I’d love to have a toolkit that promised me great, creative ideas every time I sat down to work. Obviously that’s not going to happen—creativity doesn’t come from tools. But luckily there are some tools that can improve our chances of working creatively. According to research, these six tools can help inspire your next big idea. READ MORE: The 6 Best Tools For Creative Work, According To Science | Fast Company | Business + Innovation.
Tag Archives: research
MIT Claims to Have Found a “Language Universal” That Ties All #Languages Together | Ars Technica #cognition
Language takes an astonishing variety of forms across the world—to such a huge extent that a long-standing debate rages around the question of whether all languages have even a single property in common. Well, there’s a new candidate for the elusive title of “language universal” according to a paper in this week’s issue of PNAS. All languages, the authors say, self-organise in such a way that related concepts stay as close together as possible within a sentence, making it easier to piece together the overall meaning.
Language universals are a big deal because they shed light on heavy questions about human cognition. The most famous proponent of the idea of language universals is Noam Chomsky, who suggested a “universal grammar” that underlies all languages. Finding a property that occurs in every single language would suggest that some element of language is genetically predetermined and perhaps that there is specific brain architecture dedicated to language. READ MORE: MIT claims to have found a “language universal” that ties all languages together | Ars Technica.
#Sex Talk in #Literature: How It’s Changed Over 200 Years | Flavorwire #books #research
A British health website, DrEd.com, delved into the entire corpus of literature, both fiction and nonfiction, to explore the way certain words having to do with “venereal” matters have appeared, faded, or been associated with new companion words over the last two centuries. READ MORE: Sex Talk in Literature: How It’s Changed Over 200 Years | Flavorwire.
How to Spot Whodunnit: Academics Crack Agatha Christie’s Code | The Guardian #AgathaChristie #books
Rather than watching brain-numbing reality television this summer, I am determined to watch all 13 series of Agatha Christie’s Poroit TV series starring David Suchet. Just finished Series 6 and will be picking up Series 7 & 8 from my local library today. I correctly guess the culprit only half the time. It’s been awesome. Yes, I am a bit of a mystery genre geek.
For almost 100 years, Agatha Christie has beguiled readers with her much-loved mysteries. But now a panel of experts claims to have worked out how to answer the perennial question: whodunnit?
To celebrate the 125th anniversary of the birth of the world’s best-selling novelist, academics have created a formula that they claim will enable the reader to identify the killer before the likes of Hercule Poirot or Miss Jane Marple have managed the feat.
The research, commissioned by the TV channel Drama, analysed 27 of the prolific writer’s books – 83 were published during her lifetime – including classics such as Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile. The experts concluded that where the novel was set, the main mode of transport used and how the victim dies were among the key clues. READ MORE: How to spot whodunnit: academics crack Agatha Christie’s code | Books | The Guardian.
Google’s Dream Robot Is Running Wild Across the Internet | Gizmodo #images #algorithms #visualizations
Remember a few weeks back, when we learned that Google’s artificial neural network was having creepy daydreams, turning buildings into acid trips and landscapes into Magic Eye pictures? Well, prepare to never sleep again, because last week, Google made its “inceptionism” algorithm available to the public, and the nightmarish images are cropping up everywhere.
The “Deep Dream” system essentially feeds an image through a layer of artificial neurons, asking an AI to enhance and build on certain features, such as edges. Over time, pictures can become so distorted that they morph into something entirely different, or just a bunch of colorful, random noise.
Now that the code for the system is publicly available, anyone can upload a photo of their baby and watch it metamorphose into a surrealist cockroach, or whatever. If you need some inspiration, or an excuse to crawl back into bed, pull the covers over your face, and wait for the world to end, just check out the hashtag ‘DeepDream’ on your social media platform of choice. READ MORE: Google’s Dream Robot Is Running Wild Across the Internet | Gizmodo.
Also See: DeepDream – A Code Example for Visualizing Neural Networks | Google Research Blog
How Changing Your #Reading #Habits Can Transform Your #Health | Fast Company #books #wellness #psychology
Reading doesn’t just improve your knowledge, it can help fight depression, make you more confident, empathetic, and a better decision maker. READ MORE: How Changing Your Reading Habits Can Transform Your Health | Fast Company | Business + Innovation.
Research Summary: #Competencies for Professionals in Learning Labs and #Makerspaces | Kyungwon Koh | Academia.edu #libraries
[T]he authors conducted a research project in order to identify the competencies required for professionals to perform innovative services in library or museum Learning Labs and Makerspaces. READ ARTICLE: Research Summary: Competencies for Professionals in Learning Labs and Makerspaces | Kyungwon Koh | Academia.edu.
Student Finds Old Parchment In University Library, Turns Out It’s Probably The World’s Oldest Quran | HuffPost #Quran #libraries #artifacts #religion
http://embed.live.huffingtonpost.com/HPLEmbedPlayer/?segmentId=55aff7fd02a76081990002ef&autoPlay=false
A Ph.D. student who stumbled upon several ancient pieces of paper hidden in another book may have inadvertently discovered pages from the world’s oldest Quran, researchers at the University of Birmingham in England announced Wednesday.
Radiocarbon dating estimates the pages, likely made of sheep or goat skin, are 1,370 years old, the BBC reports. The testing is more than 95 percent accurate, meaning the parchment is probably from the era of Prophet Muhammad, who is thought to have lived between the years 570 and 632. READ MORE: Student Finds Old Parchment In University Library, Turns Out It’s Probably The World’s Oldest Quran | Huffington Post.
16 #Trends That Will Define The Future Of #VideoGames | The Guardian #gaming #tech
Super-interesting! If you are a fan of coding camps and makerspaces this would be a good article to read to get an idea of what’s on the horizon in gaming development, gaming innovations and interactive/social gaming.
From the rise of gamer parents to transparent game design, a step-by-step prediction of how games will be made over the next five years. READ: 16 trends that will define the future of video games | Technology | The Guardian
Study: Men who Harass #Women Online Suck at Games (and Life) | Engadget #sexism #gaming #cyberbullying
Researchers think that they’ve worked out why certain men abuse women over the internet: because they suck… at games. According to a study by Michael Kasumovic and Jeff Kuznekoff, the most vocal abusers of women online are the ones most threatened by their presence in the digital sphere. The short explanation for this is because less-skilled men have the most to lose playing games against a woman, thanks to the perceived social stigma of “losing to a girl.” Rather than risk this supposed humiliation, they’d much rather create a toxic environment that’s outright hostile to newcomers. READ MORE: Study: Men who harass women online suck at games (and life) | Engadget
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