New Science Podcasts: Coronavirus Contact Tracing Apps, Sea Otters

science-magazine-podcastsStaff Writer Kelly Servick joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about the ins and outs of coronavirus contact tracing apps—what they do, how they work, and how to calculate whether they are crushing the curve. 

Edward Gregr, a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, talks with Sarah about the controversial reintroduction of sea otters to the Northern Pacific Ocean—their home for centuries, before the fur trade nearly wiped out the apex predator in the late 1800s. Gregr brings a unique cost-benefit perspective to his analysis, and finds many trade-offs with economic implications for fisheries For example, sea otters eat shellfish like urchins and crabs, depressing the shellfishing industry; but their diet encourages the growth of kelp forests, which in turn provide a habitat for economically important finfish, like salmon and rockfish.

Top New Digital Catalogs: “Artbook – D.A.P Fall 2020”

Artbook - DAP Catalog Fall 2020“We are proud to announce the Fall 2020 Artbook | D.A.P. Catalog of new books on art and culture.”

Against the odds, our publishers have produced a collection of gorgeous, generous and enlightening new books on some of the world’s most important and relevant artists—whether they be contemporary–like Kara Walker, Gerhard Richter, William Eggleston or Taryn Simon–or historic–like Hilma af Klint, Claude Monet or Rembrandt. Re-discoveries abound this season in the work of west coast sculptor and ceramicist JB Blunk, a facsimile 1982 dymaxion cookbook for Buckminster Fuller’s eighty-sixth birthday and the ultimate new edition of Helen Levitt’s classic A Way of Seeing, to name just a few.

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Artbook - DAP Catalog Fall 2020 Klee

And yes, Reel Art Press really is publishing a collection of Neal Preston’s photographs of the rock band Queen, with texts from the band.

Top New Science Podcasts: Quantum States In Space Lab, Barcode Bacteria

nature-podcastsThis week, the spaceborne lab that allows investigation of quantum states, and the debate surrounding how mountain height is maintained.

In this episode:

01:18 Space lab

Scientists have built a lab on the international space station, allowing them to remotely investigate quantum phenomena in microgravity. Research Article: Aveline et al.News and Views: Quantum matter orbits Earth

08:37 Research Highlights

Trackable ‘barcode’ bacteria, and physicists simulate near light speed cycling. Research Highlight: ‘Barcode’ microbes could help to trace goods — from lettuce to loafersResearch Highlight: What Einstein’s theory means for a cyclist moving at almost light speed

10:48 Maintaining mountain height

For a long time many researchers have thought that mainly erosion controls the height of mountains, but new research suggests that tectonic forces play a bigger role. Research Article: Dielforder et al.News and Views: Mountain height might be controlled by tectonic force, rather than erosion

16:12 Pick of the Briefing

We pick our highlights from the Nature Briefing, including how sleep deprivation kills, and a monumental Maya structure hidden in plain sight. Quanta Magazine: Why Sleep Deprivation KillsNational…

Top American Painters: Watercolorist Tim Oliver – “Sketchy Landscapes”

As with all artists, my style is constantly evolving but presently I describe my style as “sloppy representationalism”.  I paint in a representational style with a “sketchy” quality to it. It seems to fit me.  I’m passionate about interpreting and communicating the character and the emotion of places in my work. 

Bowen Ranch Goat Pens - Tim Oliver

Tim Oliver Watercolors Paintings

Tim Oliver - ArtistWatercolor, in a practiced hand, is the perfect medium for capturing the powerful emotion of a place.  While I paint a variety of subjects, I’m most attracted to landscapes that stir passion within me in the moment.  I’m always drawn to things western, rural, gritty and seemingly mundane or ordinary. Anything evocative of a ‘time long passed by’ will always capture my attention.

Website

World’s Best Small Hotels: “Villa Franca Positano” On Italy’s Amalfi Coast (Video)

Perfectly situated on a hill between the craggy cliff tops and the glinting Mediterranean Sea, HVF Villa Franca Positano is romantic Italy at its most ravishing. With the picturesque cobbled piazzas of Positano and two blissful beaches just steps away, this stylish hilltop retreat offers the chance to check out from reality and absorb the glamour and gorgeousness of the ever-enchanting Amalfi Coast. A cool calm envelops this Italian idyll where bewitching coastal beauty dominates the window views and pines and citrus scent the air.

Hotel website

 

Literary Profiles: The “Sparkling, Perfect” Prose Of P.G. Wodehouse (BBC)

From BBC Culture (June 2, 2020):

P.G._Wodehouse_-_My_Man_Jeeves_-_1st_American_edition_(1920_printing)_-_CropWith every sparkling joke, every well-meaning and innocent character, every farcical tussle with angry swans and pet Pekingese, every utopian description of a stroll around the grounds of a pal’s stately home or a flutter on the choir boys’ hundred yards handicap at a summer village fete, he wanted to whisk us far away from our worries.

