Recommended Links of the Week (#740)

Gluons, hallucinations, multiverses, the Bengal boy, and a climate-control paint. But there's more! Of course there's more! The Recommended Links of the Week are full of nice things, and this one is no exception. Enjoy!

E-COATING, the 'climatizing' paint made from recycled glass that can reflect 95% of solar rays: "E-COATING emerges as a sustainable and affordable response to the challenges of global warming. It is an innovative layer for roofs and exterior walls that, in addition to being sustainable, provides a cooling effect without the need for electricity. Its main raw material is discarded glass, transforming what we normally consider waste into an ally against heat."

A brief history of hallucinations: "The concept of false perceptions has not gone hand in hand with the development of the word "hallucination". Even about its etymology there is no unanimous agreement, having attributed to it three origins: Latin alucinatio (error, deception), Greek alo (uncertainty) and Latin ad lucem (near the light). The word was only introduced into the Spanish language in 1499, into English in 1572, and into French around 1660."

The size of the meteorite that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs is... quite unexpected: "The meteorite generated such an enormous explosion that scientists compare it to 10 billion atomic bombs like the one in Hiroshima, caused forest fires more than 1,448 kilometers away, and unleashed a tsunami that turns any we have seen so far into small pool waves, with waves that exceeded one kilometer in height."

Gluons, the invisible messengers of the subatomic realm: "The history of gluons dates back to the 1970s, when theoretical physicists faced an apparently insurmountable enigma: how are quarks held together? Quarks are the fundamental particles that make up matter, but instead of being free in nature, they always combine to form hadrons like protons and neutrons."

‘2001: A Space Odyssey’: an indelible mark 55 years after its release: "2001: A Space Odyssey has created a school. It is a work of extraordinary imagination that has transcended the history of cinema to become a kind of cultural phenomenon. And since 1968, it has penetrated the psyche not only of other filmmakers, but of society in general. It is no exaggeration to say that 2001 reinvented the science fiction genre on its own."

Emotional hypochondria, the disease of wanting to be happy at all costs: "Discover your happiness score and improve it in two months." This is the fantastic promise of Happify, an app "based on science that improves emotional health". After registering, users can know their emotional state in real time and improve it with motivation and stress management and positive thoughts.

The day they moved an 11,000-ton building with its workers inside: "The building was the headquarters of Indiana Bell, a subsidiary of AT&T. The building had been erected in 1907 and had eight floors. In 1929, the Indiana Bell Telephone Company bought the building with the intention of demolishing it and creating a larger one, but they ran into a problem: they could not tear it down because it provided an essential service. So they decided to literally move it to make room and thus be able to erect a new building."

Four ways to understand the concept of the multiverse, according to science: "Due to the excessive affection of our parents, many of us live under the false impression that we are, for some reason, special: a totally unique mixture of atoms and personal stories that combine to make that precious someone we call "I". The thing is that the world of contemporary physics tells us the opposite. It tells us that somewhere in the vast cosmos there are other worlds in which identical versions of you."

Peter Jackson, from 'bad taste' to cinematic greatness: "The film follows a group of researchers who fight against an alien invasion, who come to Earth looking for human flesh for an important fast food chain on their planet. Jackson not only directed the film, but also starred in it, wrote the script, handled the camera, and created the special effects, such as the alien masks, which he baked in his mother's oven. His dedication and passion for cinema are evident in every frame."

The children of the night shift: "The belt caught the sleeve of Marcos's baggy jacket and dragged him across the floor. Hard plastic teeth tore his muscles and ripped his forearm to the bone. By the time someone heard his screams and cut the power, his arm was inert, with a deep triangular cut along it. A cord of white tendons hung from his elbow to his wrist, horrifying the workers gathered around him."

The strange case of the 'Bengal boy' who had two heads: "In 1783, in a remote village of Bengal (India), a boy was born with two heads, the second of which grew upside down on the first. He suffered from craniopagus parasiticus, an extremely rare malformation that, statistically, has been documented in 2 to 3 cases per 5 million births. The most extraordinary thing about the case is that it is the only known individual to have survived with this malformation."

Microsoft will use nuclear energy to power its AI: "The company led by Satya Nadella published a job opening looking for an expert in nuclear technology capable of leading the global strategy for small modular reactor (SMR) energy. These energy sources will power the data centers where Microsoft Cloud services and the entire AI program they are driving through Windows 11 reside."

Videos

Videos: Star Wars in 1928, a bear that ate a family's tacos and enchiladas, cardboard shadows, Harvest Moon (Neil Young) on harp guitar, a 90-year-old fish getting pets, record collection of toothpastes, naughty bunny, sea lion and puppy, the 60-second challenge, Adam testing his Iron Man suit, the panther leopard, neurons inside a chick embryo, the Chernobyl computer, a puppy winning “America’s Got Talent”, learn an easy coin trick, lavender distillation, the location of science fiction worlds, the longest beak, how Tuktuk Rickshaw are made, and ‘Anyway U Want It’ (Bambina).

Galleries

Galleries: How to die by electrocution, cursed food, futuristic ads, the posters of Hugo d’Alési from the 19th century, Mister International 2023, the monsoons of India, the best analog photos around the world 2023, the best pet photos 2023, rent Shrek’s swamp, before and after of the "good boy", classic songs transformed into retro magazine covers, the UNESCO world heritage, the brutalism of Okinawa Island, the most valuable piece of shit, how to use a rotary phone, the Animated Dump of the Week, and the Visual Dump.

Well, that's it. Thanks for your time!