Birds threatened by a predator often call out to encourage other birds to make noise and fly about, repelling the attacker as part of a “mobbing flock”. Now it seems male lyrebirds imitate this sound to scare females into mating Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2269303-male-lyrebirds-imitate-a-flock-of-birds-to-scare-females-into-mating/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Tag: sound
How Canadians Derailed a Train in 1998 and Drove It to City Hall for Power After a Brutal Ice Storm
James Gilboy, writing at The Drive: Over the week spanning Jan. 4-10, 1998, a trio of massive ice storms wracked the northeastern United States and parts of Canada. Knocking over transmission towers, the storms deprived up to 1.35 million people of electricity, in some cases for weeks (sound familiar?). Rather than leave town, though, one Canadian mayor stepped up to bring…
Why Does the Apple TV Still Exist?
Apple commentator Jason Snell writes: Why does this product still exist, and is there anywhere for it to go next? Gruber and Thompson [two other columnists] suggest that perhaps the way forward is to lean into an identity as a low-end gaming console. Maybe amp up the processor power, bundle a controller, and try to use Apple Arcade to emphasize that…
Resilient Teaching During Times of Change with Dr. Rebecca Quintana, University of Michigan
The pandemic has accelerated the global need for online learning. In the short term, educators mitigated disruption of campus closures by moving their courses, assessments, and even graduation ceremonies online. In many educational settings, the focus has shifted to adaptability—how can we design courses that withstand all kinds of changes, including a pandemic? It has […]
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A record deadly week for US avalanches in early February
2021 has brought a deadly avalanche season. “We’re only halfway through the season and we’re 3/4 of the way to the number of fatalities we’d see in a typical year. The dangerous, record-breaking year keeps avalanche forecasters up at night,” one expert said. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/avalanches-2021-united-states-how-to-survive…
Sound waves from fin whale songs could help us study Earth’s crust
Seismologists studying earthquake activity off the US coast recorded fin whale songs, which they found can be used to tell the thickness and makeup of Earth’s crust Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2267630-sound-waves-from-fin-whale-songs-could-help-us-study-earths-crust/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Sound waves from fin whale songs could help us study the Earth’s crust
Seismologists studying earthquake activity off the US coast recorded fin whale songs, which they found can be used to tell the thickness and makeup of the Earth’s crust Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2267630-sound-waves-from-fin-whale-songs-could-help-us-study-the-earths-crust/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Biden Orders Sweeping Review of Government Science Integrity Policies
sciencehabit shares a report from Science Magazine: President Joe Biden today created a task force that will conduct a 120-day review of scientific integrity policies across the U.S. government, including documenting instances in which “improper political interference” interfered with research or led to the suppression or distortion of data. The review is part of a lengthy memorandum from Biden on his…
Surround Sound From Lightweight Roll-To-Roll Printed Loudspeaker Paper
“Researchers from the fields of print media technology, chemistry, physics, acoustics, electrical engineering, and economics from six nations developed a continuous, highly productive, and reliable roll production of loudspeaker webs,” reports project manager Georg C. Schmidt. [For those unfamiliar with roll-to-roll processing, it is the process of creating electronic devices on a roll of flexible plastic or metal foil, which, among…
Top 12 brightest objects in the solar system
Can you name the top 12 brightest objects in the solar system? How many have you seen without the aid of binoculars or a telescope? Source: https://earthsky.org/space/what-are-the-brightest-objects-in-our-solar-system…