STUFF: News, Technology, the cool and the plain weird

[MIKA27]

After Centuries Of Mystery, The Tale Of The Voynich Manuscript Has Been Solved

The solving of a long-standing mystery always sparks ambivalence; a sense of excitement and satisfaction at what it is, coupled with sadness about everything it isn't. As of last week, the cryptic Voynich manuscript, filled with strange glyphs and diagrams, has left the halls of head-scratchers. Yes folks, thanks to historian Nicholas Gibbs, we have a pretty definitive explanation of the purpose of the former literary enigma.

Although many interpretations of the manuscript have been proffered, Gibbs' explanation is the first to explain nearly all aspects. In some ways, it was written in an ancient code — if you consider abbreviations and shorthand a form of encryption.

Here's how Gibbs breaks it down on The Times Literary Supplement:

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...in the Voynich script tell-tale signs of an abbreviated Latin format. But interpretation of such abbreviations depends largely on the context in which they are used ... I recognized at least two of the characters in the Voynich manuscript text as Latin ligatures, Eius and Etiam. Ligatures were developed as scriptorial short-cuts. They are composed of selected letters of a word, which together represent the whole word, not unlike like a monogram.

As Gibbs made further comparisons, it became clear what the "code" actually was:

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Systematic study of every single character in the Lexicon identified further ligatures and abbreviations in the Voynich manuscript and set a precedent. It became obvious that each character in the Voynich manuscript represented an abbreviated word and not a letter.

Turns out the Voynich manuscript isn't a reference for magic spells, alien communication or an ancient tabletop role-playing game. In fact, it's mostly plagiarised medical knowledge, much of it related to herbs:

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...it was more or less clear what the Voynich manuscript is: a reference book of selected remedies lifted from the standard treatises of the medieval period, an instruction manual for the health and wellbeing of the more well to do women in society, which was quite possibly tailored to a single individual.

And another mystery solved! If you're keen for more information, Gibbs goes into extensive detail about how he arrived at his conclusion over at TLS.

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240-Year-Old Nautical Maps Reveal How Badly Humans Have Screwed Up Florida's Reefs

Old sailor's tales about the seas being so full of fish you could walk on them, or oysters the size of Frisbees, tend to inspire scepticism today, and for good reason — many people have very little direct experience with the oceans, except for the occasional news article about how we've screwed it up beyond repair. But the oceans of yesteryear really were more plentiful than they are today, and a new analysis of 240 year-old nautical charts hints at just how dramatically things have changed.

A first-of-its-kind comparison of 18th century British nautical charts with modern coral reef databases suggests that reefs were far more widespread throughout the Florida Keys several centuries ago, particularly along coastlines and in Florida Bay. It's a finding that could have implications for reef conservation and restoration, prompting ecologists to rethink what constitutes an "undisturbed" ecosystem. And it all started when historical ecologist Loren McClenachan became captivated by a weathered old map she stumbled upon at the British Admiralty Archives some 10 years back.

"I actually had [a copy of] it on my wall for a while," McClenachan told Gizmodo, explaining how the map, part of a pair of nautical charts of the northern and southern Keys created by cartographer George Gauld for the British Admiralty between 1773 and 1775, seemed to contain troves of ecological information — including notations of coral and seagrass cover.

"It was made while the Brits owned the Florida Keys," McClenachan explained. "Part of the expansion of their empire was to get really good at sailing, and they knew that other ships — Spanish ones — had crashed," in this area. "My understanding is that Gauld wanted to continue the mapping, but 1776 happened and he was driven out by pirates," she added.

Natuical Chart from the Florida Keys, 1775.

By comparing Gauld's maps with modern coral cover information from several databases, McClenachan and her colleagues arrived at a bleak conclusion: Roughly half of the seafloor occupied by corals in the vicinity of the Florida Keys in the late 18th century no longer is. Much of the dieback seems to have occurred in Florida Bay (where coral cover was an estimated 88 per cent higher in the late 18th century) and close to shorelines (an estimated 69 per cent higher per Gauld's maps).

Importantly, this suggests recent estimates of coral dieback in the Keys, derived from data collected in the 1970s, '80s and '90s, grossly underestimate the degree to which these ecosystems have receded, according to the research published this week in Science Advances.

"We've really lost these nearshore reefs — lots of them probably disappeared before we even started studying them in the water," McClenachan said. She suspects the dieoff patterns are due to greater human disturbance close to shorelines, and in the case of Florida Bay, changes following the widespread drainage of the Everglades in the early 20th century.

Of course, there are plenty of caveats. This study only compared two nautical charts from a single time point in the 18th century to a much more detailed modern record — we have to fill in the intervening centuries with educated guesswork. What's more, Gauld's charts don't distinguish between dead coral and live coral, nor do they contain coral absence data. We have no way of knowing if areas where Gauld marked no coral truly lacked reefs, or if he simply never visited these places to find out.

I reached out to several coral biologists to see if they have any other thoughts about the merits or limitations of the study, but had not heard back at time of writing.

Even just qualitatively speaking, though, snapshots into the past like this can be illuminating. "I think it's a shifting baseline story — it puts the modern declines," due to ocean acidification, climate change, development and pollution, "in context," McClenachan said. Perhaps, places that we presume have always been coral-free used to host vibrant reefs. "In terms of restoration, knowing where coral used to be is useful."

