STEAM (STEM + ARTS) News in Review: 4/29/2022
Our STEAM (STEM + Arts) News in Review for this week. Below are the articles we read and wanted to share. Enjoy!
Wearable technology for cows. Who would have guessed there’s a growing market for wearables… the customers have four legs and four stomachs. Technologies like wearable fitness trackers like the Fitbit have been on the consumer market for over a decade now and have successfully been encouraging humans to improve their health. Thus, the application to animals makes a lot of sense. That’s just what researchers at Tarleton State University’s SW Regional Dairy Center in Texas, have recently been trialing Fitbit-like devices on cow herds. These devices track the day-to-day activities of each cow in the herd – from time spent eating and sleeping to steps taken and even total milk yield. There are already quite a few other companies around the world experimenting with wearables for cows. Even exploring uses of VR headsets to calm cows by presenting them with a serene environment! Read all about it in this fashion forward moooving piece.
Food and Farming Technology: Dairy herds- the mooooove to wearable tech
Are you a forgetful person? Be thankful you can forget! Read this interesting article about studies on zebrafish that are helping scientists unlock the biology of forgetting. Typically we have all been taught that forgetting is a lapse in our brain function. But the new science shows that our neurons encompass a set of mechanisms that are specifically dedicated to active forgetting! This is absolutely essential to help us function. It’s been said forgetting is one of the most fundamental aspects of a memory system. Without forgetting, nothing would work. We’re learning the brain is designed to slowly erase information that’s coming in on a daily basis to serve us so we can tune out useless information and focus on what is relevant.
Time: The new science of forgetting
Beauty at the Beach Get a little visual sunshine by checking out the recently unveiled lifeguard towers in Miami beach reimagined by the William Lane Architects group. Their bright colors and abstractly anthropomorphic shapes will surely put a smile on your face. There are 36 newly completed towers with six original silhouettes and combinations of six color palettes. The timber structures are topped by a contoured standing-seam aluminum roof. This material can easily roll and bend to provide ‘unique profiles’ which adds to the character of each tower. The series aspires to embody the quirky spirit of the beach.
Wallpaper: Miami Beach lifeguard towers reinvented
Does a toddler need an NFT? Check out this article to learn more examples of tools, networks, and technology popping up in the movement to drag children’s entertainment into the digital Web 3.0 future. The article covers one journalist’s experiences buying NFTs on platforms where children are actively creating, selling, and trading these digital tokens. If you are skeptical about these technologies and where things are headed, it could be a question of timing. It is still relatively early days for these tools, so time will tell, but the author of this article summed it up nicely with:
In one platforms in-app explainer, “Why should kids have NFTs?,” Zigazoo laments that “so much about the internet is about consumption,” but states that “the future of the internet is what you can create.” Right now, though, it’s about what you can buy using Zigabucks.
The New York Times: Does a toddler need an NFT
Epic discovery- Giant fish lizard fossils unearthed in the Alps The fossils of giant, extinct marine reptiles have been found in an unlikely place: within the high altitudes of the Swiss Alps. According to a new study, the fossils belong to three ichthyosaurs, and they may have been some of the largest animals that ever lived on Earth. The ancient creatures could reach 80 tons and 65 feet (20 meters) in length, rivaling modern sperm whales. A study detailing the discovery was published Thursday in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. The fossils were found in what is now a very high altitude but about 200 million years ago, those rock layers were the floor of a wide lagoon which was home to these marine giants. Paleontologists are hopeful this recent find will spur new and better fossils to be found and help fill in gaps of knowledge about these giants of the past.