[ozswede]

Women-only exhibit to become a toilet to keep men out

A museum in Australia is fighting to keep its exhibit women-only after a court ordered that men should be allowed entry under anti-discrimination laws.

Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art appealed on Tuesday to reverse the ruling, arguing it took "too narrow a view on women's historical and ongoing societal disadvantage" and how the Ladies Lounge can "promote equal opportunity".


Kirsha Kaechele, the artist behind the Ladies Lounge, at the Supreme Court in Hobart.

The court issued its order in April following a gender discrimination lawsuit filed by New South Wales resident Jason Lau, who was denied entry into the lounge.

Kirsha Kaechele, the artist behind the lounge, has said she will challenge the ruling by making the space "compliant" with regulations.

The lounge, which contains some of the museum's most-acclaimed works - from Picasso to Sidney Nolan - has been closed to the public since the court's order.

Ms Kaechele's plans involve transforming the velvet-clad lounge into a women's toilet and a church - which she claims will allow it to continue operating as a women-only space under legal exemptions.

“There is a fabulous toilet coming to the Ladies Lounge, and so in that sense the Ladies Lounge will operate as a ladies’ room.

"It’s a toilet that is celebrated the world round. It is the greatest toilet, and men won’t be allowed to see it," Ms Kaechele said in Australian media reports.


High Tea for Two, Ladies Lounge at Mona, curated by Kirsha Kaechele

A museum tried reverse misogyny. Now a man is suing. In defending its case at the tribunal, Mona’s counsel, Catherine Scott, argued that the Ladies Lounge provided equal opportunity to a group of people – women – who had been historically discriminated against and excluded from many spaces.

Some of the key artworks, like the ones by Picasso, will be moved into the museum's existing ladies toilet to ensure "uninterrupted viewing" while she applies for other exemptions.



And only on Sundays, men would be allowed into the space - to learn ironing and laundry folding.

"Women can bring in all their clean laundry and the men can go through a series of graceful movements (designed by a Rinpoche and refined by tai chi masters) to fold them," she said, in an interview published by the museum on Tuesday.

Mr Lau's lawsuit has been a "blessing in disguise", she said.

"Thanks to the ruling, we have no choice but to open ourselves to a whole range of enriching experiences - spiritual, educational... to discover fascinating new possibilities, and to become better," she said.

Ms Kaechele previously told reporters that the high-stakes case had made it feel like her artwork was coming to life, and signalled that she would fight it all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.

[DaveLDaveL]

Free wine hidden in small print claimed after three months



A bottle of "good wine" would be sent to whoever spotted the clause in the small print on the Tax Policy Associates' website

A free bottle of wine has finally been claimed after being hidden in the privacy policy of a tax-focused think tank's website for three months.

Tax Policy Associates added the clause in February as an experiment, to see if anyone would actually read the full terms.

The non-profit organisation's head Dan Neidle shared the story in a tweet on X, external, formerly Twitter, saying the first person to spot it would get sent a "bottle of good wine".

Mr Neidle - who has previously reported on high-profile tax cases, including that of former Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi - told the BBC it was his idea to add the wine offer.

The business has recently changed the small print on its site, external after the eagle-eyed discovery.

"We know nobody reads this, because we added in February that we’d send a bottle of good wine to the first person to contact us, and it was only in May that we got a response," a sentence in their privacy policy now reads.

Mr Neidle said it was "my childish protest that all businesses have to have a privacy policy and no one reads it".

"Every tiny coffee shop has to have a privacy policy on their website, it’s crazy. It’s money that’s being wasted."



The policy has since been updated after someone claimed the wine


Any company that holds personal data, including small businesses and charities, has to have a privacy policy, according to the Information Commissioner's Office, external.

It is a key requirement under the UK's General Data Protection Regulation 2018 (GDPR).

Mr Neidle said the person who spotted the passage on his website "kind of cheated" because they were trying to write their own policy and looking at examples. Then they emailed the organisation saying they guessed the bottle of wine was gone, but they were in luck.

Mr Neidle said he originally did something similar when his organisation first launched over two years ago. Back then it took four months until someone spotted it.

"We did it again to see if people were paying more attention and they’re not," he added.

As for the "good wine" in question that the site referred to; the lucky recipient was sent a bottle of Château de Sales 2013/14, Pomerol, external as a reward.

Mr Neidle said his approach was inspired by one used by the band Van Halen, who would ask for a bowl of M&Ms with all the brown ones removed as part of their tour rider.

It was not because they were picky eaters though, they included it as a test to make sure promoters were paying attention to their requests, which often included complicated technical instructions.

“It was a brilliant strategy to see if people were paying attention," Mr Neidle said.