Personally, I can't help but wonder how many old sailor's tales we've written off as legend have a nugget of truth at their centre.

[MIKA27]

High-Tech Science Solves The Mystery Of 800-Year-Old Scroll

Eight hundred years ago, teenager Laurentius Loricatus accidentally killed a man in Italy. He then headed to a cave where he lived for 34 years, whipping himself to atone for his sins. Today, his story lives in the Vatican Secret Archives, on a piece of parchment covered in purple spots.

This kind of damage is common on ancient parchment — but why? What causes it? A team of Italian researchers interested in better understanding the ancient text decided to identify the microbes responsible for the splotching, and applied brand new techniques in order to do so. The researchers probably couldn't have guessed some of the culprits.

"I found marine microbes," study author Luciana Migliore from Tor Vergata University in Rome, Italy told Gizmodo. "Where did they come from, in a goat parchment that had been written 800 years ago? This was absolutely surprising."

The team began by taking already detached tiny squares of parchment both from purple and unstained pieces of the scroll, isolating the DNA and sending it to a lab in Texas for processing. On analysing the sequences, they found 957 kinds of bacteria on the purple spots, and 407 kinds of bacteria on the undamaged spots, with only 140 of the 1224 total species shared between the two. The most common bacteria on the purple spots, surprisingly, were Gammaproteobacteria, mostly the salt-loving ocean kind, according to the paper published today in the journal Scientific Reports

So, how did the splotches form? This parchment came from goat skin, usually preserved with salt brines. The brine could have acted as a culture for the purple microbes to begin sprouting. After salting, the parchment was stretched, shaved and scraped, leaving a salty outside and less salty inside; the collagen in the parchment would serve as the home to the bacterial colonies. The scrolls then could have moved into monasteries, the authors write, where they'd have been exposed to moisture and changing temperatures. Here, the purple bacteria would have flourished.

Other researchers were especially impressed by the paper and its methods. "In my opinion, the paper is well written, the techniques used are state of the art methods," Guadalupe Pinar from the Universität für Bodenkultur in Austria told Gizmodo. It isn't usual for folks working in this field to have the "necessary infrastructure and capabilities to perform such analyses".

As with any study, this one comes with limitations. Pinar pointed out that these methods only rely on a certain subset of DNA sequences, meaning there could be missing data. He pointed out another paper using a different sequencing method better avoided biases, and could do analyses beyond just the bacterial makeup. It's also important to note you can't always do a study like this — the authors got lucky that they could analyse pieces of the parchment that had broken off. Normally, they'd have to tear the parchment to do this kind of work.

Still, the paper adds important evidence to support hypotheses of how these spots got there. Researcher Hector Morillas, from the University of the Basque Country in Spain, told Gizmodo he thought it was incredible work — he had no doubts about its methods and conclusions. What's more, the team has offered new ways of understanding the ageing of these scrolls for the future.

Migliore said: "The most important thing is the application of new techniques that can help to understand the process of these ancient documents."

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I Ate Wasps And Scorpions At New York's First Bug Eating Festival

A single seared prawn sat atop a scoop of mashed avocado with a healthy scoop of salty black specks overflowing onto the plate beside it. If I didn't already know what I had gotten myself into, I would have been certain the topping was caviar — each spot popped just like a sturgeon egg might have. But rather than fishiness came an alien citrus flavour unlike any meat I'd ever tasted. After all, I was eating black ants.

"They increase sexual vigour," author and chef David George Gordon told the crowd of 40 at the Bug Banquet of the Brooklyn Bugs festival, New York's first festival devoted to eating insects. [He's probably not wrong.]

Black ants on prawn 

Brooklyn Bugs filled the past weekend with events, from an outdoor market to the haute 10-course tasting menu at the Brooklyn Kitchen. The festival was the brainchild of Chef Joseph Yoon, who normally runs dinner parties and tasting events. Yoon was only introduced to entomophagy, or bug eating, six months ago. The cadre of insect farmers and purveyors selling a human-grade product were excited with what he was doing, and after putting out feelers, he organised the festival in just three months.

"There's never been an edible insects festival in New York City," Yoon told Gizmodo, so he took it upon himself to shine a spotlight on the work these vendors have been doing for years. His reason for starting the festival, first and foremost, was culinary.

"As a chef, to all of the sudden have these ingredients I've never worked with, don't know what they taste like when they're cooked, it was fascinating to me," he said. "Some of these insects are unlike anything I've ever eaten. People try to correlate it with things they're familiar with but one thing you'll never hear is, 'This tastes like chicken.'"

The festival kicked off with a day of meals, tastings and lectures on the science, culture, history and psychology of eating bugs. An outdoor market day followed where vendors hawked products such as cricket protein powders, mealworm bolognese sauce and seasoned chapulines, a Central American grasshopper whose taste and texture had everything in common with a dried goji berry.

Cricket bolognese

But why eat bugs? Like Yoon, some of the vendors were interested in Americans overcoming a culinary fear that's mainly cultural. Mexican and Korean cuisine both have dishes reliant on insects such as ants or silkworm pupae, for example. Most insect food producers cited the same reasons as others working on futuristic protein options, such as cultured or plant-based meat substitutes. Some reports suggest that eating insects could reduce the energy and water burden of modern industrial agriculture. These entrepreneurs would like to restructure already unsustainable food systems in order to feed the world's fast-growing population, all while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. None of the folks I spoke to were vegetarian or vegan, though many try to reduce their meat consumption. "Enterian" is the word they used to describe their bug-eating identity.

