Recommended Links of the Week (No. 729)

The hadal zone, organic compounds on Mars, American Psycho and gems created by a nuclear explosion. All that and much more in this week’s Recommended Links of the Week, your reading break for the weekend. Enjoy!

Mathematicians find a 42-digit number after more than 30 years of searching: "They appear again today due to the recent discovery of the ninth Dedekind number, an integer consisting of 42 digits that has been sought for more than 30 years. Let's approach this problem and its importance by proposing a challenge to the reader; think of a square balanced on one of its vertices: The challenge is to color some vertices red so that there is never a white vertex at a higher level than a red one."

What is the hadal zone, a hell of total darkness and extreme pressure: "Its name is a nod to Hades, the underworld of Greek mythology and the god who rules it, which already gives us a first clue as to what the "hadal zone" is. If we were to divide the open (pelagic) ocean into layers, like an onion, we would find five large strips, each deeper than the last, in which light gradually disappears."

NASA finds a wide variety of organic compounds in an ancient lake on Mars: "Now, the mission's scientific team announces that they have found a wide variety of more complex organic compounds that could demonstrate that there was life on the red planet. The data comes from a laser light spectrometer carried by Perseverance, known as Sherloc, which detects the light emitted by different molecules present in the terrain."

"Battlestar Galactica" (2004-2009): A realistic approach to science fiction: "When we talk about realism, some clarifications must be made. In the literary community, for example, Ursula K. Le Guin stated that science fiction is a fundamentally realistic genre before the writer applies a particular stylistic approach. In other words, a science fiction work is expected to be internally coherent in terms of the world and universe it presents, and not resort to a pre-existing metaphysics."

The death of American Psycho: "Bret Easton Ellis's novel American Psycho, in a way, expresses the death of the yuppie. It was published in 1991, right after the 80s ended, and has a message or moral: the consumerist life is an empty, unsatisfying life. The book serves as a cultural symptom of the death of a frivolous, superficial, and ultra-capitalist decade. 1991 is also the year Nevermind, Nirvana's album, came out, which also marks the death of hair bands and glam metal, so tied to the previous decade of unbridled consumption and sex."

California Games, the alternative sports video game that let you think you were cool too: "If you grew up in the 80s, there is at least an 80% chance, maybe more, that you have played California Games at some point. Yeah, man, that 1987 video game made up of mini-games that included niche sports like skateboarding, BMX, surfing, or frisbee, among other oddities. Its release was absolutely huge, selling more than 300,000 copies in its first nine months."

Trinitite, the strange gem created by the first nuclear explosion in history: "Despite what its name suggests, trinitite is not a mineral. Nor is it natural. It is a material that formed during a decisive historical event: the first nuclear explosion in history, on July 16, 1945, in Alamogordo (New Mexico, USA). This unique material still tells us what happened at that sadly historical moment."

What are Blaschko lines, the invisible stripes we all have on our skin: "Although we don't see them, they are there since birth: stripes all over our bodies, from head to toe. They go up and down our limbs, make spirals on our heads, roam our faces, make stylized Vs on our backs and doodles on our hips. Although they are invisible, the German dermatologist Alfred Blaschko began to suspect their existence when, at the end of the 19th century, he reviewed the findings of his research on rashes, birthmarks, and moles."

The Red Line that telegraphically connected the entire British Empire: "In 1872, messages could already be sent directly from London to Sydney. Logically, there was redundancy in the cables to prevent parts of the empire from being isolated due to sabotage, and they even had the goal that any submarine cable had to emerge in British Empire territory for security. Once on land, of course, the cable network kept advancing."

Arthur Wynne, the inventor of crosswords: "The creator of the crossword puzzle as we know it today was the British Arthur Wynne, a great fan of music and puzzles. Wynne emigrated to the United States on June 6, 1891, when he was 19 years old. At first, the young man intended to continue the family tradition and went to work on a farm in Texas, harvesting onions. But in the end he decided to turn his life around and set his sights on journalism."

5 fantasy sagas to start reading: "Fantasy is one of the greatest genres in literature, as it allows the creation of all kinds of stories and adventures. Spells, magical creatures, implausible worlds, epic battles... Fantasy literature has all this and much more. The fantastic genre allows you to delve into magical worlds that we could only imagine in our dreams. It is not hard for anyone to become captivated while reading a magical adventure. That's why, if you would like to dive into magical worlds and live all kinds of adventures."

The surreal complaint at a restaurant: "Put a sign saying that there isn't always a full moon. In the images you sent, couples appeared in an idyllic and romantic setting," the customer began. The owner replied that they think their business meets those requirements, because they have "live music, hundreds of lights, exquisite service." The customer was not satisfied: "There wasn't a full moon" like the ones that can be seen, apparently, in the restaurant's advertising. "Then open only on full moon nights and close the rest."

Videos

Star Wars Speeder Chase in LEGO, bear attacks Russian man, an exoskeleton to win arm wrestling, car breaks the sound barrier, why it’s easier to send trash to Pluto than to the Sun, alligator wants its prey, ancient innovations that set humanity back, leopard seals vocalizing, Coracle Festival (a music festival by AI), on a volcano in Iceland, octopus steals GoPro, how to measure the smallest force in the universe, professional human cannonball, a mini LEGO tank, driving a Ferrari LaFerrari, testing graphics cards from second-tier brands, exploring an abandoned mansion, survival for novices, Johnny Cash sings "Barbie Girl", how to escape from piranhas, if you had to print the entire Internet, squid hypnotizes its prey, the process of making a bamboo flute, assembling the world's longest model train track, Pinocchio (1911), and the science fiction short Immersion.

Galleries

Finalists of the funniest pet photos, environmental photo awards, cats from the past, origami portraits, using anti-bird spikes to make nests, 1500 digitized van Gogh works, record underwater photo session, the Spock cut, Lord of the Rings in the style of Studio Ghibli, the Vertedero Animado and the Tiradero Visual.

That's it. I'm out. Thanks for stopping by!