Many of you might have already seen the ultra cute "sea sheep" (Costasiella kuroshimae), but yesterday I learned 2 mind-blowing facts about the family of sea slugs they belong to:

1. They incorporate chloroplasts (the organelles in plant cells that do the actual photosynthesis) of plants they eat, into their own bodies to do photosynthesis directly for them (that is the green colour you see), in order to survive if food is scarce.

Imagine being able to live from light!

1/2

#WondersOfNature

I just discovered that you can buy the smell of old books, and even library scents.

Has anyone had experience with old book fragrances? Do they smell authentic, and could I use them to try and seduce bookworms?

There are several options:

https://smellslikebooks.com/products/old-books

https://www.amorphousperfume.com/products/antique-books-perfume-oil

https://www.fragrantica.com/perfume/Solstice-Scents/Library-36784.html

Reddit discussion:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Indiemakeupandmore/comments/9lyoks/old_books_is_there_a_perfume_that_smells_like_old/

#books #fragrance #bookworm #BIBLIOPHILE #libraries

Large language models are proficient in solving and creating emotional intelligence tests
https://www.nature.com/articles/s44271-025-00258-x

Research examined whether LLMs can solve and generate performance-based emotional intelligence tests. Results showed that ChatGPT-4, ChatGPT-o1, Gemini 1.5 flash, Copilot 365, Claude 3.5 Haiku, and DeepSeek V3 outperformed humans on five standard emotional intelligence tests, achieving an average accuracy of 81%, compared to the 56% human average reported in the original validation studies.

"Notably, all LLMs performed more than one standard deviation above the human mean, with ChatGPT-o1 and DeepSeek V3 exceeding two standard deviations above the human mean. The LLMs also exceeded human performance in each of the five EI tests individually, with large effect sizes"

#psychology #psychometrics #socialScience #LLM #AI #Chatbots

#PSA via @kjcharles "UK WRITERS: You need to fill in this consulation. Govt is very clearly looking to an opt-out model of rights licensing that puts all the burden on creators instead of profiteers. It's long and boring but this is important."

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/copyright-and-artificial-intelligence

#Writers #Authors #Copyright #ArtificialIntelligence #AI

Thread with more details:
https://bsky.app/profile/ednewtonrex.bsky.social/post/3ldjhfestis2s

Please share this information/links, there's not much time.

Every asked me about how real world events can screw with top level internet domains.

Come for the story of how a bunch of Slovenian academics allegedly stole control of the .yu domain. Stay for why the entire .io TLD might be about to disappear due to a minor treaty between Britain and Mauritius. https://buff.ly/3zTcZyt #tech

One of the weird things I occasionally have to do is record demo reels.

So for the purposes of your amusement, here is me telling the story of how we all thought Septimus Severus built the Roman Wall in northern England... until we didn't. #history
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2gDAf5o0VA

A few months ago I made a network map showing the high speed rail connections in #France. Unfortunately, the official #SNCF #TGV map only shows the stops and whether there is a connection or not. However, I wanted to better understand which cities and regions are directly connected.
Voilà the 2024 update of my 🇫🇷 high speed rail map! Feel free to explore and boost!

https://larstransportmaps.com/2024/03/11/high-speed-rail-in-france-2024/