"I don't think any one thing will save the world," Robyn Shapiro, co-founder of Seek Food, told Gizmodo. "Consumers should have a choice." She tries to ease consumers into the idea of eating bugs by producing products such as cricket-flower granola, which I thought tasted better than most insect-less granola. And unlike plant-based proteins and lab-grown meats, bugs already exist as a food option. "People get excited about things that are different, but let's look at the resources we have," she said.

At the main event, Gordon and Yoon served a party of 40 VIPs, mostly insect farmers and food producers as well as other interested novices, in the rustic Brooklyn Kitchen space. The first dish, a June bug fritter passed as an appetiser, would not help any hesitant consumer overcome their fear. Peeling away the batter revealed the entire 2.5cm-long bug, legs and all. It tasted powerfully salty and meaty, with a texture like filling a prawn shell with pate. Exoskeletons in our teeth was something my partner and I would have to get used to throughout the meal. The bottomless wine helped.

Nine other dishes featuring nine other bugs followed. Each was carefully constructed to highlight each insect's subtle flavours, as different from one another as chicken from steak.

Locust tasted like a less sweet, wetter corn. My neighbours decided this dish required the supplied chopsticks, rather than a fork or a knife. Scorpion, served stinger and all, was intensely salty with a bit of bite. The stinger caused some concern, but Gordon reminded us that the cooking denatures the venom, and as far as I know, everyone survived the meal. Water bug, any urban apartment dweller's nightmare, hinted of green apple.

As serious as the dishes were, there was little deconstruction of the bugs. Aside for the black ants and the bundaegi, silkworm pupae prepared in rice with beef short-rib that snapped like little sausages, everything pretty much just looked like a full bug sitting on top of something else, which caused reactions varying from disgust to laughter. As participants were seasoned entarians, each new dish felt more X-Factor than Fear Factor.

Wine turned the scene surreal. Asked how they enjoyed the gusano worm atop a slice of raw sea bass, one guest shouted, "More worm, too much fish!" My partner and I sword fought with 5cm water bugs held in our teeth. My uninitiated neighbours fought over who'd get the biggest Japanese hornet, a comically large insect on a piece of lobster. Look at it:

Japanese hornet 

Each dish came with an explanation by Gordon about the culture and history of its featured invertebrate; we even received a quick guest lecture from Louis Sorkin, American Museum of Natural History entomologist. He spoke about Vespula flaviceps, a relative of the yellow jacket. This dish was the only one I found too buggy, somehow.

By the end of the meal, chefs, vendors and sponsors drunkenly congratulated themselves, the guests and the hosts, who felt as if they were truly a part of an important moment in the history of future food.

"Entarians, you sexy-arse motherfuckers," said Paul Miller, the experimental hip hop producer otherwise known as DJ Spooky. "This is a revolution."

Many hurdles remain before Western consumers accept bugs as a normal source of protein, of course. Multiple vendors discussed the high costs — there's little demand and few farms, so many bug products still command luxury prices. Others are trying to use science to overcome the yuck factor. Canadian food scientist Lee Cadesky at C-fu foods is working on ways to isolate the bug protein, to create something closer in texture to grainy tofu.

Will the movement take off? I am unsure the average meat eater will ever be OK munching the biggest hornet I have ever seen, and insect protein tofu burgers sound a bit dystopian. But this is only the beginning, and you can be sure that these chefs, entrepreneurs and entarians will keep working until you're OK with crickets in your cookies.

They skipped the tiramisu

[MIKA27]

The Unsung Heroes of Hurricane Season Fly Planes Directly Into the Storm

ome people just aren't like the rest of us, because they don't have the fear. Fear has been in ample display these past few weeks along our hurricane-wracked coastlines, and there's a normal sort of courage found among many of us. But it takes a truly different sort to climb into a tube made of thin aluminum, then fly that thing straight into the eye of a hurricane at an altitude somewhere between 10,000 feet at the top and the "oh-my-God-I-can-see-dolphins" level of 1,500 feet above the waves. These are the men and women who drive into the Wall.

The U.S. Air Force Reserve flies a heavily specialized version of the C-130 cargo plane (the WC-130), while NOAA flies a variant of the old USN patrol plane the P-3 (the WP-3). The Navy used to play a role in this as well, but has withdrawn from the mission since we do not fly into hurricanes all over the Pacific anymore. Since the technique first started during WWII as a means of forecasting and understanding hurricanes and typhoons, five aircraft and their crews have gone down with all lives lost. Yet the data they bring back has saved countless lives—literally. Today, their information, mostly heard about during the Atlantic hurricane season, is absolutely crucial.

THESE ARE THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO DRIVE INTO THE WALL.

Yet many have come to take this incredible act of regular heroism as something commonplace, while others wonder why it is even necessary in this day and age of advanced technology. So why do they do it?

This requires a grasp of how those “models” create the predicted tracks of each hurricane, which depend on measuring areas of high and low barometric pressure. Low pressure areas pull on things like a vacuum; high pressure areas do the opposite, like a blow dryer. Meteorologists can figure out where the blow dryers and vacuums will be easily enough. Any high-altitude aircraft can get up to about 40,000 feet and survey that sort of information by dropping parachute-equipped pressure-gauges and recording the data they radio back as they descend.