[Alessa9]

Archaeologists discover what may be oldest known piece of bread

Archaeologists in Turkey have uncovered what could be the oldest known piece of fermented bread made by humans at a site dating back to around 6,600 BC.

The piece of bread was discovered in Turkey’s central Anatolia in the ancient stone age site of Çatalhöyük – one of the largest and best-preserved remains of an early agrarian society around 8,600 years old.

Researchers suspect the early human settlement in the Turkish province of Konya flourished between 6,700 to 6,500 BC, and declined to be abandoned around 5,950 BC.

Artefacts and structures uncovered at the site over the years suggest the residents of Çatalhöyük were pioneers of early farming, known to have cultivated wheat and barley as well as herding sheep and goats.

The Unesco World Heritage site was one of the world’s first places of urbanisation, accommodating over 8,000 people in its heyday between around 10,000 BC to 2,000 BC.

In a new excavation at the site, researchers have uncovered the remains of a building with what appears to be an ancient oven surrounded by wheat, barley, and pea seeds.

Archaeologists also found a “spongy” organic residue near the oven with the mark of a finger pressed at its center, which they determined to be uncooked fermented bread.

Microscopic imaging confirmed that the dough sample was indeed fermented with air bubbles trapped in it along with traces of starch grains.

“It is an exciting discovery for Turkey and the world,” biologist Salih Kavak from Turkey’s Gaziantep University said in a statement.

The earliest known evidence of fermented bread before this discovery was from ancient Egypt around 1,500 BC.

“The fact that the building was covered with fine clay has allowed both wood and bread to be stored to this day,” Ali Umut Türkcan, an archaeologist at Necmettin Erbakan University, said.

“We found that the bread has a porous, spongy structure and was not cooked,” Yasin Ramazan Eker, another archaeologist from the university, added.

[Fatima99]

Telecom Boxes Becoming EV Charging Stations Across Britain–60,000 Curbside Cabinets Could Be Adapted



British telecom giant BT Group is now converting curbside cable boxes into charging stations for electric cars, helping Great Britain accelerate its transition to a net zero emissions economy.

Many of BT’s existing curbside cabinets are becoming obsolete due to people moving to wireless telephone and cable provision, but the same lines that provide electricity to the boxes should be able to fully charge an electric vehicle in about 6 to 8 hours.

These street cabinets are known in the industry as DSLAM boxes, which stands for digital subscriber line access multiplier. 7.4 kilowatt-hours are delivered to them for the furnishing of various telecom services, which means no additional power lines need to be laid for a charging station, and no digging up of the existing cabinet infrastructure needs be done.

The first such conversion has already been done in a place called East Lothian, Scotland.

BT Group is envisioning a payment application over the phone, or via contactless payment hardware, but hasn’t released any pricing details.

With over 60,000 such DSLAM boxes across the UK, BT Group say they envision the conversion as an excellent opportunity to “repurpose existing street furniture.”

There are currently about 54,000 charging stations in the UK, but drivers’ number one reason for selecting an internal combustion engine vehicle is the anxiety that a charging station won’t be available along their route, if driving an EV.

To alleviate this real concern, the government hopes to encourage or finance the construction of 300,000 charging stations, and BT is planning to retrofit as many as 600 DSLAM cabinets by the end of the year.

Less Invasive Way to Collect Blood Is Inspired by Leeches and Needs No Medical Training


credit – Zoratto et al. Advanced Science 2024

A new blood-draw device that’s painless but more reliable than a finger prick has been developed by researchers in Zurich to help physicians bypass two major problems with taking blood samples.

Needle phobia is a real thing, and can lead to sudden exhaustion, fainting, and dehydration. On the other hand, the classic finger prick device from your childhood was actually never a reliable tool, as it takes too little blood and produces imprecise measurements.

Now, a third option utilizing suction cups and microneedles will hopefully solve all these problems at once and more, since it doesn’t require any medical training to use.

The merest of drawbacks is the ghoulish inspiration the inventors drew from to design the device. Leeches attach to their hosts and suck blood by the creation of negative pressure—in other words, suction.

Rather than designing a tiny robotic leech, the team installed a series of microneedles in the center of a less-than-one-inch suction cup. When placed on an upper arm, the suction allows the needles to draw blood without penetrating very deeply at all into the skin, resulting in little to no discomfort.

The new device is very cost-effective to produce, says Nicole Zoratto, a postdoc at ETH Zurich and lead author of a paper describing her invention.

Zoratto also sees a future application for the new device in low-income regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, where tropical diseases like malaria are diagnosed through blood sampling.

No special training is needed, and the micro-nature of the needles means there’s less of a risk of injury from used needles.

