Recommended Links of the Week (No. 638)

Sneakers with a computer in 1986, the CIA's sonic terror, impotence trials and a 'gate to hell' created by humans. Interested? Then don't make me write anything else, keep reading and have a good time, because that's what the "Recommended Links of the Week" are for. Enjoy!

The Puma RS Computer from 1986, a computer in sneakers: "Puma RS Computer, a sports shoe initially for runners and which stood out especially for that concept of computer. On the outside, ordinary sneakers of the time, with white and light gray predominating. But on the back of the shoe there was a bulge that housed a tiny computer. Nothing to envy the futuristic Nike MAG sneakers that we would see years later in Back to the Future II (1989)."

How the CIA cooperated with a Nazi scientist to create a sonic terror weapon: "A lesser-known project carried out by the newly created Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was the development of an air-powered siren that could be attached to small planes for psychological warfare operations. The inspiration for the CIA's new weapon, designed to cause terror in those who heard it with a very unique and overwhelming sound, was the siren attached to the Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers of the Luftwaffe, known in the US as the Trumpets of Jericho."

They find a 'lost forest' trapped in time for more than 100,000 years: "The researchers found that the San Pedro mangrove forests reached their current location during the last interglacial period, about 125,000 years ago, and have persisted there in isolation as the oceans receded during the last glaciation. That is, they are a kind of natural 'time capsule', a photograph of the global environment during the last interglacial period."

How many coffees can we drink a day?: "Millions of regular coffee consumers face the daily dilemma of deciding how many cups we can tolerate. It is such a hot topic that mathematical algorithms are even being tested to answer it. And it is a dilemma derived and fueled by the flood of studies published on the consequences of caffeine consumption, which speak of both benefits — improved sustained attention, prevention of heart disease and some tumors — and possible adverse effects — greater stress, insomnia and risk of miscarriage."

The butterflies that drink the fluids of caterpillars: "Danaines, like monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus), are poisonous and advertise it with their colors. While larvae obtain this defense from the plants they consume, adult males usually scratch substrates with alkaloids and take their exudates, which, in addition to protecting them, serve as a precursor to their pheromones and as a nuptial gift to females. However, on the island of Celebes, males take these alkaloids from the caterpillars of the same subfamily."

Impotence trials, how French women could get a divorce: "To love and respect each other until death separated them: the Catholic Church took this formula very seriously and, during the Old Regime, rarely allowed a divorce. One of the few exceptions it made was when the couple was unable to have children, either due to infertility or impotence of the husband, since the fundamental purpose of marriage was procreation. This exception gave rise, in France, to a ploy used by some aristocratic women to obtain the Church's blessing to divorce their husbands."

NASA's plan to prevent a supervolcano from destroying humanity: "According to volcanologists, there are 20 known supervolcanoes on Earth, with a time between eruptions of 100,000 years. And if one were to erupt, it would cause a volcanic winter for years that would eliminate agriculture and livestock, causing a world food crisis in just 74 days, according to the United Nations. Yellowstone — in the heart of the American West — is one of the most likely."

The 'gate to hell' created by a human error that has been burning for half a century: "Human beings have inhabited the Earth for so many millennia that they have sometimes forgotten the unpredictable nature of the planet. The man-technology duo may work very effectively, however, when nature decides that certain maneuvers are not possible, something can simply go wrong. The 'gate to hell', as many call it, or the Darvaza crater, is not natural; it was created by a human error and has been burning for half a century."

We are living one of the most critical moments of extinction in history: "The extinction of plants and animals is accelerating, it is estimated to be a thousand times faster than natural rates before the appearance of humans. Insects on our windshields are no longer common in summer; insect populations are declining drastically. Almost 3 billion birds have been lost in North America since 1970, which has decreased the pollination of food crops."

This is the mega spaceship that China plans to build to conquer space: "The project is part of a broader call for research proposals from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, a funding agency managed by the country's Ministry of Science and Technology. The research scheme published on the foundation's website describes these enormous spaceships as 'an important strategic aerospace equipment for the future use of space resources, the exploration of the mysteries of the universe and long-term life in orbit'."

From soldier to worker: "The main job of a Roman soldier was war, but this task was not the one that took up the most time nor was it his only activity. Their efforts were required to undertake important civil engineering works for the benefit of local populations. The conquest of the Roman Empire since the time of Augustus shows us soldiers dedicated to military engineering and architecture tasks. The legions and auxiliary troops built fortifications, military settlements, watchtowers and civil constructions such as aqueducts, canals and ports, with the road network being the most outstanding. These roads crossed the entire conquered territory from one end to the other."

How a very simple idea that had been forgotten in a drawer for more than 20 years took us out of the "stone age" of molecular engineering and just won the Nobel Prize: "In the 1990s, many teams tried to advance the creation of synthetic enzymes that would solve many of our problems. In one of those teams (the Scripps Institute in California) was Benjamin List. List, specifically, was trying to use antibodies as catalysts. It was then that he realized that looking for a complete macromolecule was absurd: in most cases, it is enough to find the specific chain of amino acids that produces the reaction."

Videos

Color paintings spinning at 1500 rpm, drone harvesting voltage from the sky, the pain in redheads, "simulation" of a bad DMT trip, Air Force C-17A Globemaster Sunsuper Riverfire in 360°, terrifying things under the microscope, ocean depth (3D comparison), Bohemian Gatody, car rollover competition, the Pokémon theme on Stylophone, parasitoid wasps, inside the BIGGEST instrument in the world, "carpinchos" invading Argentina, mechanical haunted house, Star Wars medley, "A Night in Tunisia" by Arturo Sandoval, Shanghai in the 20s in color and enhanced, patient little dog, why does the James Bond theme sound like a secret agent?, tribal people from India try Cheesecake for the first time, Cows With Guns, snowmobile in flooded city, Russian hacker hacks VICE, if cryptocurrencies were honest, floating in space for 8 hours, little animals with pumpkins, Ghostbusters musical projection on house, and the shorts: Seek (horror), Motodrom, The Old Man and the Sea (beautifully animated)

Galleries

"Orbital Planes" by Roland Miller, wild photography, great products, the girl who hasn't cut her hair for 23 years, winning photos of Nature 2021, the paintings of Gigi Chen, the monsters of Anton Semenov, winning photos of astronomy 2021, things that are very large, slavery in color, the Animated Dump of the Week and the Visual Dump.

Thank you for making it to the end! Not many do. See you next time!