On land, this is even easier, as weather stations around the country regularly release weather balloons upwards, each bearing aloft a sensor package doing the exact same thing every day to give us our daily weather maps. Our vast and mighty computers, paired with this data and the other information gathered at the same time such as temperature and humidity, can help us predict if the weekend BBQ is a go. For more major storms, and indeed tornadoes, we have the additional advantage not only of normal radar, but of the newer doppler radar, which can tell you not only about the density of clouds, but about their speed and direction, even internally.

The problem is, that is all how it works on land. All those tools disappear out at sea, where there are no local weather stations to send up balloons, or stationary doppler radars to tell you about wind direction, speed, and do so in depth. And at sea is where the hurricanes form, and grow, and prepare themselves to collide with us.

The atmosphere out at sea has those blow dryers and vacuums, which will push and pull on a storm. But each storm travels through them differently. Some will be like a ping pong ball, and be hugely affected by the different pressure systems. Others will be like a bowling ball, and travel their own course barely affected all. Others will be in between—a tennis ball, or a baseball. If you don't know that aspect of the storm's character, you can't really predict how those fans and vacuums will work on it. The job of the Hurricane Drivers is to fly into the Eye-Wall of the storm and figure out what kind of ball it is.

Those aircraft these men and women fly are packed with both high-tech onboard sensors that record all the information about the immediate environment of the airplane (windspeed, direction, pressure, etc.), but also airborne versions of the doppler radar that give them a deeper picture—forwards, slant-wise, and downwards. Then, for a more complete 3D model, each aircraft carries a ton of disposable sensors. Parachute equipped, they drop these out of a tube in the plane and let them send back information every couple of seconds as they descend through the storm to the sea. They also drop packages that record the sea temperature (which tells them how much energy the storm is sucking up into itself), as well as useful stuff like wave heights.

But this can’t be done from way up above the storm. Nope. To do this you need to fly right through it, at altitudes varying from 1,500 to 10,000 feet. In short, these planes are moving meteorological machines, assembling vast reams of raw data that the guys back on the ground can feed into the computer models, which then give us our updates every few hours on where the best science in the world can tell us the hurricane will keep rolling over the next two, three, four, even five days. It's information that saves, without exaggeration, thousands of lives and millions of dollars a year.

All you need to do is flip on the Weather Channel to get all of this at home. But for it to get there, some people have to fly into the storm.

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SPHERO R2-D2 APP-ENABLED DROID

As most of you will likely remember, Sphero is the company that brought to life the toy versions of BB-8 from The Force Awakens and, more recently, Lightning McQueen from cars. Now, they’re back at it again (to coincide with the upcoming release of The Last Jedi) with everyone’s favorite Astromech, R2-D2.

In similar fashion to their other releases, the little tabletop droid can be controlled entirely with your choice of mobile device thanks to the included app. But Sphero has also added a few R2-D2-specific quirks, like the ability to switch between tri- and bipedal stances, emotive waddles, and a litany of lights and authentic sounds. It will also interact accordingly with the brand’s other droids, be that BB-8 or the First Order’s BB-9E, or any of the films – should you want to watch them alongside the little robot. This is about the closest we may ever get to actually owning a real Star Wars droid. It retails for $180.

 

[MIKA27]

JACK DANIEL’S TENNESSEE RYE WHISKEY

For those who are sad to see the summer go – we have some news that might cheer you up. Jack Daniel’s recently announced that they’ll be releasing a brand new recipe this October. Introducing the Tennessee Rye Whiskey.

This new spirit from the 150-year-old Lynchburg, Tennessee distiller has a grain bill of 70-percent rye, 18-percent corn, and 12-percent malted barley. Like other whiskeys from Jack Daniel’s, this new rye expression is charcoal mellowed and matured in American oak barrels. The resulting character of the 90-proof rye is a perfect complement to the fall; featuring notes of caramel and baking spice that finish out with a peppery rye character. As far as aroma goes, the notes read that it has a unique mixture of fruity sweetness couched in a heavier oak and spice. Whether you end up sipping it neat or in a cocktail, it is sure not to disappoint. Keep an eye out for this bottle, it should show up nationally next month

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BOSE SOUNDLINK MICRO BLUETOOTH SPEAKER

Portable speakers are a dime a dozen. There are so many on the market right now it is genuinely hard to find a reason to get excited about the latest supposedly ‘groundbreaking’ release. This newly announced Bose SoundLink Micro, however, has actually grabbed our attention.

This is the smallest portable speaker Bose has ever made. For a company that has been around for over 50 years, that is saying something. But there is more going on here than just the size of this speaker. The SoundLink also features a full, rich audio that comes courtesy of a specially designed transducer and two miniature silicone passive radiators. Along with the surprisingly big sound, the body of the speaker has been designed to be tough enough to stand up to rugged outdoor use. You can strap it to your bag, your bike, or even jump in the pool with it and it’ll meet the test thanks to its silicone body and IPX7 rating. Other features that this speaker offers up include microphone integration for talking to Siri or Google assistant, as well as a full 6-hour battery life. These speakers come in three colors and will go up for sale come the 21st of September.

