RSS Parrot

Your magnetic personality

https://cs4fn.blog/2026/04/27/your-magnetic-personality/

Published: April 27, 2026 08:27

Since their discovery over a century ago, X-rays have become invaluable in the medical world, allowing doctors to see inside our bodies. Whilst the basic technology of taking medical X-rays is unchanged – essentially taking a photograph of the shadow left…

Silly Sequences and Data Compression

https://cs4fn.blog/2026/04/24/silly-sequences-and-data-compression/

Published: April 24, 2026 20:27

Here is a fun challenge for you: can you find the rule for and next term of this sequence? 111211211111221312211… This is not just some maths exercise – it also gives a clue to a clever way of compressing data! Have you figured it out? What if I told you…

The glove that controls your cords…

https://cs4fn.blog/2026/04/20/the-glove-that-controls-your-cords/

Published: April 20, 2026 16:53

Ariana Grande, has added something new to her sell out stadium tours. She is controlling her vocals using gloves. Yep, gloves! To add reverb to her voice, Ariana pinches her thumb and forefinger. She changes background sounds by a sweep of the hand. Imogen…

How do you sleep? (Like a parrot or a tortoise?) #Fitbit

https://cs4fn.blog/2026/04/13/how-do-you-sleep-like-a-parrot-or-a-tortoise-fitbit/

Published: April 13, 2026 09:36

Google’s Fitbit is a smart wristwatch which doesn’t just tell you the time but can also monitor your movements and your heart beat. A particular time of day when your heart beat slows down and you move much less is at night when you’re fast asleep in bed. …

Faster fiber

https://cs4fn.blog/2026/04/11/faster-fiber/

Published: April 11, 2026 12:27

Polina Bayvel, Professor of Optical Communications, at UCL, and her team have just set a new speed record for sending data over real-world optical cable. They managed to send about 10 times more data than the best commercial services. Remarkable this was…

The Hidden Code in Your Toy Adverts

https://cs4fn.blog/2026/03/31/the-hidden-code-in-your-toy-adverts/

Published: March 31, 2026 20:32

The music in a toy commercial isn’t just background noise. It tells you who the advert is for, and a machine learning model can hear it (even when you barely notice the difference). Luca Marinelli tells us more. Next time you’re watching TV, try muting the…

Humanity’s Last Exam

https://cs4fn.blog/2026/03/25/humanitys-last-exam/

Published: March 25, 2026 21:31

Generative Artificial Intelligences (GenAI) can now pass exams we set for humans and even do better than many humans. They can do that even without being able to think in a way a human does, and certainly without being conscious. They are learning to…

No pause for breath

https://cs4fn.blog/2026/03/23/no-pause-for-breath/

Published: March 23, 2026 15:01

Before you read the article you should have a listen to this piece of music: “Walk My Walk” by Breaking Rust EXTERNAL, YouTube In November, 2025, this catchy new country music song received lots of media attention. There’s nothing very unusual about that…

The complexity of searching to speak

https://cs4fn.blog/2026/03/21/the-complexity-of-searching-to-speak/

Published: March 21, 2026 14:48

Locked-in to the Game of 20-Questions One of the worst medical conditions I can imagine is locked-in syndrome. It leaves you with all your mental abilities intact, but totally paralysed except perhaps for the blink of an eye. A perfectly working mind is…

Beatrice Worsley: pioneering programmer

https://cs4fn.blog/2026/03/10/beatrice-worsley-pioneering-programmer/

Published: March 10, 2026 21:06

Many of the earliest programmers were women, just as before them many of the human computers were women. It was only later that somehow programming changed in people’s heads to be something men did. One of the earliest was Mexican born, Canadian, Beatrice…