LINKS - August 10th, 2022
Welcome to LINKS — my attempt to provide Rhapsody readers with five interesting stories that tell us something about what it means to be human. LINKS is published every Wednesday. Have a link you want to share? Drop it in the comments.
Math error: A new study overturns 100-year-old understanding of color perception
By Los Alamos National Laboratory, Phys.org
“‘Our research shows that the current mathematical model of how the eye perceives color differences is incorrect. That model was suggested by Bernhard Riemann and developed by Hermann von Helmholtz and Erwin Schrödinger—all giants in mathematics and physics—and proving one of them wrong is pretty much the dream of a scientist,’ said Bujack.”
Sneeze by Sneeze, Sponges Fill the Seas With Their Mucus
“Studying this mucus might improve scientists’ understanding of how microbes, and possibly disease, are transmitted in reef ecosystems, said Blake Ushijima, who studies corals at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and was not involved in the new research. He’s also struck by what this study could teach us about our own evolution.
“‘This could give us hints of how early life evolved from these squishy brainless things into these complex organisms building spaceships,’ Dr. Ushijima said.”
Aristotle was wrong and so are we: there are far more than five senses
Produced by Kellen Quinn, aeon
“Scientists have long known that there’s much more to our experience than the five senses (or ‘outward wits’) described by Aristotle – hearing, sight, smell, touch and taste. Yet the myth of five senses persists, perhaps because a clearer understanding of our sensory experience at the neurological level has only recently started to take shape. In this installment of Aeon’s In Sight series, the British philosopher Barry C Smith argues that the multisensory view of human experience that’s currently emerging in neuroscience could make philosophising about our senses much more accurate, and richer, allowing philosophers to complement the work of scientists in important ways. But first, philosophy must catch up to the major advances being made in brain science.”
How the secrets of ancient cuneiform texts are being revealed by AI
By Alison George, New Scientist
“Much of the world’s first writing, carved into clay tablets, remains undeciphered. Now AI is helping us piece together this ancient Mesopotamian script, revealing the incredible stories of men, women and children at the dawn of history.”
No stone unturned: new insights from community archaeology on Hadrian’s Wall
By Rob Collins and Jane Harrison, The Past
“How did the Romans source the stone used for Hadrian’s Wall, and what can we find out about the afterlife of these materials in post-Roman centuries? Since January 2019, the Hadrian’s Wall Community Archaeology Project (WallCAP) has been working to answer these questions, to help local communities and volunteers engage with the frontier fortifications, and to leave the monument in better condition for future visitors.”