Science

One group commonly misunderstood by voice technology are individuals who speak African American English, or AAE. Researchers designed an experiment to test how AAE speakers adapt their speech when imagining talking to a voice assistant, compared to talking to a friend, family member, or stranger. The study tested familiar human, unfamiliar human, and voice assistant-directed speech conditions by comparing speech rate and pitch variation. Analysis of the recordings showed that the speakers exhibited two consistent adjustments when they were talking to voice technology compared to talking to another person: a slower rate of speech with less pitch variation.

A new type of bioplastic could help reduce the plastic industry's environmental footprint. Researchers have developed a biodegradable form of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) filled with bacterial spores that, when exposed to nutrients present in compost, germinate and break down the material at the end of its life cycle.

Researchers have successfully used NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to map the weather on the hot gas-giant exoplanet WASP-43 b.

After talking to someone who’s been in contact with the University administration here, I now believe that their “plan” for dismantling our pro-Palestinian encampment is this: DO NOTHING.  I believe they hope the encampment will disappear on its own, even though the letters from the President and Dean of Students imply that if it doesn’t disappear within a few days, ACTION WILL BE TAKEN.

I would hope that this is true, but you know the old saying, “If wishes were horses, even beggars would ride.”  I do not believe action will be taken, for it should have been taken by now.

The encampment violates a whole slew of campus rules; let me reprise them:

An illegal encampment with tents where people sleep overnight, rendering a large part of our Quad unusable
Many non-student participants who are guilty of trespassing
Palestinian flags stuck on lightpoles throughout the quad; this is illegal
Big wooden vertical slabs, painted with Palestinian slogans, blocking the main walkways in the Quad
Amplified sound played during hours when it’s prohibited
Vandalism and ripping down of legal banners and flags placed by the Jewish students
And now, pro-Palestinian graffiti painted on University buildings. Here’s a specimen I photographed an hour ago. Will the University remove it? I was told they’re in no hurry to do so:

Why doesn’t the University of Chicago enforce its own rules and do something about this? I suppose because they’re afraid of the publicity that might be attendant on removing the encampment. But this is short-sighted because lawsuits accusing the University of not obeying its own rules (and thus creating a climate of harassment for some students) could easily ensue.  I simply don’t understand how a President and Dean who issue statements admitting that illegal activity is happening on campus refuse to do anything about it. It’s maddening and, as I said, for this first time since 1986, I am truly ashamed of my  University. The shame I feel about our administration has been replaced by increasing pride in my Jewish heritage, and the resilience of Jewish students on campus.  Were Bob Zimmer still President, the Encampment would have been removed before it had been set up.

Here are two batches of photos. One shows more bits of The Encampment, and the other the response of the Jewish students (I believe their group is called “Maroons for Israel”) to having their banners and flags torn down at about 10 pm yesterday by the camping bullies.

The Encampment has a library!

And legal advice should you be put in the slammer:

They will kindly let you walk through if you have a good reason to do so!

Political posters are everywhere. This is one of the illegal barriers that block the sidewalks. Behind it is Levi Hall, the main administration building. Notice that they are honoring “all our martyrs,” which of course includes those members of Hamas killed on October 7 while butchering Jews.  They are HEROES!. It also honors other Hamas terrorists killed. Notice also the violent Islamist call to “Globalize the intifada.”

The Deans on Call are supposed to be on campus as observers of the situation, to prevent violence or destruction of property, and to report what’s happening to the administration. But can you trust a Dean on Call whose fingernails are painted in watermelon colors, the colors of the Palestinian flag? Some of these deans are not politically neutral and should not be monitoring this situation. Have a gander at this!:

 

At about 10 pm yesterday, pro-Palestinian protestors, in violation of University regulations, tore down eight large and expensive banners put up by the Maroons for Israel, as well as a large string of Israeli flags. The pro-Israel students didn’t miss a beat: at 8 a.m. today, they marched back to the quad with replacements for all the posters and most of the flags. They know well that tonight the thugs will tear them down again (the University doesn’t care a fig), but then they’ll replace them again.  Here are the heartening (for me) photos showing the resilience of our Jewish students. They must care for each other since the University doesn’t appear to care for them:

The little flags going back up:

And a larger flag which, of course, will be ripped down by tomorrow:

And some legal chalkwork created by one of the leaders of this student group, the indefatigable Eliza Ross, seen in the background:

Long feted by fossil hunters and geologists, if UNESCO recognises the extraordinary rock formation at Madygen in Kyrgyzstan, it will soon be a player on the world stage

Engineers in Australia have found a new way to make power-pole insulators resistant to fire and electrical sparking, promising to prevent dangerous pole-top fires and reduce blackouts. Pole-top fires pose significant challenges to power providers and communities worldwide. In March, pole-top fires cut power from 40,000 homes and businesses in Perth, Australia. The 2020 Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements found that power outages experienced by 280,000 customers from various energy providers during Black Summer fires in Australia were mainly triggered by events involving insulators and poles.

