#53: Urinal Designs, Minecraft, Crows, Dolphin AI, Electric Shocks, Spiked Coffee, Recycling Plastics, and more!
Hi there!
I have a confession to make...
I'm a master procrastinator.
The fact that this newsletter has consistently landed in your inbox for the past 53 months without fail is a miracle for me.
Usually, I get away with my procrastinating habits though. I thrive under pressure, fueled by looming deadlines (hello, Parkinson's Law?).
But this time, procrastination got the upper hand, and I wasn’t able to write a good introduction for you.
I hope you'll forgive me.
Catch you in the next one!
Enjoy!
Xavier
🤓 Cool Stuff I Found on the Internet
Sound enclaves
Researchers at Penn State have developed “audible enclaves,” a technology that creates isolated pockets of sound in open spaces with no headphones. They can target specific locations, making the audio audible only at the intended destination.
Inexpensive way to break down plastics
Scientists developed a new way to break down plastic using air moisture and a cheap catalyst. In 4 hours, it breaks down 94% of the plastic and converts into monomers that can be recycled into new products. The catalyst itself is also reusable. Next step: scaling up this process so we can finally start recycling plastic at large scale.
New urinal designs
Turns out, we haven't quite mastered the art of designing urinals. Scientists created two new designs that reduce splashback by 98%. If this design would be implemented across the US, it would prevent 1 million liters of urine from splashing onto floors daily.
UK recreated in Minecraft
Ordnance Survey just dropped a detailed version of Britain within Minecraft. The map is made up of 100 billion blocks (!) and can be downloaded freely on their website.
Liberty Phone
Bringing manufacturing back to the US is difficult, as showed by the Liberty Phone. It’s almost entirely made in the US but costs $2000 and has outdated specs. The biggest hurdle they face? Finding skilled electronics engineers in the US. More investments are needed to re-ignite US manufacturing.
Don't be afraid of falling
Being concerned about falling increases your chance of actually falling for real! Researchers analyzed 53 studies comprising 75,076 participants aged 60 and older, using various scales to measure concerns about falling. The results showed that for every one-point increase in concern, there was a 3-8% higher risk of future falls.
Crows master geometry
Crows can distinguish geometric patterns, a skill previously thought to be unique to humans. This study used computer-based tests with rewards and showed that crows could recognize right angles, parallel lines, and symmetry. Another study (which I conducted) found crows are also excellent at ripping my trash bags every week...
⏳ On this day...
1770 – Captain James Cook sights the eastern coast of what is now Australia.
1971 – Launch of Salyut 1, the first space station. It paved the way for future space stations like the ISS.
2021 – The Ingenuity helicopter becomes the first aircraft to achieve flight on another planet.
🧠🤖 Artificial intelligence
OpenAI drops new models
OpenAI launched new models. The new flagship model is GPT-4.1 and has a massive context window of 1 million tokens. The model comes in different sizes, with the smaller models being very cheap. OpenAI also launched new reasoning models with the ability to use “tools” to interact with outside service.
Google releases Gemini 2.5
Google has introduced Gemini 2.5, their most advanced AI model to date. I’ve been very impressed with previous Gemini models, and this one is no exception. It’s a “reasoning model,” capable of reasoning through its thoughts before responding, resulting in improved accuracy and performance. It also has an impressive 1 million token context window.
Decoding dolphin communication
We might finally learn what dolphins are talking about! Google's AI, DolphinGemma, is analyzing decades of dolphin sounds to decode their complex communication patterns. The model was trained on decades of research by the Wild Dolphin Project. The project hopes to deepen our understanding of marine mammal intelligence.
Can cloud providers get clean?
Microsoft, Google, and Amazon made bold carbon reduction promises, but their emissions keep rising. AI’s energy appetite is likely a big factor, though the exact numbers are unclear. These big players are now exploring alternative means of achieving their goals, such as direct air capture, and even nuclear energy.
👽 Space
Russian satellites release mystery object
Russia launched three secretive satellites in February, which have recently released a mysterious object. This reignites concerns about potential military activities in space.
🤨 Questions nobody asked
Weird questions often pop into my head. Just last week I was thinking about my heart. It has been beating non-stop for 31 years. That's an amazing feat of engineering. But how many times did it beat in total?
According to this website, my heart has a total beat count of 1,171,272,960. That's over a billion times! Mind blowing!
🏥 Health
Electric shocks can heal wounds faster
Got hurt? Shock the wounds and you'll heal up to three times faster! All jokes aside, this technique could be beneficial for chronic wounds. Faster healing means reduced risk of infection and complications.
Exercise boosts brainpower
This study found that any form of exercise can significantly improve brain function and memory across all age groups. Children and adolescents showed the most improvement in memory, while individuals with ADHD experienced the largest gains in executive function.
Coffee machines spike your cholesterol
The coffee machine at work may contain higher levels of cholesterol-elevating substances compared to drip-filter coffee. Researchers analyzed coffee from 14 workplace machines and discovered varying levels of cafestol and kahweol, which can affect LDL cholesterol levels. Better switch to filter coffee?