Recommended Links of the Week (No. 645)

Something from nothing, saving Moore's Law, monkey testicle transplants, Lucy and Ardi, and the most terrifying weapon of World War II. All that and much more in this week's Recommended Links. A column for connoisseurs only. Enjoy!

This is the machine that saved Moore's Law: "In Wilton, the glass and metal module that Whelan and his team are building is especially critical. It will carry the patterns needed to make a microchip, and it will move back and forth while the machine emits extreme ultraviolet light (EUV), illuminating different parts of the chip pattern. The light will then bounce to a plate-sized silicon wafer, stamping the pattern in the designated spot."

A quantum experiment manages to create something from nothing: "The theory, published in Communications Physics, predicts that nitrogen-based imperfections in a rapidly accelerating diamond membrane can enable the detection of photons in the quantum vacuum. In the proposed experiment, a synthetic diamond the size of a postage stamp, containing the nitrogen-based light detectors, is suspended in a super-cooled metal box that creates a vacuum inside."

Monkey Jones, the scientist who transplanted monkey testicles into humans to stay young forever: "Throughout history, many people have tried to reverse or at least prevent human aging. Among them is Monkey Jones, an extravagant scientist who thought that the elixir of youth might consist of grafting monkey testicles. Yes, yes, into people. Logically, the procedure, besides being unethical and with little safety guarantee, was not effective for what he sought. However..."

The 2,000-year-old cooling system that requires no electricity: "The city of Yazd, in the Iranian desert, houses underground cooling structures called yakhchal, an irrigation system also under the ground (qanat), and a rapid messaging network that predates the United States postal service by 2,000 years. Along with this advanced technology are the so-called badgi, a term that would translate as 'wind catchers' or 'wind trap'."

Lucy and Ardi, the fossils that changed the history of humanity: "This is the story of two skeletons. It is the feat of a pair of ancient members of the human family born in Ethiopia, nicknamed Lucy and Ardi. The first is an icon of the beginnings of humanity, while the second is less known, but no less important and perhaps even more revealing. Their stories reveal a lot about early human evolution and how the science that studies our past has advanced in the last half century."

The oldest (and the newest) board game in the world: "The recent discovery in Azerbaijan of a 4,000-year-old board of the game known as 58 holes or Dogs and jackals —which until now was believed to be known only in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and other regions of the Near East— confirms that board games are timeless. And that already in the Bronze Age there was cultural exchange between civilizations and very distant populations."

The monochrome era, CGA, Hercules, and a mini interview with the creator of SimCGA: "Old-timers like me know what I'm talking about as soon as they read the title of this post; our computing origins were not as colorful or full of pixels as today, they were somewhat... primitive. I started with an 8-bit computer connected to a common TV (tube, of course) but my move to the PC included a fabulous amber monochrome monitor, one color, just one. How did we play then? Well..."

Katiusha: 5 things you didn't know about the most terrifying weapon of World War II: "The Katiusha rocket launcher was presented to senior Soviet officials just before the war. Initially, the device (a few projectiles mounted on a simple truck) did not impress them much. But when it fired a projectile, they were all stunned. The first to recover was apparently Defense Minister Semyon Timoshenko, who angrily reprimanded his deputy: \"Why didn't you tell me we had a weapon like that?\""

The man who saw through his bones: "Although he found no explanation for this fleeting 'X-ray vision,' the magazine assures, Robertson had the opportunity to speak years later with other veterans who reported similar experiences. As some readers on Reddit and Digg point out, what happened to him was not that Robertson suddenly acquired X-ray vision, but that his eyes contemplated for a few thousandths of a second how radiation passed through whatever was in front of him."

The athlete who survived nine days in the desert: "Shortly after noon, Prosperi stopped at the third checkpoint, signed his allocation of two water bottles, and Manzo treated a blister on his foot. They continued on their way but a sandstorm broke out. Zero visibility for six hours. It subsided when night fell. Manzo had taken shelter at the fourth checkpoint, but there was no news of Mauro."

The Larzac tablet, the longest inscription in the language spoken by the Gauls, is a curse between rival priestesses: "The plaque is broken into two fragments, with a thickness ranging from 0.9 to 1.3 millimeters, and a total weight of 276 grams. It contains more than 1,000 signs and about 160 words and was made by two different scribes, the latter erasing part of the text of its predecessor. The inscription is divided into four parts, and the reading order is uncertain because it is not known if the lead was broken before or after being engraved."

American bison massacre, when man's action against nature becomes 'terrorism': "The near extinction of the American plains buffalo has a clear date: the Civil War between 1861 and 1865. It was one of the first 'modern wars' where the logistics of armies, the battle for economic power, and political propaganda over the societies of each side were taken into account. Thus it was learned that an effective way to harm your enemy was to undermine its economy. A 'terrorism' as a war policy against the natural resources of our 'opponent'."

Videos

Few but good: Welcome to Microsoft, neural interface for Skyrim VR, partial lunar eclipse in one minute, what happened with the ozone hole, sacrifices his car to save an unconscious driver, COVID-19 vaccine demonstration, the trailer of "Spider-Man: No Way Home" with cartoons, pillow fighting championship, kleptopredation, ThunderCats live in 1987, ThunderCats live in 2012, rats 'playing' Doom, how to make a miniature radio-controlled car, little foxes eating eggs, collection of Soviet computer graphics, and the animated short Migrants.

Galleries

The partial lunar eclipse, the best photos of 2021 according to Times, statues mistreating humans, art of triplets, animals of war in color, Soviet mosaics, Monster Mash and its monstrosities, screaming (and creepy) dolls, the beautiful portraits of Rosmery Mamani Ventura, sheep mowing the grass of London park in 1926, the Animated Dump and the Visual Dump of the Week to close.

Thanks for your visit! Without you, I would have already lost my job. Big bear hug!