His Most Famous Creation, Universe 1
"Viewing every conservation issue through the lens of extinction threat is simplistic and usually irrelevant. Worse, it introduces an emotional charge that makes the problem seem cosmic and overwhelming rather than local and solvable. It’s as if the entire field of human medicine were treated solely as a matter of death prevention. Every session with a doctor would begin: ‘Well, you’re dying. Let’s see if we can do anything to slow that down a little.’"
2. The crowdfunded trip to photograph a monkey that hadn't been seen in the wild since the 70s.
"Until this year, scientists hadn't seen the Bouvier's red colobus monkey in the wild since the 1970s. The small primate lives in groups in swampy forests along the Congo River, in the Republic of the Congo. Hunting and logging decimated its population, leading some scientists to suggest the monkey was extinct. Now, independent explorers have rediscovered the rare monkey. The researchers, Lieven Devreese of Belgium and Gaël Elie Gnondo Gobolo of the Republic of the Congo, set off in February to track down the elusive species. Their expedition was supported by donations collected through the crowdfunding website Indiegogo, and funding from the Wildlife Conservation Society."
3. A fascinating effort to create an ecosystem of caregivers and sensors for dementia patients.
"Some patients will also receive a set of activity trackers and sensors, which will be placed around the house or worn on the patient’s wrist. Much like Martinez’s wind chimes, the idea is to see whether sensors can detect when a patient is wandering off or, conversely, when they’ve been inactive for too long. A couple weeks ago, in a sunny conference room at UCSF, techies and doctors—almost all of whom have had family members with dementia—sat around a table, brainstorming other ways technology might be applied to dementia care."
4. The mouse utopia.
"In 1963 he produced his most famous creation, Universe 1. The worlds first mouse mortality-inhibiting-environment. 2.7 metres square with 1.4m high walls, the ‘Universe’ was surrounded by 16 tunnels leading to food, water and burrows. No predators, no scarcity, the mice would have to be blind to not see the utopia around them. At least it began as Utopia. Four breeding pairs of mice were introduced into Universe 1. After 104 days they adjusted to the new world and the population began to grow, doubling every 55 days. By day 315 the population reached 620. Then is stopped. The population grew much more slowly as the mice came against the limit of space, their only limiting frontier."
"Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong are China’s glamour triplets. Everybody knows them, everybody wants to see them (and hopefully snap a selfie). And yeah, they’re pretty fantastic. But did you know that China is home to an incredible 600+ cities, more than 160 of which have populations greater than a million? Though little-visited by foreigners, many of these cities boast their own fascinating atmospheres, histories and cultural attractions. We’re certainly not saying to skip the Forbidden City or Hong Kong’s Peak, but why not take a tip from experienced China travellers and try out these under-the-radar cities too?"
On Fusion: The world's most accurate atomic clock sounds amazing.
"Jun Ye spends most of his days in the basement of a research building at the University of Colorado, Boulder. There, spread across several stainless steel tables, is a nearly half-ton contraption that looks a bit like a carnival attraction. It’s got lights, wires, and mirrors surrounding a small golden vacuum chamber. Inside the chamber, seven lasers are pointed at a “quilt” made up of 1,000 super-chilled levitating atoms."
Today's 1957 American English Usage Tip:
Sorry! Traveling! Tips will return tomorrow.The Credits 1. aeon.co 2. csmonitor.com | @vruba 3. kqed.com 4. mostlyodd.com | @hughmcguire 5. lonelyplanet.com
His Most Famous Creation, Universe 1