Before the device can be widely used on humans the material composition still needs to be optimized, the ETH Zurich press writes. Above all, safety must be tested with a small group of test subjects. As such studies are complex and expensive, the research group is still looking for a partner for further funding, for example, a charitable foundation.

[lush]

Polish Mint Creates World’s First Levitating Coin
022624*

UFO MP-1766 is the world’s first levitating legal tender. It was commissioned by the Cameroon National Bank and created by Mennica Polska, the Polish Mint.

The name of this innovative coin was inspired by its likeness to a flying saucer and its ability to slowly rotate in the air like an alien spacecraft. The number 1766 reflects the founding date of the Polish Mint as well as the coin’s denomination, 1,766 Cameroonian francs ($2.91). As you can probably guess, although it can be used in Cameroon as legal tender, the value of this tiny wonder of engineering is considerably higher than its official denomination. With a limited mintage of only 510 units worldwide, the UFO MP-1766 has a pre-order price of over $1,000. The prototype coin was unveiled at last week’s Technical Forum in Berlin and will be available this upcoming spring.



“We wondered what to surprise the participants of the Technical Forum with this time… Łukasz Karda, director of the Polish Mint’s technical and production planning department,” told the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper. “We assembled a team of experts from various company divisions, including marketing and production. The idea was spontaneous: ‘Let’s make a flying coin’. At first, it sounded like a good joke, but with each passing day, it became clear that we were up to the task. We found the right technology and it worked. Work went smoothly, production went rapidly.”

Mennica Polska hasn’t offered too many details on the technology behind UFO MP-1766, but according to the little information we do have, the innovative coin has a small motor embedded in it which is activated by a magnetic field generated between the coin and the special base it comes with. This allows the silver coin to levitate and slowly rotate like a flying saucer.



Apart from its levitating capabilities and futuristic design, the UFO MP-1766 also has fluorescent elements that glow in the dark, adding to the dramatic effect.

Mennica Polska is the only private body permitted to manufacture coins and investment products in Poland and the sole manufacturer of commemorative coins issued by the National Bank of Poland. To make the UFO MP-1766 legal tender and not just a levitating piece of silver, the company decided to partner with an “exotic” central bank.



“We cannot simply create a coin that goes into official circulation, because only central banks have the right to issue money,” Łukasz Karda said. “Therefore, there is a business model of getting in touch with somewhat exotic foreign banks, in this case the Bank of Cameroon.”

[rflash8]

A scorching, rocky planet twice Earth’s size has a thick atmosphere, scientists say


This illustration provided by NASA in 2017 depicts the planet 55 Cancri e, right, orbiting its star. A thick atmosphere has been detected around the planet that’s twice as big as Earth in a solar system about 41 light years away, researchers reported Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP)

DALLAS (AP) — A thick atmosphere has been detected around a planet that’s twice as big as Earth in a nearby solar system, researchers reported Wednesday.

The so-called super Earth — known as 55 Cancri e — is among the few rocky planets outside our solar system with a significant atmosphere, wrapped a blanket of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. The exact amounts are unclear. Earth’s atmosphere is a blend of nitrogen, oxygen, argon and other gases.

“It’s probably the firmest evidence yet that this planet has an atmosphere,” said Ian Crossfield, an astronomer at the University of Kansas who studies exoplanets and was not involved with the research.

The research was published in the journal Nature.

Super Earth refers to a planet’s size — bigger than Earth but smaller than Neptune. The boiling temperatures on this planet — which can reach as hot as 4,200 degrees Fahrenheit (2,300 degrees Celsius) – mean that it is unlikely to host life.

Instead, scientists say the discovery is a promising sign that other such rocky planets with thick atmospheres could exist that may be more hospitable.

The exoplanet 41 light years away is eight times heavier than Earth and circles its star Copernicus so closely that it has permanent day and night sides. A light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles (9.7 trillion kilometers). Its surface is encrusted with magma oceans.

To identify the makeup of its atmosphere, researchers studied Webb Space Telescope observations before and after the planet passed behind its star.

They separated the light emitted from the planet versus its star and used the data to calculate the planet’s temperature. There’s evidence the planet’s heat was being distributed more evenly across its surface – a party trick atmospheres are known for.

Gases from its magma oceans may play a key role in holding its atmosphere steady. Exploring this super Earth may also yield clues to how Earth and Mars might have evolved first with magma oceans that have since cooled, scientists say.

“It’s a rare window,” said Renyu Hu, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who was part of the research. “We can look into this early phase of planet evolution.”

[PennySerenade]

Long before there was the Marlboro cowboy, there was the Marlboro baby


Get me a pack of Malboors and make sure they're lights, I'm a god damn baby!

