand-in for a team member, keeping Explosive Ordnance Disposal personnel at a safer distance from harm."

"You don’t want someone to hesitate using one of these robots if they have feelings toward the robot that goes beyond a tool," she said. "If you feel emotionally attached to something, it will affect your decision-making."

[new-aesthetic]

Smog-Covered Hong Kong Installs Clear Skyline Banners for Vacation Photos | Oddity Central - Collecting Oddities, via @goto80

[wtfevolution]

Evolution keeps all its weirdest experiments way down in the ocean’s depths. But secretly, they’re its very favorite ones.

Rhinochimaera video courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program.

[spaceplasma]

[sagansense]

Multiwavelength Sun 

  via spaceplasma

[psysus]

Tor trying out a leap motion demo.

[artandsciencejournal]

Your waste of time: Icelandic Glacier in New York

To give people an up-close and personal experience with the effects of climate change, Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson has brought chunks of glacial ice from Iceland to New York.

Eliasson’s display, titled Your waste of time, is made up of pieces of ice that have fallen from Iceland’s largest glacier, Vatnajökull. The ice chunks chosen are estimated to be about 800 years old.

The purpose behind Olafur’s exhibition is to bring people closer to the effects of climate change. Eliasson believes people are not in touch with the effects of climate change because they cannot see it for themselves. Thus, by bringing broken off pieces of glacier to New York, Eliasson hopes to connect people to the changes on our planet.

These chunks of ancient ice are currently on display at MoMA PS1’s EXPO 1:New York exhibit where they are being kept in a refrigerated room. Despite the display’s theme of environmental awareness, critics point out that it requires a great deal of energy to transport and preserve the ice. Regardless, the fragments of the Vatnajökull glacier represent the consequence of our ever-changing world.

The pieces of ice will be on display until September. Then, the fragments of glacier will do what they would have done naturally: melt.

-Janine Truong Source: (National Geographic)

[artandsciencejournal]

American artist Roxy Paine does not purposefully strive to create realism in his artworks, although his sculptures appear as genuine imitations of natural systems, whether arboreal, neurological, industrial, vascular or mycological. Paine’s organic forms arise from his...

[colchrishadfield]

With deference to the genius of David Bowie, here’s Space Oddity, recorded on Station. A last glimpse of the World. Huge thanks in the making of the video to the talented trio of Emm Gryner, Joe Corcoran and Andrew Tidby, plus Evan Hadfield and all at the CSA.

[psysus]

Erksbrg

[psysus]

Åmål in the morning fog.

[radioedit]

We are seeing a vast increase in the amount of carbon dioxide reaching the atmosphere… The result is that change in future is likely to be more fundamental and more widespread than anything we have known hitherto.

Margaret Thatcher, speech to the United Nations, 1989. (via radioedit)

[awesomepeoplehangingouttogether]

Richard Nixon and Robocop