Gravitational Waves Detected at LIGO →
Likely, the single most important discovery in this generation. Simply Astonishing.
"Now for the first time, scientists in the LIGO Scientific Collaboration — with a prominent role played by researchers at MIT and Caltech — have directly observed the ripples of gravitational waves in an instrument on Earth. In so doing, they have again dramatically confirmed Einstein’s theory of general relativity and opened up a new way in which to view the universe. But there’s more: The scientists have also decoded the gravitational wave signal and determined its source. According to their calculations, the gravitational wave is the product of a collision between two massive black holes, 1.3 billion light years away — a remarkably extreme event that has not been observed until now." - by Jennifer Chu writing for the MIT News Office, published via the web at MIT News
Dr. Valiant's Most Excellent Biological Compute Infrastructure →
via Quanta Magazine, come this not surprising theory, constructed by Leslie Valiant, Ph.D., stating that the biological world, of which we are a component, is computational at it's core. Today's Must Read, as I am fond of saying "All Is Information'.
Evidence of Recent Evolutionary Changes In Humans Discussed →
Evidence of recent evolutionary modifications in Homo Sapiens Sapiens, first published in 2014, is gaining traction in a fascinating reposted article, at Nautilus. Sacrebleu! Most certainly today's Must Read.
Kottke, Laws of Scaling, Speed of Animals
Absolutely fascinating post over at Jason Kottke's Kottke.org site, illustrating the laws of scaling (in this case body size) and the speed of animals; clearly there are correllations to computational activity.
Requiescat in Pace: John and Alicia Nash
Requiescat in Pace: John Forbes Nash, Jr., (1928 - 2015) and Alicia (nee Lopez-Harrison de Lardé) Nash (1933 - 2015).
Kalle Ljung's Astounding Antarctica
Occasionally, a motion picture makes itself known hereabouts, with absolutely extraordinary visage of a land previously unsullied. This is such a picture. Enjoy!
Wasps, Facial Recognition
News [via the American Association for the Advancement of Science's (AAAS) Science magazine], of the employment of facial recognition by wasps; utilized by the creatures in the sometimes enormous effort to defend their nests. Proof positive there is nothing new under the sun...
Balls of Gas (Heated)
'For the Patriots to blame a change in temperature for 15% lower-pressures, requires balls to be inflated with 125-degree air.' — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) January 26, 2015