Marlboro cigarettes are the world's best-selling brand. And for decades, the brand was personified by the Marlboro cowboy, and the mythical place known as Marlboro Country.



Marlboro was originally a women's cigarette. But it started losing market share, so parent company Philip Morris took one last chance to save the brand – and repositioned it to be a man's cigarette.

Their advertising agency chose the cowboy as the ultimate male image. But, before all that happened, as Marlboro was aimed at women, the print ads Marlboro ran were kind of shocking.

One ad shows two babies – maybe one year old. One baby says:

"Gee Mommy, you sure enjoy your Marlboro."

And if that weren't enough, the other baby says:

"Before you scold me, Mom, maybe you better light up a Marlboro."

Hard to believe a cigarette company would put babies in their ads. Those ads ran often in the 1950s – and could be seen in prestige magazines like the Saturday Evening Post.

7-Up ran some questionable ads in the mid-50s. One had a baby drinking directly from a 7-Up bottle, cradling it as a baby would normally hold a bottle of milk. The headline says:

"Why we have the youngest customers in the business."

The ad goes on to say:

"This young man is 11 months old, and he isn't our youngest customer by any means. 7-Up is so pure, so wholesome, you can give it to babies and feel good about it. By the way, Mom, if your toddlers have to be coaxed to drink their milk, add 7-Up to their milk in equal parts."



Hard to believe the soda industry would make a pitch that directly – and that boldly – to moms and babies. That ad is from 1955.

The headline on a print ad for DuPont cellophane once said:

"You see so many good things in DuPont cellophane."

The visual actually showed three babies wrapped in cellophane.

Another ad for Black Flag insecticide shows a baby with the headline:

"No flies on me, thanks to DDT."

The ad says Black Flag with DDT is "long preferred by housewives everywhere."

Believe it or not, all these ads were deemed acceptable when they first appeared. There was no discernable pushback – no demands to yank them off the air – none were banned. It was a different time.

Marshall McLuhan once said that advertisements were the cave art of the 20th century. That is true. Look at the ads from any decade, and you instantly get a sense of what was politically correct, what the current lingo was, what the latest fashions and most popular products were, and, a sense of the prevailing attitudes.

[midgemental]

Burn out is real...
Why two-thirds of parents feel lonely and isolated by demands of parenthood: study

Two out of three moms and dads feel lonely and isolated by the demands of parenthood, according to new research.

A similar number (62 percent) say they are burned out by their responsibilities as a parent.

More than a third of moms and dads (38 percent) feel they have no-one to support them in their parenting role while nearly eight out of 10 (79 percent) would value a way to connect with other parents outside of work and home.

The survey of American moms and dads, conducted by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, found 66 percent experience isolation and loneliness from the demands of parenthood.

“Even the places that I do try and seek out other parents, it’s kind of like we’re lost in the shuffle because it’s at daycare drop-off or pick-up where everyone just has tunnel vision,” Kate Gawlik said.

Anne Helms, a mother of two young children in Columbus, Ohio, said: “I work from home full-time and I actually have a job where I’m on camera a lot and I’m Zoom calling people very often.

“However, you don’t get the small talk, so you don’t get the, ‘How are your children? How’s it going?’ And you don’t get a lot of genuine answers when you do ask, ‘How is it going?’

“There are some days where the most chit-chat or idle talk that I get is with my dog because I work alone.”
Start your day with all you need to know

Parental burnout researcher Professor Kate Gawlik, of The Ohio State University College of Nursing, said: “It’s pretty obvious that there is a huge difference between a virtual meeting and being in person.

“You miss a lot of those small interactions that you’d have in the hallway. Just a lot more of that personal touch has been eliminated, and in many regards it’s just never been infiltrated back into our society.”

Anne said: “Even the places that I do try and seek out other parents, it’s kind of like we’re lost in the shuffle because it’s at daycare drop-off or pick-up where everyone just has tunnel vision.

“And I think it’s hard to make friends when you’re feeling vulnerable.”

Over 60% of parents feel burnout from their responsibilities.

Prof Gawlik, a mother of four young children herself, highlighted the knock-on negative impacts of loneliness.

She said: “Loneliness has been shown to affect both your physical and mental health.

“So anything from cardiovascular disease to depression, anxiety, cognitive decline, even your immune system can be affected when you’re lonely.

I live by the 9-minute theory for parenting: These are the times of day when kids need you the most

“In fact, one study showed if you are in social isolation for a prolonged amount of time, it’s equivalent to smoking about 15 cigarettes a day.”

Prof Gawlik has designed a six-week parenting program to bring parents together to be vulnerable, commiserate about challenges they face and find support.

The program helped Anne realize she wasn’t alone.

