Tuesday, 17 April 2018
6x6
the long way home: in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbour, an American seaplane in New Zealand had to find an alternative route across the Pacific
a map of the world that does not include utopia is not worth even glancing at: a trailer for the documentary trailer for the Minnesota Experimental City (previously) and its founder Athelstan Spilhaus
transiting exoplanet survey satellite: a nice primer on NASA’s TESS mission that’s expected to sweep the skies for potentially planets
il fuori salone: highlights from Milan Design Week
funkloch: in contravention of the Rural Call Completion Task Force, a telecom provider is being punished for phantom ring tones
if you don’t love me at my worst: this 1921 comic strip foreshadows those expectation versus reality memes pretty spot-on
ordinance survey
Our thanks to the Londonist for introducing us to an rather stunning and absorbing project called Britain from Above that drew on the extensive archives of the Aerofilms Collection to present to the public and elicit feedback (2010-2014) nearly one hundred thousand aerial photographs and films from between 1919 to 1953.
The varied collection includes urban, industrial and rural scenery and was begun when two veteran flying aces from World War I were granted a charter to launch the first comprehensive land survey by air. Aerofilms also pioneered the discipline known as photogrammetry—the term for producing maps from aerial photography. These vintage images are not only visually captivating but also provide important insights for understanding growth and development and management, conservation of both built and natural environments.
pet project or message in a bottle
Via Slashdot, we learn that building on the 2016 discovery of a strain of bacteria in a dump in Japan that ate plastic, a group of researchers at the University of Portsmouth accidentally prodded the catalyst that allows the bacteria to breakdown and metabolise PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic into overdrive.
Curious to understand the evolutionary mechanism that selected for such appetites in the first place, scientists altered the enzyme inadvertently whilst taking it apart. Though further trials are needed, researchers are confident that the process is scalable and could be a tool (this is a big problem whose solutions take a concerted effort and shifts in behaviours, as well) in combating the problem of plastic waste in the oceans.