 

[MIKA27]

‘The Current War’ Trailer

The last few seconds of The Current War trailer are what make it exciting for us. At first we thought it was going to be another story about how great an inventor Edison was, when, in reality, he was just really good at filing patents. But the last beat of the trailer is the introduction of Nikola Tesla, an actual genius, and whose inclusion means at least part of this movie is going to have to wrestle with the fact that Edison was a dick to Tesla his entire life. If they do it well, this might actually be an entertaining movie about the world’s massive shift to electrical power. If they decided to take a more revisionist stance, at least the internet backlash is going to be entertaining.

[MIKA27]

MOLOKAI RANCH

Spanning over 55,000 acres of its native island, the Molokai Ranch comes with much more than pastures and livestock. The property is picturesque Hawaii with water-front cliffs, rainforests, and beaches. Along with the cattle operations, the purchase also includes two resorts, two golf courses, and acres of residential lots, commercial lots, and oceanfront resort land for future developments. The coastline stretches more than 20 miles to the island's south shore which contains 14,000 acres of reef habitat.

 

 

[MIKA27]

JAGUAR FUTURE-TYPE CONCEPT

If electric cars are the near future, autonomous cars are just over the horizon. A fleet of on-demand electric autonomous cars, arriving at your door when summoned, are the next logical step — and Jaguar is preparing for it with the Future-Type concept. Jaguar's vision sees the current decline in car ownership, coupled with the rise of ride-sharing services, and presents an opportunity to experience Jaguar even for those that don't own one. A centerpiece of the concept is the Sayer — an intelligent steering wheel that acts as an Alexa coupled to the Jaguar service. The Sayer will be the proof of membership, allowing customers to use Jaguar's innovative service.

[MIKA27]

DON PAPA 10 YEAR OLD RUM

Named after the Papa Isio, a freedom fighter for the Philippines independence from Spanish rule, Don Papa 10-Year-Old rum is distilled using the best quality noble sugarcane from the island of Negros. The distillate is then aged for ten years in a combination of first fill ex-bourbon casks and sanded, toasted, and roasted casks to help bring out vanilla and fruit notes. Bottled at 43% ABV, this limited batch included only 5,000 bottles.

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BUBBLEDOGS

Located in the Bloomsbury area of London, Bubbledogs is proving that opposites attract. The 35-seat restaurant is coupling exclusive grower Champagnes with American-style dogs. But these aren't your average franks. They're dressing up the ballpark staple with toppings worthy of its high-end pairing. Starting with a pork, beef, or veggie sausages that are crafted by their on-site butcher, each dish is served on a fresh-baked bun and smothered with made-from-scratch condiments like truffle mayo, whipped feta, and fresh tomato salsa. Items of the non-hot dog variety include sloppy tots, Thai sticky and maple chipotle wings, and Frickles with ranch sauce.

 

[MIKA27]

China Wants To Ban Sales And Production Of Fossil Fuel-Powered Cars

China has announced plans to end sales of all fossil fuel-powered cars. Bloomberg reports that Xin Guobin, vice-minister of the Industry and Information Technology Ministry, is finalising a timetable for ending production and sales of petrol-powered cars while stepping up incentives for hybrid and electric cars, though no exact deadline has been announced. China has long pushed for electric cars (called "New Energy Vehicles" in the country), introducing tax breaks for new buyers and planning 100,000 new charging stations in 2017 alone.

China is the largest car exporter in the world. There are 160 million cars on the road in China and the 28 million new cars it sold in 2016 accounted for almost a third of all car sales worldwide. There's no indication when exactly the ban will drop, but similar bans of fossil fuel cars in France and the UK set a 2040 deadline. Xinhua, the news agency reporting Guobin's announcement, sourced experts who also estimated 2040, wary of economic shockwaves reverberating from a too hasty transition. In April, the government said it hoped that by 2035 one-fifth of all vehicles sold would be electric, spurring huge growth among domestic carmakers. Undoubtedly, China's new focus will set the tenor of the entire global conversation around electric vehicles for years to come.

Still, it's important to remember that electric cars aren't entirely carbon free. First, consider the charging stations. They may be electric, but if they're powered from a coal- or fossil fuel-based grid, their environmental impact is still comparable to traditional cars. Additionally, manufacturing is in no way a carbon-free process, and neither is transporting vehicles across the country or internationally for purchase.

The announcement of this timeline to end Chinese petrol-powered vehicle production builds on similar anti-pollution commitments as China accelerates its transition away from fossil fuels. Previously, the country has announced plans to cut as many as 500,000 steel jobs and, as part of its Paris Agreement commitments, cap its CO2 emissions in 2030, peaking that year, then falling continuously thereafter. China already sets global records in wind and solar energy investments.

Key to its automobile transition will likely be its lottery system. In certain cities in China, drivers must acquires licence plates via a notoriously difficult lottery system, with as few as one out of 735 requests granted in Beijing. Further, the plates are issued for local use only, meaning those driving long distances will likely still be hit with fines. Electric vehicles, however, receive waivers, exempting them from much of the process.

That being said, the electric and hybrid car energy is clearly the future of automobiles, and China is positioning itself far ahead of the US. China sold roughly 350,000 electric cars in 2015, more than double what the US sold that year. Worse, more than half of all domestic sales in the US were in California, where drivers are offered rebates and tax breaks for new purchases.

