Paris will begin removing the “cadenas d’amour.” Almost 1M padlocks, weighing up to a staggering 45 tons, will be taken away. Last year, a part of the railing at the Pont des Arts collapsed under the weight of the locks
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The Education Myth
the global labor force’s average time in school went from 2.8 to 8.3 years from 1960-2010. How much richer should these countries have expected to become? In 1965, France had a labor force that averaged less than 5 years of schooling and a per capita income of $14K (at 2005 prices). In 2010, countries with a similar level of education had a per capita income of less than $1000. Moreover, much of this increase cannot possibly be attributed to education, as workers in 2010 had the advantage of technologies that were 50 years more advanced than those in 1960. Clearly, something other than education is needed to generate prosperity.
3.3 ma Stone tools
Our ancestors were making stone tools even earlier than we thought—some 700 ka older, dating to 3.3 ma ago, in northern Kenya. “These aren’t the very first tools that hominins made. They show that the knappers already had an understanding of how stones can be intentionally broken, beyond what the first hominin who accidentally hit 2 stones together and produced a sharp flake would have had. I think there are older, even more primitive artifacts out there.”
Grown bridges
In the depths of northeastern India, in one of the wettest places on earth, bridges aren’t built — they’re grown
Robot church
i don’t usually go to church, but when i do, i go to the robotic church
Project Jacquard
new conductive yarn allows to build multi-touch right into your pants.
Soli
new gesture recognition tech uses radar to achieve super high resolution.
Fighting back against antivaxxers
the state has become the first to remove philosophical exemptions from its vaccination law
it’s always cause for celebration when stupidity is retreating. it doesn’t happen nearly often enough. of course they left in religious exemptions, which are just as dumb.
Prison football
Within the prison there are 10 football clubs, some of them almost 20 years old, each with their own players, boards and constitutions. Alongside Moses’s old team Aston Villa, there is Liverpool and Manchester United, Everton and Chelsea, Arsenal and Newcastle United
Synthetic poaching
We are fabricating wildlife products, such as rhino horn and elephant ivory, at prices below the levels that induce poaching. Our goal is to replace the illegal wildlife trade, a $20B black market, the fourth largest after drug, arms, and human trafficking, with sustainable commerce.
people will have to decide whether they can get over their fears of biotech for this.
Gregor J. Rothfuss 