#45: Waffle Shoes, OpenCola, AI Murder Mystery, Pixar, Black Holes, Wow! Signal, New Ice Age, Floppy Disks, and more!
Hi everyone!
I thought I'd use this introduction to recommend a book. Over the last few weeks I've been binge reading the latest novels of Blake Crouch and I thoroughly enjoyed them. If you enjoy a good dose of sci-fi, definitely give these a go!
Dark Matter - Parallel universes exist. Every action anyone could take has played out in some of these. A scientist figures out how to travel between these universes and chaos ensues!
Recursion - Story about being able to travel back in time to one of your memories and all the nasty side-effects that come with that. Took me a while to fully understand the dynamics and complex interplay of all the time traveling!
Upgrade - What if we allow DNA modifications to humans? There are plenty of upsides (like being able to eradicate certain diseases), but also many risks and downsides. Do we want the military to create super humans? What about unintended consequences? What about our offspring? What about mutations?
If you enjoy books like The Martian, you’ll definitely enjoy these! Oh, by the way, this is not a sponsored recommendation. Just a genuine recommendation. Yep, those still exist!
Enjoy this edition of the newsletter,
Xavier
🤓 Cool Stuff I Found on the Internet
Japan finally stops using floppy disks
Once a tech leader, Japan has lagged in digital adoption with practices like fax machine use persisting. Only this year, the Japanese government finally ditched the use of floppy disks, a storage medium invented in 70s and 80s.
Pour rubber in waffle iron to make Nike shoes
Fun story: as a track coach, Bill Bowerman was looking for a way to make shoes lighter and faster. He experimented with pouring rubber into his family’s waffle iron. Bowerman became co-founder of Nike and his waffle iron mold became the company’s first shoe: the Waffle Trainer.
Shroud of Turin may actually be Jesus’ burial cloth
Italian scientists have unveiled new evidence suggesting the Shroud of Turin may indeed be Jesus Christ’s burial cloth, challenging previous studies that dated it to medieval times. Using X-ray analysis on linen threads, researchers traced the shroud’s origin to 2,000 years ago, aligning with Jesus’ era.
Open-source cola
The recipe for Coca-Cola is a closely guarded secret. But some people have created their own, open-source versions! The colas are typically produced as syrups and include ingredients like orange, lime, and cinnamon. The recipes are based on John Pemberton’s formula, which is claimed to be the original recipe (although denied by the Coca-Cola Company).
Disney’s filmmaking process
Look behind the scenes of Disney’s latest animated movie. This website walks you through the studio’s process to craft a computer animated film.
⏳ On this day...
70 - Roman army occupies and plunders Jerusalem
1630 - City of Boston was founded
1927 - Philo Farnsworth presented the first electronic television system
2021 - Bitcoin becomes legal tender in El Salvador
🧠🤖 Artificial intelligence
AI Murder Mystery Game
This is a fun application of large language models: a text-based game in which you need to solve a murder case. You can chat with different suspects who are all hiding a secret that can help you solve the case. They’ll leave you different clues which can piece together to solve the crime. The full game (and prompts behind each suspect) is open-source!
ChatGPT’s $5 Billion Burn
A recent report suggests OpenAI could lose up to $5 billion this year because of the enormous costs associated with running and developing AI products. With an estimated $7 billion in annual expenses, including $4 billion for server capacity and $3 billion for AI model training, OpenAI may need to raise additional funds within the next year. The company’s profitability is questioned as competitors like Meta offer similar technology for free.
Another OpenAI competitor
Safe Superintelligence, an AI startup co-founded by former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, has secured over $1 billion in funding from prominent investors. The funds will be used to buy computing power and hire researchers. However, it’s still unclear what they will be researching. Very mysterious.
❓ Unanswered questions
A few weeks ago, my kids were watching one of my favorite animated movies, A Bug’s Life. I bought a Blu-Ray copy on a flea market, and the image looked stunning. Especially considering this was a computer animated movie from 1998!
For whatever reason, I checked if a 4K version was available as well. And sure enough, there is!
How did Pixar create the 4K version of a 26-year-old movie? Surely, the movie wasn’t originally rendered at that resolution. Can they just load up all the assets on modern animation software and crank out a higher resolution? Is it that simple? Or perhaps they used AI to upscale the movie?
I tried reaching out to both Pixar and Disney, but I haven’t received an answer...
👽 Space
Black hole simulator for movie Interstellar
The black hole in the movie Interstellar looks very convincing. Turns out, it was computer simulated! A group of developers implemented Einstein’s equations in a 40,000 line long computer program. It needed 32,000 processor cores to render the IMAX frames for the movie.
Starliner to return to Earth uncrewed
NASA will let Boeing’s Starliner return to Earth without astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on board. The decision is driven by safety concerns about the helium leaks and thruster issues. The astronauts will remain on the International Space Station and return later on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
Wow! Signal Deciphered
In 1977, astronomers detected a mysterious radio signal from space that was thought to be from aliens. It lasted for 72-seconds (the maximum length the Big Ear telescope could observe it) but was never detected again. New research suggests it might have been caused by a rare cosmic event: a brightening of a hydrogen cloud by a powerful radiation source. Bummer...
NASA testing cement for lunar habitats
Aboard the ISS, astronauts are conducting experiments to explore space assembly techniques, focusing on potential lunar construction methods. These experiments aim to develop economical ways to build satellites and habitats in space and on the Moon.
⚡️🌍 Energy & Environment
Looming European ice age?
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), a crucial ocean current system, is weakening. This could have severe consequences for Europe’s climate, potentially causing a cooling of 5 to 15°C if the current were to collapse entirely. The AMOC plays a vital role in distributing heat across the planet.
How cheap can batteries get?
The article discusses the rapid progress in battery technology, highlighting the potential for sodium batteries to reach prices as low as $8 per kWh by 2030. This dramatic cost reduction could lead to widespread adoption of stationary batteries in homes, businesses, and throughout the grid, solving congestion issues and facilitating the transition to renewable energy sources.