Category Archives: Reviews

Art: ‘Hurricane Paintings’ Of Chinese-French Painter Zao Wou-Ki (1921 – 2013)

Zao Wou-Ki was a Chinese-French painter. He was a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Zao Wou-Ki graduated from the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, where he studied under Fang Ganmin and Wu Dayu.

Master artist Zao Wou-Ki was one of the titans of Chinese art in the post- war period. His energetic painting ‘13.02.62’, offered in our upcoming auction Beyond Legends: Modern Art Evening Sale (18 April | Hong Kong), is from the artist’s powerful ‘Hurricane Period’ when he arrived at the pinnacle of his career. Discover how Zao perfectly fused Eastern culture with Western modernism, bringing dynamic inspiration to this work.

Studies: ‘Coffee’ – Machine Learning Review Shows Benefits Of Drinking It

“It may be good for you,” says Dariush Mozaffarian, dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. “I think we can say with good certainty it’s not bad for you.” (Additives are another story.)

After the link appeared between coffee intake and a reduced risk of heart failure in the Framingham data, Kao confirmed the result by using the algorithm to correctly predict the relationship between coffee intake and heart failure in two other respected data sets. Kosorok describes the approach as “thoughtful” and says that it “seems like pretty good evidence.”

Should you drink coffee? If so, how much? These seem like questions that a society able to create vaccines for a new respiratory virus within a year should have no trouble answering. And yet the scientific literature on coffee illustrates a frustration that readers, not to mention plenty of researchers, have with nutrition studies: The conclusions are always changing, and they frequently contradict one another.

Read full article in the New York Times

Naval Warfare: The New British ‘Dreadnought Class Submarine’ (Video)

The Dreadnought class of submarines will replace Britain’s existing fleet of Vanguards when they enter service from the early 2030s. Built by BAE and Rolls-Royce, the Dreadnought will have a payload of 16 nuclear missiles and torpedoes.

1980’s View: History Of The VW Beetle Wizzard (Video)

Born in the U.S.A, this 1960s VW Beetle Wizard gained its popularity in the midst of a custom car phenomenon with looks overriding performance, though it didn’t kick off in the UK until the 80s. Eye-catching, noisy and cool was the goal. About Car S.O.S Series 9: The best car restoration series with a big heart is back to bring a warm smile to all!

Master mechanic Fuzz Townshend and parts-blagging petrol head Tim Shaw set off on a mission to save decaying classic cars from their unsuspecting but very much deserving owners. The cars are taken to the Car S.O.S. garage with Tim & Fuzz racing against the clock to carefully restore it to its former glory, leading to the big, surprise reveal.

Cocktails With A Curator: Italian Painter Rosalba Carriera’s Portraits

In this week’s “Cocktails with a Curator,” Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Xavier F. Salomon celebrates Women’s History Month by examining two exquisite pastels by Rosalba Carriera that recently entered the collection through a bequest from Alexis Gregory and are on view for the first time on the third floor of Frick Madison. Celebrated for her technically innovative pastel portraits, Rosalba was one of the most famous artists of 18th-century Italy, particularly remarkable given the male-dominated society in which she lived. This week’s complementary cocktail is the Vesper Martini.

To view these paintings in detail, please visit our website: https://www.frick.org/rosalbaportraits

Technology: Ranking 10 Printers That Save On Ink

Printers are still the worst but at least new ink-tank printers help you save money on ink. WSJ’s Joanna Stern survived testing 10 home printers from Epson, HP, Brother and Canon to tell you which are worth buying. Personal Technology With Joanna Stern

Biotechnology: ‘Genome Sequencing – Unlocking The Covid Code’ (NY Times)

The advent of commercial genome sequencing has recently, and credibly, been compared to the invention of the microscope, a claim that led me to wonder whether this new, still relatively obscure technology, humming away in well-equipped labs around the world, would prove to be the most important innovation of the 21st century.

And unexpectedly, Covid-19 has proved to be the catalyst. “What the pandemic has done is accelerate the adoption of genomics into infectious disease by several years,” says deSouza, the Illumina chief executive. He also told me he believes that the pandemic has accelerated the adoption of genomics into society more broadly — suggesting that quietly, in the midst of chaos and a global catastrophe, the age of cheap, rapid sequencing has arrived.

Read full article in the NY Times

Science: Social Insects As Models For Aging, Space Mission Crew Conflicts

Most research on aging has been done on model organisms with limited life spans, such as flies and worms. Host Meagan Cantwell talks to science writer Yao-Hua Law about how long-living social insects—some of which survive for up to 30 years—can provide new insights into aging.

Also in this episode, host Sarah Crespi talks with Noshir Contractor, the Jane S. & William J. White Professor of Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University, about his AAAS session on keeping humans in harmony during long space missions and how mock missions on Earth are being applied to plans for a crewed mission to Mars.