Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Listening in on the nuclear underground

From the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists:

A global network of seismic and infrasound monitoring stations listens constantly for underground clues that a nuclear test has taken place. Set up by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) Preparatory Commission, the stations will be part of the verification system for a comprehensive test ban treaty, should it come into force. The United States signed the treaty in 1996, but in 1999, the US Congress declined to ratify it. Since then, efforts to bring the treaty into force have stalled. Just the same, most countries have observed it, and the monitoring system is widely credited with being able to identify any nuclear tests that are conducted. This video, produced by the CTBTO, uses a monitoring station in Bischofsreut, a tranquil corner of Germany's Bavarian Forest, to explain how the global nuclear detection system works.

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Saturday, May 9, 2015

Friday, May 8, 2015

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

The Animated Dostoevsky: Two Finely Crafted Short Films Bring the Russian Novelist’s Work to Life

Colin Marshall over at Open Culture:

You can experience Dostoevsky in the original. You can experience Dostoevsky in translation. Or how about an experience of Dostoevsky in animation? Today we’ve rounded up two particularly notable examples of that last, both of which take up their unconventional project of adaptation with suitably unconventional animation techniques. At the top of the post, we have the first part (and just below we have the second) of Dostoevsky’s story “The Dream of a Ridiculous Man,” re-imagined by Russian animator Alexander Petrov.

More here.

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Friday, May 1, 2015

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Sunday, April 26, 2015