She said: “I think the biggest thing is she validated that if you’re working and you have children and you’re a conscientious parent, it would be wild if you weren’t burned out.

“So I felt very validated when she said, ‘It’s okay that you’re here.’”

Prof Gawlik also stressed the need for “self-care” and the value of connection.

She said: “To have somebody that you can relate to and that feeling of connection that somebody else is dealing with what you are dealing with can be so powerful when it comes to combating feelings of loneliness.”

Anne said: “I think it equips us to create better futures for our children; I think it makes us healthier.

“I think that the ripple effect from connecting with other parents and getting support when you need it is immeasurable.

“It makes you a better employee. It makes you a better spouse, parent, friend.

“I think that it just enriches our lives — just like parenting does, but it just makes you level up.”

Prof Gawlik recommends moms and dads conducting an online search for parent groups in the local community.

She added: “Parenting can feel very lonely at times, but it will be easier if you have people around who can support you.

“It can be hard to start seeking out connections because, to some degree, you will have to be vulnerable and, sometimes, it will take time and effort.

“But just take the first step.”

https://nypost.com/2024/04/28/lifestyle ... ood-study/

[Misstee]

Strong solar storm hits Earth, could disrupt communications and produce northern lights in US


By MARCIA DUNN
Updated 6:30 PM PDT, May 10, 2024

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An unusually strong solar storm hitting Earth could produce northern lights in the U.S. this weekend and potentially disrupt power and communications.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated. The effects were due to last through the weekend and possibly into next week.



NOAA alerted operators of power plants and spacecraft in orbit to take precautions, as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“For most people here on planet Earth, they won’t have to do anything,” said Rob Steenburgh, a scientist with NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.

The storm could produce northern lights as far south in the U.S. as Alabama and Northern California, according to NOAA. But it was hard to predict and experts stressed it would not be the dramatic curtains of color normally associated with the northern lights, but more like splashes of greenish hues.

“That’s really the gift from space weather — the aurora,” said Steenburgh. He and his colleagues said the best aurora views may come from phone cameras, which are better at capturing light than the naked eye.

Snap a picture of the sky and “there might be actually a nice little treat there for you,” said Mike Bettwy, operations chief for the prediction center.

The most intense solar storm in recorded history, in 1859, prompted auroras in central America and possibly even Hawaii. “We are not anticipating that” but it could come close, said NOAA space weather forecaster Shawn Dahl.

This storm poses a risk for high-voltage transmission lines for power grids, not the electrical lines ordinarily found in people’s homes, Dahl told reporters. Satellites also could be affected, which in turn could disrupt navigation and communication services here on Earth.

An extreme geomagnetic storm in 2003, for example, took out power in Sweden and damaged power transformers in South Africa.

Even when the storm is over, signals between GPS satellites and ground receivers could be scrambled or lost, according to NOAA. But there are so many navigation satellites that any outages should not last long, Steenburgh noted.

The sun has produced strong solar flares since Wednesday, resulting in at least seven outbursts of plasma. Each eruption — known as a coronal mass ejection — can contain billions of tons of plasma and magnetic field from the sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona.

The flares seem to be associated with a sunspot that’s 16 times the diameter of Earth, according to NOAA. It’s all part of the solar activity that’s ramping up as the sun approaches the peak of its 11-year cycle.

NASA said the storm posed no serious threat to the seven astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The biggest concern is the increased radiation levels, and the crew could move to a better shielded part of the station if necessary, according to Steenburgh.

Increased radiation also could threaten some of NASA’s science satellites. Extremely sensitive instruments will be turned off, if necessary, to avoid damage, said Antti Pulkkinen, director of the space agency’s heliophysics science division.

Several sun-focused spacecraft are monitoring all the action.

“This is exactly the kinds of things we want to observe,” Pulkkinen said.

[goldie0608]

Woman Found Living in Supermarket Store Sign with Computer and Coffee Maker for a Year, Police Say

Contractors found the woman's living space on the roof of a Family Fare Supermarket in Midland on April 23, according to police



Police in Michigan say a woman was recently found living inside a grocery store sign, where she seemingly had been staying for a year.

Contractors were working on the roof of a Family Fare Supermarket in Midland on April 23 when they discovered the woman and her living space, according to the Associated Press and USA Today.

Midland Police Officer Brennon Warren said the department has dubbed her “the Roof Ninja,” MLive.com reported.

“She essentially made it home,” the officer added.

The woman had made herself at home inside the top portion of the triangle-shaped sign, which was accessible through a small door, according to the AP and USA Today.

Warren said there appeared to be “some flooring that was laid down” and “a mini desk” as well as clothing, a Keurig coffee maker, a printer and a computer.

