INFINITESIMAL CHIPS OFF THE OLD BLOCK: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TRANSISTOR! PART 2
YESTERDAY, WE BEGAN CELEBRATING the transistor’s 75th birthday with a book review of Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology. Today in Part 2, the American Association … Continue reading
INFINITESIMAL CHIPS OFF THE OLD BLOCK: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TRANSISTOR! PART 1
IN “FROM ONE TRANSISTOR…,” AAAS Science, November 18, 2022, Phil Szuromi writes, “For most of 1947, the count of transistors made was…zero. It is now estimated that at least 3 … Continue reading
SEARCHING FOR SPECIES
TWO RECENT ARTICLES REMINDED ME of a Katherine Rundell quote three days ago here at SimanaitisSays—and also of a conversation with a fellow college professor some fifty years ago. Andy … Continue reading
IN AWE OF HUMMINGBIRDS
I CONFESS TO BE not much of a bird watcher. Indeed, I take delight in the satirical “Birds Aren’t Real” movement claiming our avian friends are actually Biological Intelligent Reconnaissance … Continue reading
WORKING THE INTERNET’S EDGE WITH ANALOG OPTICS
WE LIVE IN DIGITAL TIMES. Yet, as noted recently here in SimanaitisSays, analog computing is having a resurgence. “Delocalized Photonic Deep Learning on the Internet’s Edge,” by Alexander Sludds et … Continue reading
CAN YOU FEEL ME NOW?
OUR CELL PHONES MAY FIND another use much to society’s benefit: assessing the structural integrity of bridges. Good News Network, November 4, 2022, reports, “Using the Golden Gate Bridge in … Continue reading
AN ATOM’S ADVENTURE
“A METAL ATOM IS a metal atom,” says Alan Nelson, senior vice president for battery materials at Redwood Materials, a company that has specialized in recycling. “That element doesn’t know … Continue reading
LENA, YODAVILLE, SHIRLEYS, AND THE TEAPOT PART 2
YESTERDAY, JAMES VINCENT began a review of Dylan Mulvin’s Proxies: The Cultural Work of Standing In. Today in Part 2 we continue with a familiar proxy, the International Prototype Kilogram, … Continue reading
LENA, YODAVILLE, SHIRLEYS, AND THE TEAPOT PART 1
WHAT DOES LENA, A PLAYBOY CENTERFOLD in 1972, have in common with Yodaville, a simulated Middle East community near Yuma, Arizona? Both Lena and Yodaville are discussed by James Vincent … Continue reading
REFINING HEMINGWAY’S DETECTOR
ERNEST HEMINGWAY SUGGESTED in The Paris Review, “The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shockproof, shit detector.” I used to suggest to students that readers as … Continue reading
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