Previously: Cyborgs, dolphins, dogs, giraffes (f/e 23 July)

14.59, Friday 23 Jul 2021

Five recommended blog posts from the archives, originally published this fortnight in years past. Mostly last year it turns out.

I’ve chosen some lightweight posts today because, well, it’s Friday and it’s sunny outside.

1 year ago

Settling the Sun (10 July 2020).

A short one:

So could we - in our speculative solar system spanning civilisation - have the Sun as the hub of the knowledge economy and the seat of Empire? Computer brains the size of mountains, floating in the honey of the chromosphere …

Secret cyborgs and an old story (13 July 2020)

This story from the early 2000s, about a replacement for fat and glucose:

What this researcher told me was that, in trials with rats in mazes, not only did the rats have more endurance, they were smarter too. …

I remember specifically the current status: this novel food stuff was in human trials, and it was currently with the US military.

Do humans have a north sense? (14 July 2020).

On human magnetoreception, with this ASTOUNDING BONUS FACT:

Dogs tend to poop aligned north-south. It’s probably because they’re sensitive to the earth’s magnetic field rather than polarised light. How do the scientists know? Because during magnetic storms, dogs poop any which way.

On speaking with dolphins (20 July 2020).

This time last year I learnt about John Lilly. Yeah. That was eye opening.

“Lilly ended up going to great lengths to speak to dolphins, including the questionable practice of injecting his cetacean subjects with LSD, but his attempts at interspecies communication were never successful.”

2 years ago

Filtered for sexy animals (headphones required) (19 July 2019)

It’s a linky post. Firstly check out this short video of opera singers dubbed with modem noises.

Secondly I learnt about giraffes:

My life has not been the same since I learnt that famously-silent giraffes are not in fact mute.

At midnight, in the pitch black, the neck becomes like a pipe organ, and they do this crazy deep ethereal HUMMING.

There’s a recording of the humming that you need to listen to.

Hypnotic.

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