It is unclear how the woman continually accessed the roof. She told officers she had been living there for about a year, MLive.com reported.

"People would see her from time to time and then all of a sudden she would vanish," Warren said, per USA Today. "No one really knew where she went but no one ever indicated or thought that she would be up on top of the roof."

The woman reportedly agreed to leave shortly after police confronted her about her living situation. She was advised not to return and was escorted from the property.

Police said they offered her information about services for unhoused individuals, but she declined, per the reports. No charges have been filed.

The woman at the center of the story is reportedly employed, but not at Family Fare. SpartanNash, the parent company of Family Fare, said in a statement that store employees responded “with the utmost compassion and professionalism.”

“Ensuring there is ample safe, affordable housing continues to be a widespread issue nationwide that our community needs to partner in solving,” spokesperson Adrienne Chance said.

This sound-suppressing silk can create quiet spaces

Researchers engineered a hair-thin fabric to create a lightweight, compact, and efficient mechanism to reduce noise transmission in a large room.



We are living in a very noisy world. From the hum of traffic outside your window to the next-door neighbor’s blaring TV to sounds from a co-worker’s cubicle, unwanted noise remains a resounding problem.

To cut through the din, an interdisciplinary collaboration of researchers from MIT and elsewhere developed a sound-suppressing silk fabric that could be used to create quiet spaces.

The fabric, which is barely thicker than a human hair, contains a special fiber that vibrates when a voltage is applied to it. The researchers leveraged those vibrations to suppress sound in two different ways.

In one, the vibrating fabric generates sound waves that interfere with an unwanted noise to cancel it out, similar to noise-canceling headphones, which work well in a small space like your ears but do not work in large enclosures like rooms or planes.

In the other, more surprising technique, the fabric is held still to suppress vibrations that are key to the transmission of sound. This prevents noise from being transmitted through the fabric and quiets the volume beyond. This second approach allows for noise reduction in much larger spaces like rooms or cars.

By using common materials like silk, canvas, and muslin, the researchers created noise-suppressing fabrics which would be practical to implement in real-world spaces. For instance, one could use such a fabric to make dividers in open workspaces or thin fabric walls that prevent sound from getting through.

“Noise is a lot easier to create than quiet. In fact, to keep noise out we dedicate a lot of space to thick walls. [First author] Grace’s work provides a new mechanism for creating quiet spaces with a thin sheet of fabric,” says Yoel Fink, a professor in the departments of Materials Science and Engineering and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, a Research Laboratory of Electronics principal investigator, and senior author of a paper on the fabric.

The study’s lead author is Grace (Noel) Yang SM ’21, PhD ’24. Co-authors include MIT graduate students Taigyu Joo, Hyunhee Lee, Henry Cheung, and Yongyi Zhao; Zachary Smith, the Robert N. Noyce Career Development Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT; graduate student Guanchun Rui and professor Lei Zhu of Case Western University; graduate student Jinuan Lin and Assistant Professor Chu Ma of the University of Wisconsin at Madison; and Latika Balachander, a graduate student at the Rhode Island School of Design. An open-access paper about the research appeared recently in Advanced Materials.


MIT researchers developed a silk fabric, which is barely thicker than a human hair, that can suppress unwanted noise and reduce noise transmission in a large room. Credits: Image: MIT News; iStock

Silky silence

The sound-suppressing silk builds off the group’s prior work to create fabric microphones.

In that research, they sewed a single strand of piezoelectric fiber into fabric. Piezoelectric materials produce an electrical signal when squeezed or bent. When a nearby noise causes the fabric to vibrate, the piezoelectric fiber converts those vibrations into an electrical signal, which can capture the sound.

In the new work, the researchers flipped that idea to create a fabric loudspeaker that can be used to cancel out soundwaves.

“While we can use fabric to create sound, there is already so much noise in our world. We thought creating silence could be even more valuable,” Yang says.

Applying an electrical signal to the piezoelectric fiber causes it to vibrate, which generates sound. The researchers demonstrated this by playing Bach’s “Air” using a 130-micrometer sheet of silk mounted on a circular frame.

To enable direct sound suppression, the researchers use a silk fabric loudspeaker to emit sound waves that destructively interfere with unwanted sound waves. They control the vibrations of the piezoelectric fiber so that sound waves emitted by the fabric are opposite of unwanted sound waves that strike the fabric, which can cancel out the noise.

However, this technique is only effective over a small area. So, the researchers built off this idea to develop a technique that uses fabric vibrations to suppress sound in much larger areas, like a bedroom.

Let’s say your next-door neighbors are playing foosball in the middle of the night. You hear noise in your bedroom because the sound in their apartment causes your shared wall to vibrate, which forms sound waves on your side.