An estimated 168 billion gallons of wastewater -- or produced water -- is generated annually by the Permian Basin fracking industry, according to a 2022 report. The major waste stream has proved both difficult and costly to treat because of the chemical complexity of the water.

Researchers have discovered a new mechanism of oil biosynthesis and found a way to genetically engineer a type of test plant to more efficiently produce different kinds of seed oil that it otherwise wouldn't make. While the engineering is proof-of-concept, this discovery could lead to improved production of valuable oils used in food and by a range of industries. The modified plant overcame metabolic bottlenecks and produced significant amounts of an oil similar to castor oil that it doesn't naturally produce.

3D microscopes are used in applications from the life sciences to semiconductor manufacturing. Now engineers are developing patented and patent-pending innovations making them work faster to capture even more 3D images and less expensive to manufacture.

3D microscopes are used in applications from the life sciences to semiconductor manufacturing. Now engineers are developing patented and patent-pending innovations making them work faster to capture even more 3D images and less expensive to manufacture.

A four-legged robot trained with machine learning has learned to avoid falls by spontaneously switching between walking, trotting, and pronking -- a milestone for roboticists as well as biologists interested in animal locomotion.

A four-legged robot trained with machine learning has learned to avoid falls by spontaneously switching between walking, trotting, and pronking -- a milestone for roboticists as well as biologists interested in animal locomotion.

Electric bicycle rebates have exploded in popularity in North America as transportation planners try to get people out of their cars and into healthier, more climate-friendly alternatives. However, questions remain: Are new cycling habits sustainable? Who benefits most from these incentives? And are they worth the cost? Researchers now have some answers.

Total solar eclipses are astonishing, but travelling to get to one is less so – this episode of Dead Planets Society is all about rearranging the solar system to create a more convenient eclipse

I thought I’d simply show some photos of the encampment and its residents. Here’s a pretty good panoramic shot, but you’ll have to click on it to see the whole thing. Seven of the tents are the green-and-white jobs that you can see at other schools’ encampments, and are surely supplied by some organization, whether SJP National or someone else.

One of two large boards blocking the main sidewalk from the center of the quad to the administration building. The presence of these is of course in violation of University regulations.

 

There’s a fence around the encampment. I don’t know who put it up:

Two deans on call, who didn’t want their photo taken (I was told by a reporter that I could photograph anybody there as it was out in public.  They simply observe the process and have no real power to do anything, though they can ask for IDs.  I was told that no real member of the administration, including deans and the like, had even come down to the protest, but I don’t know if that’s true.

Below: one of the leaders of the protest at the welcome tent. He was giving instructions to the protestors, which you can see in the video below. I’ve never seen this guy at any other Palestinian protestors, so he may be an “outsider” not affiliated with the University. A reporter told me that he’d seen buses dropping off non-students at the protests in Northwestern, and clearly a large percentage of protestors here and elsewhere are non-University people. I just verified that by talking to a person who went through the encampment asking people if they were students, and most of them said “no”. (They could of course by lying.)

The putative leader tells the students not to interact with “Zionists.”  How can he distinguish between a Jewish student and a Zionist? He adds “we’re keeping everyone’s identity private.” The wearing of masks by nearly all the protestors, but not by any of the Jewish students, shows that they are cowardly, for real practitioners of civil disobedience do not try to hide their identity, nor do any of the Jewish students.

A report found data privacy problems with the vast majority of 30 companies that sell neurotechnology devices to consumers. New US state laws aim to change that

A joint investment by the Australian federal government and the government of Queensland makes PsiQuantum one of the largest dedicated quantum computing firms in the world

India’s space agency has been remarkably successful in recent years, growing the country’s prestige on the global stage – and the 2024 election is unlikely to change that

As the world's third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, climate policy decisions taken by India will shape the fate of the entire world. But can it continue to develop its economy while keeping carbon dioxide down?

Computer simulations by astronomers support the idea that dark matter -- matter that no one has yet directly detected but which many physicists think must be there to explain several aspects of the observable universe -- exists, according to the researchers.