The Universe is yours to discover.
The following materials are accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired using a combination of Braille, tactile techniques, and descriptions in both large format text and audio formats, as well as a collection of 3D prints of cosmic objects.
— Read on chandra.si.edu/tactile/
Tag: education
Endangered archive of Siberian indigenous voices to be digitised – Museums Association
“Russian cassette tapes from the Soviet era are particularly fragile and here the process of degradation has been speeded up by water leakages in the building, which have increased the humidity,” Anderson said.
“For the most badly damaged tapes, extracting what they contain requires them to be baked in an oven but after that, you only get one chance at playing them before the recordings are lost.
“We will be working with Russian sound technicians on this process which then requires them to be disassembled, rewound and played at different speeds to remove the interference caused by damage to the tapes, which stick together causing squealing sounds.”
— Read on www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/news/2021/10/endangered-archive-of-siberian-indigenous-voices-to-be-digitised/
Phthalates and attributable mortality: A population-based longitudinal cohort study and cost analysis – ScienceDirect
Accelerating evidence of endocrine-related morbidity has raised alarm about the ubiquitous use of phthalates in the human environment, but studies have not directly evaluated mortality in relation to these exposures.
— Read on www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0269749121016031
NASA Turns to the Cloud for Help With Next-Generation Earth Missions | NASA
As satellites collect larger and larger amounts of data, engineers and researchers are implementing solutions to manage these huge increases.
— Read on www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-turns-to-the-cloud-for-help-with-next-generation-earth-missions
Outrage as Texas school District Considers Holocaust Denial Books in Response to Anti-Racism Crackdown
Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill into law earlier this year that is intended to combat the teaching of critical race theory. A recording obtained by NBC News captures an administrator from Carroll Independent School District—which serves the wealthy, predominantly white Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Southlake—last week instructing teachers to comply with the new law by offering alternate opinions on topics like the Holocaust, despite mainstream views on the Holocaust not being opposed in any substantial or credible manner.
Gina Peddy, the school district’s executive director of curriculum and instruction, can be heard in the recording telling teachers to “try to remember the concepts of” the new law while planning their lessons. She then tells teachers that if they “have a book on the Holocaust” they should also include a book that has “opposing” views or “other perspectives.” The exchange prompted strong reactions on Twitter, with many prominent figures outrage that Abbott’s law could promote Holocaust denial.
— Read on www.newsweek.com/outrage-texas-school-district-considers-holocaust-denial-books-response-anti-racism-crackdown-1639213
Running Machine Learning Projects: Things to know | by Prashant Mudgal | Oct, 2021 | Towards Data Science
In my experience, ML projects come in all shapes and sizes and vary greatly in their complexity. In the initial 2000/10s, the emphasis was on the model-centric approach which I always found a little bizarre as I heard umpteen times about the fancier models than the results(well, it was a different time and folks used to get awestruck when they would hear ML, AI, DS etc); slowly and steadily the focus has shifted to the result centric approach i.e. use whatever model you can but make use of the data and produce results that are directional, applicable, and coherent.
— Read on towardsdatascience.com/running-machine-learning-projects-things-to-know-316775338eab
Weird Dreams Train Our Brains to Be Better Learners – Facts So Romantic – Nautilus
Neural networks need to “dream” of weird, senseless examples to learn well. Maybe we do, too.
— Read on m.nautil.us/blog/weird-dreams-train-our-brains-to-be-better-learners
Scientists Show How They Gave A 70,000-Year-Old Neanderthal His Smile
Experts reconstructed the caveman’s face from just a fossilized orbital bone.
— Read on www.newsweek.com/scientists-show-how-they-gave-70000-year-old-neanderthal-his-smile-1637223
Not a Joke: Trump Was Going to Appoint Ivanka President of the World Bank Until Steven Mnuchin Intervened | Vanity Fair
Ivanka apparently came “incredibly close” to running the institution.
— Read on www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/10/ivanka-trump-world-bank-steven-mnuchin
Empty Homes, Shattered Dreams: China’s “Ghost Castles” – NHK WORLD PRIME – TV | NHK WORLD-JAPAN Live & Programs
A curious sight has emerged in the economically flourishing cities of China: Apartment buildings in which construction halts midway. Locals refer to them as “ghost castles.” Residents of one such building in Wuhan live in rooms without water or electricity, struggling under the financial weight of repaying the mortgage for an unfinished home. This program examines the shadow behind real estate development through the turmoil faced by the residents who have become victims of a ghost castle.
— Read on www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/tv/worldprime/20210911/3016103/