Confessions of a researchaholic

November 25, 2022

Parasites making hosts more risk taking

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 11:16 am
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Parasites could have evolved to make their hosts more risk taking which I wonder if also applicable to humans.

Ketchup splattering

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 11:15 am
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I can totally see some fluid simulation folks publishing an upcoming SIGGRAPH paper about ketchup splattering.

https://twitter.com/liyiwei/status/1596211743075622912

July 15, 2022

James Webb

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 6:58 pm
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The astonishing beauty of the images captured by the James Webb space telescope is a reminder that we are capable of extraordinary achievement, amid all the economical, political, biological, and environmental chaos.
The fact that the telescope almost did not make it (delays and over-budgeting) is also a lesson all by itself.

March 22, 2022

I can hear you but not see you

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 3:49 pm
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This frog was clearly in a good mood, and, maybe also confident about his camouflage, continued his loud vocal even when I got close.

https://youtu.be/XjHsC1Az8lQ

March 20, 2022

Sapping tree wound

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 9:34 pm
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A branch has been recently chopped from this tree leaving a wound still dripping fresh sap, whose touch and smell I wish I can record.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tE5GnB2ULao

October 23, 2021

Hive mind shrank human brains

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 11:15 am
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According to this Economist Expresso article, human brains started to shrink about 3000 years ago possibly due to living in social groups where the collective intelligence reduced the need for individual brain powers/activities (known to be energy consuming).

Which implies that loners today might be in relative evolutionary disadvantage compared to team-workers today and loners 3000 years before.

August 1, 2021

Green religion

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 10:27 am
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For gradual changes with consequences in the future bearing global responsibility like climate degradation, science can be less convincing than religion or death.

June 25, 2021

Geoengineering is not the solution for climate change

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 9:57 am
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Some thoughts I have after reading this article a while back.
Without a sufficiently accurate model for the entire planet earth, whatever solution we come up with may have unintended/unanticipated side effects.
And even if we can, the solution can carry moral hazard, encouraging people to continue with (or even increase) pollution and carbon production, causing reduced/negated effectiveness.

June 21, 2021

Exponential growth

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 10:19 am
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Human brains are not very capable of perceiving exponential growth; the beginning can seem minor but when we finally notice it is already overwhelming – finance (compound interests), biology (the spread of a disease), and climate (what if we only have 5 years left and thus pointless to talk about carbon neutral by 2050?).

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