If we’re talking about culture that makes people happy, we have to start with the works of PG Wodehouse. There are two reasons why. One reason is that making people happy was Wodehouse’s overriding ambition. The other reason is that he was better at it than any other writer in history.

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P. G. Wodehouse: A Brief History

P.G. WodehouseThe author of almost a hundred books and the creator of Jeeves, Blandings Castle, Psmith, Ukridge, Uncle Fred and Mr Mulliner, P. G. Wodehouse was born in 1881 and educated at Dulwich College. After two years with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank he became a full-time writer, contributing to a variety of periodicals including Punch and the Globe. He married in 1914.

As well as his novels and short stories, he wrote lyrics for musical comedies with Guy Bolton and Jerome Kern, and at one time had five musicals running simultaneously on Broadway. His time in Hollywood also provided much source material for fiction.

At the age of ninty-three, in the New Year’s Honours List of 1975, he received a long-overdue knighthood, only to die on St Valentine’s Day some forty-five days later.

Official Website

World’s Best Gardens: “Bowood House – Private Walled Garden”, England

From The Tatler (June 10, 2020):

The Marquess and Marchioness of Lansdowne’s private walled garden is the jewel in this botanical crown. Attached to the back of the main house, the garden is surrounded by a 16-foot-high wall and is made up of four distinct one-acre squares. It includes a 250-metre formal border, a picking garden, working greenhouses, chickens and a kitchen garden full of fruits and vegetables. 

Wisteria Bodnantense framing the doorway out of the walled garden towards the lake - Bodwood House England - Tatler - June 10 2020

The Hot border designed by Rosie Abel Smith with a mixture of wonderful purples, oranges and reds seen through an arch of Laburnum Vossii - Bodwood House Private Walled Garden - Tatler - June 10 2020There is a feeling of mounting enchantment as you wind along the drive to Bowood House, the Wiltshire home of the Marquess and Marchioness of Lansdowne. It could be meandering through the dense pine forest, thick with wild garlic underfoot, that begins to stir the senses; or the sight of the sculptural tulip trees; and the heady scent of the roses is certainly tantalising.

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Tiny Homes: Norwegian “Norske Mikrohus” – High Quality Natural Materials

Norske Mikrohus Tiny Homes InteriorNorske Mikrohus is a Norwegian tiny home producer focused on the future and the climate. Our micro homes are built from natural materials, have a moderate energy consumption and a minimal footprint. Micro homes show us that it is possible to build small yet maintain a comfortable living standard.

We build houses of high quality, made with natural materials by skilled carpenters. We build for the harsh Norwegian climate and our homes are comfortable year around.

Micro homes are functional, complete dwellings with a space for daily activities, sleeping and a full size kitchen and bathroom. We have space for both a dishwasher and a washing machine. We aim for smart, multi-functional solution and build the furniture ourselves for better use of the space.

Norske Mikrohus LogoOur houses comes with electric floor heating as standard, and combined with a small oven or a wood stove, you are guaranteed to stay warm all thought winter. Our biggest model has a total of 22 square meters floor area.

Website

New Art Books: “Bosch – The Complete Works”

Bosch - The Complete Works - Stefan Fischer - TaschenA bird-monster devouring sinners, naked bodies in tantric contortions, a pair of ears brandishing a sharpened blade: with just 20 paintings and nine drawings to his name, Netherlandish visionary Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450–1516) secured his place as a pillar of art history. To this day, the painter par excellence of hell and its demons continues to puzzle and enthrall scholars, artists, designers, and musicians alike.
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Based on the best-selling XXL edition, which saw TASCHEN commission new and exclusive photography of details and recently restored works, this large-scale monograph presents Bosch’s complete oeuvre. Texts from art historian and Bosch expert Stefan Fischer dissect the many compelling elements that populate each scene, from hybrid creatures of man and beast to Bosch’s pictorial use of proverbs and idioms. By tying together the elusive threads of his oeuvre into one exhaustive overview, this book reveals just what it was about Bosch and his painting that proved so immensely influential.

Bosch - The Complete Works

Features:

  • Impeccable full-page reproductions celebrating the artist’s staggering compositional scope
  • Enlarged details unveiling the most intricate and bizarre scenes as much as the unsuspected technical minutiae, from subtle brush-strokes to the grain of the canvas
  • fold-out spread drawn from the legendary Last Judgement
  • special chapter focusing on Bosch’s most famous work, the mesmerizing and terrifying triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights

The author

Stefan Fischer studied art history, history, and classical archaeology in Münster, Amsterdam, and Bonn. In 2009 he completed his doctoral thesis “Hieronymus Bosch: Malerei als Vision, Lehrbild und Kunstwerk.” His specialist fields are Netherlandish painting of the 15th to the 17th centuries and museology.

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Website

News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious