Scientist Andrew David Thaler decided to write a novel set in a post-sea-level-rise world, Charlie Jane Anders reports on io9. To make Fleet as scientifically realistic as he could, he needed to model the actual flooding that could result from climate change. And thus, a meme that reached 10 million people was born.
Oakland with 25 meter sea rise
Drowning cities
Thaler talks about Writing the book
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Is your router murdering your houseplants?
Are you slowly killing your houseplants? Probably, Sarah Weber says at The Daily. But there might be a reason why they’re all yellow and wilty: your Wi-Fi router. An experiment by a handful of high school students in Denmark has sparked some serious international interest in the scientific community.
The teacher was quick to point out it was not a professional study, although there is now some interest in repeating it in a professional lab environment.
Router killing your plants?
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10 Amazing Women Who Led Rebellions
Male revolutionaries such as Che Guevara have gone down as heroes for leading rebellions against “the Man,’ Mark Pygas writes at Listverse. But forgotten by history are the women who took on far greater powers than Fulgencio Batista. Throughout the ages, women have led rebellions and revolutions which took on the might of the Roman Empire and the vast wealth of the British East India Company. For example:
Yaa Asantewaa, the African Joan of Arc, was Queen Mother in part of the former Asante Kingdom, now modern-day Ghana. The British led a campaign against the kingdom, taking control of large areas of their land.
On March 28, 1900, Yaa told the British that she refused to pay any more of their taxes. She assembled an army of more than 4,000 soldiers and lay siege to the British fort at Kumasi. Through superior technology, scorched land tactics, and financial rewards for traitors, the Queen Mother was arrested on March 3, 1901. She was sent into exile where she eventually died at 90.
Laskarina Bouboulina was a Greek naval commander and revolutionary captain who fought in the successful Greek War of Independence against the Ottomans.
Amazing women warriors
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Includes one of the most amazing videos of tool-using ability ever made. Crows are SMART.
Crows could be the key to understanding alien intelligence
Illustration by Tiger-tyger
Crows are among the planet’s most intelligent animals, Annalee Newitz says on io9, teaching their young to use tools for foraging and banding together to fight off intruders. Now, the first study of how abstract reasoning works in these birds’ brains could shed light on how intelligence works in a truly alien, non-mammal brain.
Brainy crows
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Quote of the Day
“There’s no such thing as writer’s block. That was invented by people in California who couldn’t write.” ~ Terry Pratchett
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Alma Alexander
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