Curating the Internet: Science and technology micro-summaries for September 12, 2019

in #rsslog5 years ago

How caterpillars turn into butterflies; The reason why ship-bottoms frequently painted read; Two new Antimer models sold out in 17 minutes; A famous argument against free will has been refuted; How to use Excel's Quick Analysis and Ideas features


Fresh Internet Content Daily: Welcome to my little corner of the blockchain

Straight from my RSS feed
Whatever gets my attention

Links and micro-summaries from my 1000+ daily headlines. I filter them so you don't have to.


image.png

pixabay license: source.

  1. What's inside a caterpillar cocoon - This video describes the process by which a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. First, it grows a hard shell, known as a cocoon, then enzymes are released to dissolve the caterpillar's muscles and digestive system, and finally dormant cells are activated to grow the butterfly's body parts from the inside, and moving outward. Once the butterfly is fully formed, it emerges from the cell and leaves the shell and other byproducts behind. The entire process takes a little longer than 2 weeks.

  2. The Reason Why Ships Are Often Painted Red on the Bottom - Historically, wooden sailing ships would paint their bottoms with copper or copper oxide paint because it acts as a biocide and prevented the hull from decaying or being eaten through by worms. The copper paints added a red tint to the hull. In modern times, biocide paints are available in any color, but red is frequently used in order to maintain the maritime tradition. The article also includes this Youtube video:


  • Bitmain’s Antminer 17 Sold Out in Minutes. Will the Bitcoin Hash Rate Rise? - According to the article, Antminer's two new mining appliances launched on September 9, and they offer the best value in the space, with the following specs: "The S17e model delivers a hash rate of 64 TH/s and operates with a power efficiency of 45J/TH, while the more budget-friendly T17e offers a hash rate of 53TH/s and power efficiency of 55J/TH", which is about a factor of 3 improvement over the previous generation. For reference purposes, the article says the bitcoin hash rate on September 9 was 100 EH/s. The company introduced a compensation strategy for late shipments, saying that customers will receive discount coupons for every day that their order is late. The first batch is scheduled for delivery between Nov 1 and Nov 10. Based on completed chip orders, the article estimates that Bitmain's new product line could increase the overall hash rate by as much as 33 EH/s by the end of 2020.

  • A Famous Argument Against Free Will Has Been Debunked - Starting in 1964, scientists have gained increasing knowledge of the activity inside of our brains at the moment a decision is made. In 1983, Benjamin Libet observed a phenomenon which he termed a Bereitschaftspotential, where the brain showed an increased level of activity a few moments before the research subject made a conscious decision. For years afterwards, people concluded from this that the brain was making a decision at the unconscious level before the conscious person even knew about it. In 2010, however, Aaron Schurger ran new experiments and reached a different conclusion. It turns out that the Bereitschaftspotential was not the moment of decision, but another input into the decision. Brain activities constantly rise and fall in a somewhat random fashion, and that noise is apparently used by the brain's neurons as a sort of "tie breaker" when making decisions between two otherwise equal options. h/t RealClear Science

  • STEEM These Excel Tricks Make Ordinary Users Look Like Data Wizards - This tutorial post by @theexcelclub gives instructions for using Excel's "Quick Analysis (-Q) to do things like adding data bars, adding a running total, inserting a chart, or inserting a pivot table. It also describes the use of Ideas (-T) in Office 365 to have an AI engine analyze data for "patterns, trends, outliers, and correlations". (A 10% beneficiary setting has been applied to this post for @theexcelclub)


  • In order to help make Steem the go to place for timely information on diverse topics, I invite you to discuss any of these links in the comments and/or your own response post.

    Beneficiaries


    My other open posts

    (as of Wednesday afternoon)
    @remlaps

    @remlaps-lite

    Fundraising for the Rustin Golden Knights Marching Band by @rgkmb-unofficial


    About this series


    Sharing a link does not imply endorsement or agreement, and I receive no incentives for sharing from any of the content creators.

    Follow on steem: @remlaps-lite, @remlaps
    If you are not on Steem yet, you can follow through RSS: remlaps-lite, remlaps.


    Thanks to SteemRSS from philipkoon, doriitamar, and torrey.blog for the Steem RSS feeds!

    Sort:  


    This post has been voted on by the SteemSTEM curation team and voting trail. It is elligible for support from @curie and @minnowbooster.

    If you appreciate the work we are doing, then consider supporting our witness @stem.witness. Additional witness support to the curie witness would be appreciated as well.

    For additional information please join us on the SteemSTEM discord and to get to know the rest of the community!

    Thanks for having used the steemstem.io app. This granted you a stronger support from SteemSTEM. Note that including @steemstem in the list of beneficiaries of this post could have yielded an even more important support.

    Coin Marketplace

    STEEM 0.18
    TRX 0.23
    JST 0.035
    BTC 94313.10
    ETH 3182.98
    USDT 1.00
    SBD 2.99