Extension for a couple of weeks was confirmed at lunchtime on Friday but they haven't been able to get the paperwork sorted out yet, so I'm off today, giving me more time for important things like this 
Happy invoicing!
- Our Haunted Apartment in Montreal - Nathan Munn recalls a strange place to live: ” I hauled the first bag up the stairs, and when I swung the door open, the apartment was just as I remembered it—except for one thing: a large, black feather lay in the middle of the living room floor. The three of us stared at it for a moment.”
- Lab-Grown Human Cells Form Working Circuits in Rat Brains - From the “never read James Herbert” department: ”Neuroscientists at Stanford University led by Sergiu Paşca report that they have found a new way to study human neurons — by transplanting human brainlike tissue into rats that are just days old, when their brains have not yet fully formed. The researchers show that human neurons and other brain cells can grow and integrate themselves into the rat’s brain, becoming part of the functional neural circuitry that processes sensations and controls aspects of behaviors.”
- Neurons in a dish learn to play Pong — what’s next? - Continuing the neuroscientists’ efforts to destroy us all, or at least beat us at 1970s video games: ”The gamer cells respond not to visual cues on a screen but to electrical signals from the electrodes in the dish. These electrodes both stimulate the cells and record changes in neuronal activity. Researchers then converted the stimulation signals and the cellular responses into a visual depiction of the game”
- Ancient Chinese Domesticated Leopard Cats 5,500 Years Ago - ”The 5,500 year old cat remains found more than a decade ago in China have been identified as the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) by an international team of scientists.” This actually happened a few years ago, but they’re very cool cats
- Night Climbing - Katherine Rundell recalls her urban explorations of Battersea Power Station: ”That night there was scaffolding, as easy to scale as a jungle gym, and we went silently, not speaking and trying not to breathe loud enough to attract the possible dogs… You come out at the top by pulling up over a ridge of bricks and scaffolding onto an expanse of grey slate, big as an empty town square, between two of the great white chimneys.”
- Memories of the End of the Last Ice Age, from Those Who Were There - Around the world, legends of the sea rising may recall ancient events: ”Colorful legends from northern Europe and Australia… depict rising waters, peninsulas becoming islands, and receding coastlines during that period of deglaciation thousands of years ago. Some of these stories, the researchers say, capture historical sea level rise that actually happened—often several thousand years ago.”
- The Hummingbird Clock - ”The UK national electrical grid delivers power across the country. This mains power supply makes a constant humming sound, yet there are tiny changes to the frequency of this sound every second. Most recordings made in the UK have a trace of mains hum on them and this can be forensically analysed to determine the time and date they were made, and as a result, whether anyone has edited the recording.” You can submit a recording and they’ll analyse any traces of mains hum and tell you when it was made - a technique the government also uses…
- Looking out for number one - ”Major roads have markerposts that start at one end of the road and count the kilometres to the other. Except that, on the UK road network, things are never that simple.” From the excellent roads.org.uk, formerly CBRD, your definitive guide to the often rather spurious “distances” on roads
- Arduino Nano powers combination lock cracker - HT to Doctor Strangelove for this neat little device for unlocking combination locks: ”Powered by an Arduino Nano, it can unlock the devices in ~40 seconds, using a TMC2208 Trinamic driver for a stepper motor and AS5600 magnetic encoder. There’s also a little OLED screen to display a menu, which the user can navigate with a rotary encoder knob.”
- Ocean Photographer of the Year: Winners Gallery - ”The Ocean Photographer of the Year is a celebration of our beautiful blue planet, as well as a platform to highlight the many plights it is facing.” This excellent crab, photographed by Martin Broen and taking 2nd place in the Wildlife category, lives in Mexico
Happy invoicing!
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