To suppress that sound, the researchers could place the silk fabric onto your side of the shared wall, controlling the vibrations in the fiber to force the fabric to remain still. This vibration-mediated suppression prevents sound from being transmitted through the fabric.

“If we can control those vibrations and stop them from happening, we can stop the noise that is generated, as well,” Yang says.



The fabric can suppress sound by generating sound waves that interfere with an unwanted noise to cancel it out (as seen in figure C) or by being held still to suppress vibrations that are key to the transmission of sound (as seen in figure D). Credits: Image: Courtesy of the researchers, MIT

A mirror for sound

Surprisingly, the researchers found that holding the fabric still causes sound to be reflected by the fabric, resulting in a thin piece of silk that reflects sound like a mirror does with light.

Their experiments also revealed that both the mechanical properties of a fabric and the size of its pores affect the efficiency of sound generation. While silk and muslin have similar mechanical properties, the smaller pore sizes of silk make it a better fabric loudspeaker.

But the effective pore size also depends on the frequency of sound waves. If the frequency is low enough, even a fabric with relatively large pores could function effectively, Yang says.

When they tested the silk fabric in direct suppression mode, the researchers found that it could significantly reduce the volume of sounds up to 65 decibels (about as loud as enthusiastic human conversation). In vibration-mediated suppression mode, the fabric could reduce sound transmission up to 75 percent.

These results were only possible due to a robust group of collaborators, Fink says. Graduate students at the Rhode Island School of Design helped the researchers understand the details of constructing fabrics; scientists at the University of Wisconsin at Madison conducted simulations; researchers at Case Western Reserve University characterized materials; and chemical engineers in the Smith Group at MIT used their expertise in gas membrane separation to measure airflow through the fabric.

Moving forward, the researchers want to explore the use of their fabric to block sound of multiple frequencies. This would likely require complex signal processing and additional electronics.

In addition, they want to further study the architecture of the fabric to see how changing things like the number of piezoelectric fibers, the direction in which they are sewn, or the applied voltages could improve performance.

“There are a lot of knobs we can turn to make this sound-suppressing fabric really effective. We want to get people thinking about controlling structural vibrations to suppress sound. This is just the beginning,” says Yang.

This work is funded, in part, by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Army Research Office (ARO), the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

Premature twin given 50% survival odds completes London Marathon in under four hours
Source: Yahoo!


Callum Davidson, 26, with his London Marathon medal after running for Crosshouse Children's Fund and, inset, Callum and Andrew at birth
Image: Crosshouse Children's Fund

A student who was given a 50% chance of survival when he was born prematurely has completed the London Marathon in under four hours.

Callum Davidson and his twin brother, Andrew, were born three months early at Ayrshire Central Hospital in Irvine in August 1997.

Their mother was told the pair had just a 50% chance of survival, and even if they did it was likely they'd have a low quality of life and would struggle athletically and academically.

Callum is currently studying a PhD in Nanomedicine at the University of Strathclyde, while brother Andrew is a jet engine mechanic and keen Crossfitter.

In addition, the former completed the London Marathon in under four hours having won a place in the hotly-contested ballot.

He ran to raise money for Crosshouse Children's Fund, the charity for babies and children in hospitals across Ayrshire, managing a total so far of £1,420.

Mr. Davidson said: "I had heard going over Tower Bridge would keep me going and it lived up to expectations. Going 'round Canary Wharf was also so special."

"It was around mile 18 that my headphones died on me, so I had no option but run on the atmosphere. The crowd were so loud and helped me not focus on what my legs were doing. I also had a laugh at some of the signs, like: 'Why do all the cute ones run away?!'"

"I didn't look at my time until the finish line. I was overcome with emotion when I finished and even more so when I saw I was under four hours. Thankfully, I had my sunglasses on, as I couldn't stop crying."


Callum Davidson is met by family at Glasgow Airport after the marathon
Image: Crosshouse Children's Fund

"I flew back home that night, and my family surprised me in the airport with flowers and a banner that had my time on it."

"As it was my first marathon, I wanted to see how my body would cope and recover. Nothing compares to the feeling of crossing that finish line, so I definitely have the marathon bug and have more planned for the next few years!"

Rebekah McGinn, Fundraising Manager at Crosshouse Children's Fund, said: "Thanks to Callum's incredible dedication, hospital families across Ayrshire will be supported in their journey, like he and his brother were by our amazing NHS heroes all those years ago."

"Every keen runner knows London Marathon places are hard to come by - so we are so thankful for Callum's choice to fundraise for Crosshouse Children's Fund when he got that dream place."