There's no indication the US will take steps to catch up to China in EV sales, though the renewable industry is still booming despite a lack of federal support. What remains to be seen is how far behind the US will be in the decades to come as the global community outpaces its acceptance of the clean energy future.

[MIKA27]

Australian Scientists Just Made A Quantum Internet Breakthrough

We are one step closer to a quantum internet, thanks to a team of Aussie researchers who have worked out how to dramatically improve the storage time of a vital component: telecom-compatible quantum memory.

Here's what that means.
The technology operates in the same 1550 nanometre bandwidth as today's telecommunications infrastructure, making it compatible with the fibre optic cables found in existing networks. The memory has a coherence time of more than a second, enough to send information throughout a global network.

Honestly, this is amazing stuff.

The Australian National University team, led by Associate Professor Matthew Sellars, have shown that an erbium-doped crystal is uniquely suited to enable a global telecommunications network that harnesses the weird properties of quantum mechanics.

"The effort to build a quantum computer is often described as the 'space race of the 21st century', but today's computers didn't realise their full potential until we had the internet," said Sellars, Program Manager in the Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology at ANU.

"We have shown that an erbium-doped crystal is the perfect material to form the building blocks of a quantum internet that will unlock the full potential of future quantum computers."

Sellars said they had this idea 10 years ago, but were told by peers such a simple idea couldn't work.

"Seeing this result, it feels great to know that our approach was the right one," Sellars says.

Dr Rose Ahlefeldt, DECRA Fellow at ANU and CQC2T explains why a telecom-compatible quantum memory is a vital component for a practical quantum internet.

"Memories allow us to buffer and synchronise quantum information, operations necessary for long range quantum communication," Ahlefeldt says.

"At the moment researchers are using memories that don't work at the right wavelength, and have to employ a complicated conversion process to and from the communications wavelength. This can be inefficient, and means they have to do three very difficult things instead of just one."

Erbium, a rare earth ion, has unique quantum properties such that it operates in the same band as existing fibre optic networks, eliminating the need for a conversion process.

First author in the study and PhD candidate Miloš Rančić says the the research has shown that erbium ions in a crystal can store quantum information for more than a second, which is 10,000 times longer than other attempts, and is long enough to one day send quantum information throughout a global network.

Sellars said the new technology can also be operated as a quantum light source or used as an optical link for solid-state quantum computing devices, connecting them to the quantum internet.

"Not only is our material compatible with existing fibre optics, but it’s versatility means it will be able to connect with many types of quantum computers including CQC2T's silicon qubits, and superconducting qubits such as those being developed by Google and IBM," said Sellars.

"This result is so exciting to me because it allows us to take a lot of the in-principle work we've demonstrated and turn it into practical devices for a full-scale quantum internet."

 

[MIKA27]

GET A FIRST LOOK INSIDE A NEWLY OPENED EGYPTIAN TOMB

The crumbling statue of a goldsmith and his wife greeted visitors who recently peered inside a 3,500-year-old tomb near Luxor, Egypt, for the first time.

Discovered at the Dra Abul Naga necropolis on the west bank of the Nile, the newly opened tomb holds statuettes, mummies, pottery, and other artifacts, according to Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities. The ministry announced the tomb’s discovery at a special ceremony on Saturday.

One of the statues depicts a goldsmith named Amenemhat sitting beside his wife. A figure of one of their sons stands beneath them. The archaeologists say the family lived during Egypt's 18th Dynasty

Beyond, two burial chambers hold a number of mummies, sarcophagi, and funerary masks carved in wood, along with more statuettes of the couple. The second chamber holds sarcophagi from the 21st and 22nd Dynasties.

The newly opened tomb is not in good condition, Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany told reporters. But its contents may yield clues to other discoveries. For instance, the tomb contains 50 funerary cones—a type of stamped pottery—40 of which offer evidence of other tombs belonging to four officials from the period, the ministry announced in a press statement.

The expedition into the tomb also revealed other burial shafts nearby. In one, teams found the mummy of a woman who had died at age 50, along with the remains of her two children.

Initial examinations of the woman's remains showed that she probably suffered from several diseases, including a bacterial disease in her bones, according to the ministry's statement.

In April, a team of Egyptian archaeologists discovered a separate tomb in the same necropolis containing several mummies, 10 wooden sarcophagi, and more than a thousand funerary statues. At the time, El-Enany hailed the find's significance because of the high number of items found intact.

Both of these recent discoveries are near the Valley of the Kings, the final resting place of some of Egypt's most famed rulers, including the young King Tutankhamun. The city of Luxor sits to the east of the Nile, and Egyptians from the ruling and upper classes were buried to the west as a sign of reverence.

 

[MIKA27]

HIGHLAND PARK MAGNUS SINGLE MALT SCOTCH

220+ years – that’s how long Highland Park has been around. Which is an even more impressive stretch of time when you consider that the United States is only a little over 2-decades older than that. Now, to celebrate both that stretch of time and their founder, Magnus Eunson, the brand has released an new viking-inspired single malt scotch – aptly named MAGNUS.

Matured in American oak sherry-seasoned and bourbon casks, this smoky and slightly sweet single malt scotch whisky is a fitting homage to the father of the long-standing spirit brand. Add to it the fact that this liquor has flavor notes of lemon, vanilla, and caramelized pineapple (to name a few), it’s easy to see the passion and expertise that allowed Highland Park to thrive since 1798. And it doesn’t hurt that MAGNUS clocks in at a hearty ABV of 40%. Even better, you can get your hands on this special release for as low as $36 a bottle.

