Beyond Euclid - #120
Welcome to Beyond Euclid #120, the newsletter for the best mathematics and science stuff of the week. I am Ali, and I curate cool math and science stuff every week to help you have a better week.
📰 Happy Friday, math and science enthusiasts! The 120th issue of Beyond Euclid, your weekly deep dive into the fascinating and ever-evolving world of mathematics, is ready. Whether you're an educator, student, or passionate self-learner, I believe there's something here to spark your imagination!
Anyway, if you appreciate the work I do, please consider being a paid subscriber. I truly value your support. While reading this issue, you can listen to Look At the Sky from OsMan.
• These geometric art works designed by Yves Lappert using rods and shadows is literally unbelievably beautiful.
• Islamic geometry stands as a testament to the harmony between art, mathematics, and spirituality, offering an intriguing pathway into the world of Islamic art and architecture. This discipline, characterized by its intricate patterns and mesmerizing designs, has fascinated scholars, artists, and enthusiasts for centuries. The literature on Islamic geometry is vast and varied, comprising works that range from scholarly analyses to practical guides on recreating these patterns. This week I have curated top 10 Islamic geometry books for you.
• This week I learned that, 144 is the largest square in the Fibonacci sequence.
• Scientists discovered HD 110067, a star system 100 light-years away with six planets orbiting in mathematically perfect orbits, which piqued interest in searching for alien technology. Researchers used the Green Bank Telescope to search HD 110067 for technosignatures but did not detect any signals that were only present when pointed at the system.
• Jim Simons is the richest mathematician alive as he turned hedge fund manager and founded Renaissance Technologies. He hired a team of physicists, mathematicians, astronomers, and statisticians to work on the Medallion Fund, which proved the efficient market hypothesis wrong. You can watch Veritasium's video about Jim Simons' success.
• Let me introduce to you the real "Rambo." A male red fox that lived for over four years in a wildlife conservation area called the Pilliga, evading all eradication attempts. Rambo avoided over 10,000 traps, 3,500 poison baits, and many chase attempts, earning his name from the action movie character.
Rambo's persistence delayed the reintroductions for years until it was announced he likely died in the October 2022 floods.
• Today I learned that, a mosquito helped lead investigators to a car thief in southern Ostrobothnia, Finland 2008. The DNA extracted from the mosquito's blood matched that of a man in police records. The mosquito was found in an abandoned car and sent to the Central Criminal Police Crime Laboratory for examination.
• Dr. Valentina Rossi of University College Cork led a team that discovered a famous 280 million-year-old fossil lizard from the Italian Alps was partially forged. The fossil, called Tridentinosaurus antiquus, was thought to provide insights into early reptile evolution, but some details were painted on. Microscopic analysis revealed the purported fossilized skin was actually paint, misleading previous researchers studying the specimen's classification.
The findings show the need for caution when using this celebrated but now questionable specimen in future studies of reptile groups.
• US schools are struggling to fill teaching vacancies due to low salaries. Inflation has significantly decreased new teacher earnings over the past 20 years. New teachers make about 28% less than the average new college graduate.
The teacher shortage is leading to a decline in enrollment in education programs. The standard of living for teachers needs to be addressed to attract and retain talented educators.
• The United States has more golf courses than McDonald's locations. This is the most absurd thing ever! But it is true because McDonald's locations are concentrated in cities, while golf courses are more widespread, especially in the Midwest. Golf courses can be found in areas with lower population density, unlike McDonald's. There is a higher number of neighboring golf courses compared to neighboring McDonald's restaurants.
• TASCHEN did it again and published another piece of art. The Book of Colour Concepts is a two-volume set with over 800 pages exploring the history of color concepts over four centuries through more than 1,000 images. It includes rare manuscripts, documents, and treatises on color, including Isaac Newton's 1704 Opticks and works by 19th-century spiritualist painters Annie Besant and Charles Webster Leadbeater.
The book journeys through how artists, designers, scientists, religious figures, and philosophers have pondered the possibilities and uses of pigments throughout history
• Do you want to do your own color E-paper weather station? Nick Koumaris made a system featuring a 6-inch color e-paper display and ESP32 microprocessor to display temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, and weather forecasts obtained from sensors and the internet.
Temperature, humidity, and pressure were measured every 6 minutes, and graphs of the last 24 hours were updated every 60 minutes while the weather forecast was refreshed every 6 hours from the internet.
A study using crowdsourced photos found that humpback whale numbers in the North Pacific Ocean declined by 20% between 2012 and 2021. The decline coincided with a marine heatwave in the Pacific Ocean, known as "the blob," which was likely caused by global warming. It is estimated that around 7000 whales starved to death because of the heatwave.
The blob also caused mass die-offs of other animals, such as seabirds.
Humpback whales are considered indicators of ocean health, which humans rely on for various resources.
• Study after study has shown that people who ride e-bikes get more exercise than those who ride pedal bikes. E-bike riders tend to ride longer and rack up more miles than pedal-bike riders. Here are the reasons:
The electric motor in e-bikes makes tough climbs and starts less grueling, leading to longer rides.
E-bike riders report higher levels of enjoyment, leading to increased time spent cycling and exercising.
Electric bikes are often used for daily commutes or errands, increasing their frequency of use compared to pedal bikes.
E-bike riders often attempt more challenging terrain and inclines, further increasing their exercise.
• Long periods of sitting increase mortality risk in older women by 30%, regardless of exercise levels. Sitting reduces blood flow, metabolism, and muscle contractions, which increases health risks. Risk increases when sitting 11+ hours daily or in single sessions over 30 minutes. Breaking up sitting every 20-30 minutes may reduce risks.
• Engineers at the University of Pennsylvania developed a new light-based chip that can perform artificial intelligence computations at unprecedented speeds. Led by Nader Engheta and Firooz Aflatouni, they designed a silicon-photonic chip that uses interactions between light waves and silicon nanostructures to perform vector-matrix multiplication, a core AI computation.
Relying on light instead of electricity promises radically faster processing while reducing energy usage compared to traditional chips based on 1960s principles. The chip could accelerate AI training and classification in graphics processing units. With no need to store data in memory, it also enables virtually unhackable computing.
• Samsung has introduced a microSD memory card supporting SD Express with a data transfer speed of up to 800 MB/s. The card is faster than any SATA SSD and four times faster than UHS-1 cards (up to 200 MB/s).