Crosshouse Children's Fund has already invested more than £350,000 in projects across Ayrshire and Arran, with 25,000 babies, children and young people requiring hospital treatment in Ayrshire each year.

Ayrshire Central Hospital - formerly known as Irvine Central - where the twins were born was formerly the main maternity unit for the county, with a number of well-known Scots born there.

Former First Ministers Nicola Sturgeon, raised in Dreghorn, and Jack McConnell, from Arran, were both born there as were footballers Kris Boyd, whose family is from Tarbolton, and Steven Naismith who grew up and still lives in Stewarton.

Since 2006, the maternity unit which serves the whole of Ayrshire has been located at University Hospital Crosshouse, near Kilmarnock.

Within the unit, there is an early pregnancy assessment suite (EPAS), maternity outpatient / daycare monitoring, assessment unit, ultrasound department, labour suite, maternity theatres, midwifery suite, inpatient ward and neonatal unit.

Around 4,000 babies are born in the East Ayrshire hospital every year.

A link to Mr. Davidon's fundraiser is available here.

[Zbignieww]

Man rescues waterslide from defunct theme park in Ohio



May 10 (UPI) -- A fan of Ohio's defunct Coney Island theme park decided to keep a small part of the attraction's memory alive by purchasing an entire waterslide.

Adam Woltermann, who spent five seasons working at the Cincinnati water park, said he was dismayed to learn it would be closing permanently in December 2023 and all of the slides, pools and rides would be demolished.

"I went on Facebook and saw a post going out that a business was selling all the Coney slides and all the pool equipment. I looked at it and thought -- why not?" Woltermann told WKRC-TV.

Woltermann purchased the Silver Bullet, a waterslide built at the park in 1945.

"I love the history of it and just Cincinnati history in general and I just thought it would be a cool piece to own," he said.

He had the slide professionally removed and transported to a secret location, where he took some photographs to share on social media.

"I've had a lot of interest in it from different parties across Cincinnati reaching out, trying to purchase it from me, but right now, I'm not really wanting to sell it. I would love to see it in use again, but no immediate plans," he said.

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2024/05/10 ... 715373288/

[johngriffen]

I sometimes get REALLY DEPRESSED reviewing the news these days.
It's always about a global pandemic threatening life as we know it,
protests around the world, stupid politicians, natural disasters,
or some other really bad story.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

Welcome to The mobi weekly news magazine
IN OTHER NEWS
SATURDAY MAY 11
What is it?
Here is your chance to become an "ACE REPORTER" for our weekly news magazine.
It is your job to find weird, funny or "good feel" stories from around the world and share them with our readers in our weekly magazine

How do you play?
Just post a story that you have come across that made you smile, laugh, feel good...
BUT NOTHING DEPRESSING

EXAMPLE POST

​Naked sunbather chases wild boar through park after it steals his laptop bag

A naked sunbather was seen chasing wild boar through a park after it stole his laptop bag.
Amusing photographs from Germany show the man running after the animal to try and claim the plastic bag back.
But the cheeky boar and its two piglets appear to be too quick for the sunbather, who can't keep up with their speedy little trotters.
As the incident unfolds, groups of friends and family sat on the grass watch on and laugh.
Heads are seen turning in surprise and amusement in the hilarious photographs.
The incident happened at Teufelssee Lake - a bathing spot in the Grunwell Forest in Berlin, Germany.

Rules:
Each Edition of IN OTHER NEWS will be open for 7 days...
You can post as many stories as you like, but you will only get paid for One Story in any 24 hour period
So in other words, you can only earn WRZ$ once a day.
Each news day will start when I post announcing it
OR at:
9:00 AM CHICAGO TIME (UTC -5)
3:00 PM GMT (UTC -0)
on those days I space out and forget to post or can't due to Real Life
Stories may be accompanied with images - but No big images, please! 800x800 pixels wide maximum
Videos are allowed, but please keep them short, and post a short summary for those that don't like to click on videos
No Duplicate stories - Where a post has been edited resulting in duplicates, then the last one in time gets disallowed.
And please limit this to reasonably family friendly stories

Reward:
Each news story posted that I feel is acceptable (must be a real story, too few words or simply a headline are not considered acceptable) will earn you 50 WRZ$
If you post multiple stories on any given day, you will only earn 50 WRZ$ for the first story of the Day
All payments will be made at THE END of the weekly news cycle.
Special Bonus - Each week I will award "The Pulitzer Prize" for the best story of the week
The weekly winner of the "The Pulitzer Prize" will receive a 100 WRZ$ bonus
It's just my personal opinion, so my judgement is final

So help bring GOOD news to the members of mobi, and join our reporting team...

IN OTHER NEWS