[MIKA27]

There's An iPhone 8 That Costs $87,000 And I'll Just Be Over Here Weeping For Humanity

The iPhone 8 hasn't even been properly announced yet, but there's already a version available to order featuring 250 grams of 22K gold, that costs the equivalent of $87,129 Australian dollars.

The Lux iPhone X Ingot is described by creators Brikk as "a very rare specimen".

Oh, come on.

If dropping a cool $87,000 on a phone seems a tad ridiculous to you - congratulations, you're perfectly normal! For those of us who might baulk at the higher price tags in the range, don't worry, you can still get one of the lower-end luxe models for an entirely reasonable $9,300.

Or you can pickup a diamond encrusted one for $62,000 because this is fine, everything is fine.

I'm done.

[Fuzz]

3 hours ago, MIKA27 said:

There's An iPhone 8 That Costs $87,000 And I'll Just Be Over Here Weeping For Humanity

 

All that gold and diamonds will probably screw up cell reception!

[MIKA27]

It's Looking Very Good For Syfy's Adaptation Of George R.R. Martin's Sci-Fi Horror Tale Nightflyers

We've known since May that Syfy was circling an adaptation of George R.R. Martin's 1980 sci-fi horror novella Nightflyers — and now comes word that the project is moving forward at a rapid pace. Multiple sources are reporting that a straight-to-series order is very close to being announced.

Both Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter shared the news that Nightflyers — an expanded version of which was also part of a Martin short-story collection released in 1985, as well as the basis of a 1987 feature film — will likely get to series with the help of Netflix, which could make a deal to stream the show internationally, as well as stream it once it's aired on Syfy in the US. Nightflyers already has a showrunner (Dan Cerone of The Blacklist and The Mentalist), as well as a director (Mike Cahill of I Origin and Another Earth; he also directed the pilot for another Syfy show, The Magicians) for its currently-in-production (but not-yet-cast) pilot episode.

The pilot script is by Jeff Buhler, who co-wrote the upcoming Jacob's Ladder remake (as well as the Clive Barker adaptation Midnight Meat Train); THR describes the plot thusly:

Quote

It is set in the future on the eve of Earth's destruction and follows a crew of explorers who journey on the most advanced ship in the galaxy, The Nightflyer, to intercept a mysterious alien spacecraft that might hold the key to their survival. As the crew nears their destination, they discover that the ship's artificial intelligence and never-seen captain may be steering them into deadly and unspeakable horrors deep in the dark reaches of space.

"Unspeakable horrors in deep space" is one of our all-time favourite genres, so this is very good news indeed, and we're hopeful that the series gets an official greenlight soon. And lest you worry this is yet another project that will distract George R.R. Martin from what should be his sole focus in life at the moment (finishing The Winds of Winter, duh), fear not — his exclusive HBO deal for Game of Thrones means his involvement in Nightflyers would be solely inspirational.

[MIKA27]

Tiny Matt Damon Lives Large In The First Trailer For Downsizing

Imagine a world where $52,000 turns into millions, Cheesecake Factories are around every corner, and one bottle of vodka will last a community for weeks. The only problem is you're basically a living Barbie doll.

The first trailer is out for Downsizing, Alexander Payne's long-awaited sci-fi flick where Matt Damon turn tiny in order to save the world (and his own bank account). Thanks to overpopulation resources are dwindling, so some people are shrinking themselves down in order to conserve them. The process is irreversible, but there's the added benefit that the shrunken get to live like suburban kings and queens.

The trailer presents "downsizing" as a Lilliputian Utopia, but there also come major risks, such as inclement weather, hungry animals and the occasional oversized shoe. Also, while the movie has generally implied that Damon's wife, played by Kristen Wiig, joins him in Tiny Paradise, based on this trailer (including some giant divorce papers) I don't think she goes through with it.

Downsizing comes out December 26.

[MIKA27]

It's Official: J.J. Abrams Will Write And Direct Star Wars: Episode IX

The replacement for Colin Trevorrow has been found — and it's a familiar face to Star Wars fans. Lucasfilm and Disney have confirmed that Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams will return to the franchise to both write and direct the final chapter of the Star Wars sequel trilogy.

The replacement for Colin Trevorrow has been found — and it's a familiar face to Star Wars fans. Lucasfilm and Disney have confirmed that Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams will return to the franchise to both write and direct the final chapter of the Star Wars sequel trilogy.

Quote

With The Force Awakens, J.J. delivered everything we could have possibly hoped for, and I am so excited that he is coming back to close out this trilogy.

Abrams will direct and co-write the latest draft of the script with Argo's Chris Terrio — which suggests that a good chunk is being re-done, given that it was only recently revealed that The Fades creator Jack Thorne was giving the script a re-write.

Star Wars: Episode IX is still expected to hit theatres in the US 24 May 2019.

[MIKA27]

ARCHAEOLOGISTS SEARCH ANCIENT PYRAMID FOR CLUES TO MAYA UNDERWORLD

CHICHÉN ITZÁ, MEXICO - At the spring and fall equinoxes, the setting sun casts serpent-like shadows along the northern stairs of El Castillo, or “the castle.” Built more than a thousand years ago by the ancient Maya, the pyramid towers 100 feet over the ruins of Chichén Itzá, a World Heritage site and popular tourist destination on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.

Adventurers and archaeologists have explored the ruins for more than a century, but mysteries endure. Is there a watery labyrinth beneath the great pyramid, as local legends hint? Are there hidden chambers in the heart of the monument, as some archaeologists suspect?

Seeking clues, a multidisciplinary team of scientists and engineers is launching the first comprehensive investigation of Chichén Itzá in 50 years.

“Something on this scale has never been attempted, but we’re confident that it will help us understand this site in a way that wasn’t possible before,” says Guillermo de Anda, an underwater archaeologist with Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History and director of the Great Maya Aquifer Project. “With this data, I believe we will conclusively find out if the local legends of an elaborate underworld are true.”

The site’s Maya inhabitants considered caves, tunnels, and natural sinkholes called cenotes to be thresholds to the realm of the gods, says de Anda, a National Geographic Emerging Explorer. “They believed that everything from fertility to rain and lightning originated in this subterranean world. The clues they left behind make it clear that they went to great lengths to appease and appeal to the dwellers of this spirit world.”

Those lengths often included human sacrifice. De Anda examined hundreds of human bones found in the Sacred Cenote (sometimes called the Well of Sacrifice) at Chichén Itzá and found evidence of unhealed wounds and fractures that would have occurred at or near the time of death.

Early archaeologists and treasure hunters at Chichén Itzá and elsewhere often damaged ancient sites to collect and remove artefacts. The new low-impact technology, most of it built or adapted by engineers at National Geographic, allows researchers to locate and study artefacts without disturbing or removing them from their environment.

During the ambitious, multi-year project, the team will use specially modified, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to locate hidden passageways and peek behind interior walls of El Castillo. The team will also employ GPR and other remote imaging technology to identify and map tunnels and caves around the pyramid and elsewhere.

An estimated 3,000 cenotes remain hidden beneath the forest canopy in southern Mexico, many harbouring clues about ancient Maya civilization. The team will use drone-mounted LIDAR (light detection and ranging) and thermal sensors to penetrate the dense foliage and locate the natural sinkholes.

The researchers will also use kayak-mounted sonar to explore known cenotes and locate underwater entrances to caves and tunnels that would have been accessible when the water table was much lower. By mapping the movement of water through subterranean passages beneath the site, they hope to identify connections between underground systems that are referenced in Maya oral history but never confirmed.

Laser-scanning and photogrammetry will allow the team to create extremely accurate and detailed three-dimensional renditions of the interior chambers of pyramids and caves.

“In the end, we’ll be able to combine data from these imaging tools and produce a millimetre-scale, 3D ‘super map’ of the entire site, above and below the ground,” says engineer Corey Jaskolski, a National Geographic Fellow who is leading the digital preservation project.

De Anda says the findings will allow researchers to develop a richer understanding of the cultural and climatic conditions that prevailed and gave formation to Chichén Itzá, considered one of the most important archaeological sites in the Americas.

In its first week of sonar-scanning, the team discovered two submerged caves and several dry caves—one of which contains a female figurine carved in stone. And the initial GPR scans of the pyramid’s temple chamber have revealed what Jaskolski says are “a number of anomalies” behind the walls and below the floor supporting the famed Red Jaguar Throne.

“We need to wait for the data to be processed to have a better interpretation of what it all means,” says Jaskolski. “But I believe that this approach will tell us much more about the structure of the pyramid and what may be hidden behind its inner walls.”

The project is supported by a grant from the National Geographic Society and overseen by Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History.

[MIKA27]

2019 HONDA URBAN EV

At this year’s Frankfurt Motor Show in Germany, Honda revealed a little electric concept vehicle with a familiar silhouette that’s slated to launch in Europe sometime in 2019. Dubbed the Honda Urban EV Concept, it’s a not unlikely candidate for small families here in the not-too-distant future.

On the outside of the vehicle, the car’s low and wide proportions give it a bit of a vintage stance that hints somewhat at the potential here for a more sporty performance. Also, at the front of the car, drivers will be able to display multilingual messages between the headlights that could include greetings, messages to other drivers, or the car’s charging status. Inside, the Urban EV can accommodate up to four individuals, features a large floating dashboard that hosts the steering wheel column, control buttons, and a panoramic display screen while door screens take the place of traditional wing mirrors. Additionally, the EV is slated to include an automated network control concierge that detects the driver’s emotions behind their judgments and works to make future recommendations based on what it has learned. No word on pricing just yet.

[MIKA27]

APPLE WATCH SERIES 3

Today, at the official opening of the Steve Jobs Theater at the brand’s new campus, Apple unveiled some very cool new tech. One of the more notable announcements, however, was that their wrist-mounted accessory, the Apple Watch, was getting some much-needed enhancements with their upcoming Series 3.

For about as long as the technology has existed, fans and critics alike have wanted a phone-free version of the Apple Watch. The Series 3 delivers that with the new onboard cellular option. That means you no longer have to stay tethered to your iPhone in order to use the smartwatch. This new version also offers on-the-go GPS (for mapping directions and finding your location), as well as the ability to make calls, send texts, and stream music all on its own. It’s even got Siri onboard, can receive app notifications no matter where your phone is, and still offers exercise tracking (with an upgraded heart monitor) and water-resistance. Prices start at $399.