The Best Squad. [ Via @awkwardyeti]

Squishy physics!

How physicists see other fields:

Biology: squishy physics

Geology: slow physics

Computer Science: virtual physics

Psychology: people physics

Chemistry: impure physics

Math: physics without units

Way more adorable than drones

Starship Technologies Launches Fleet of Delivery Bots

Starting in July, 2016, millions of people will encounter autonomous delivery robots as part of the testing program launched by Starship Technologies.

Starting in July, 2016, millions of people will encounter single-minded little autonomous robots in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Switzerland as part of the testing program launched by London-based Starship Technologies in tandem with some major industry partners. This launch is a first-of-its kind fleet of autonomous robots, designed to deliver goods within a two- to three-mile radius of a hub and arrive within 15 to 30 minutes.

The robots drive autonomously but are monitored by humans who can take over control at any time. Launched by two Skype cofounders, Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis, Starship Technologies’ aim is to fundamentally reshape how goods are shipped and delivered, and make local delivery almost free.

I think it's Java? Just really, really bad Java

The victors write history

"Lost Cities" Discovered In Libya

The Garamantes were an ancient civilization, in what is today Libya, on the African northern coast.  Unfortunately for their legacy, most of what we knew about them comes from their enemies, the Romans. Unsurprisingly, the Roman accounts described the Garamantes as “barbaric nomads and troublemakers on the edge of the Roman Empire.” This view of the Garamantes as a minor, annoying tribe is being overturned by recent digs. In 2011, a team of researchers led by archaeologist David Mattingly from the University of Leicester discovered more than 100 fortified farms, towns, and villages with castle-like structures in Libya that date from 1 CE to 500 CE. The Garamantes operated a trans-Saharan trade, and were even pioneers at building oases! Hardly the “barbaric nomads” the Romans unfairly called them.

Edgley Design builds family home around 100-year-old pear tree in south London »

Beautiful timelapse of photosynthesis seen from space

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Purchasing power of Europe’s population by 2-digit postcodes, 2016

NASA recorded the DNA of one twin (Mark Kelly) astronaut on earth, and his identical​twin before, during, and after Scott Kelly spent a year in space. It looks like there are differences, but we don't know what that entails yet!

How To Be A Troll, And Win Wars

Under Sun Pin’s direction the Ch’i armies, which were advancing into Wei, followed the dictum “Be deceptive.”

P’ang Chüan arrogantly believed the men of Ch’i to be cowards who would flee rather than engage mighty Wei in battle. Therefore, Sun Pin daily reduced the number of cooking fires in the encampment to create a facade of every-increasing desertion. He also effected a tactical withdrawal to further entice P’ang Chüan into the favorable terrain at Ma-ling where the Ch’i commander concealed ten thousand crossbowman among the hills.

P’ang Chüan, apparently afraid that he would miss an opportunity to inflict a severe blow on the retreating Ch’i army, abandoned his heavy forces and supply train and rushed forth with only light units. Arriving at night, the combined Wei forces were ambushed as soon as they penetrated the killing zone.

In addition to being decisively defeated by Ch’i’s withering crossbow fire, 100,000 Wei soldiers needlessly perished because of their commander’s character flaws and hasty judgement.

The battle of Ma-ling is apparently the first recorded conflict in which crossbows were employed. The quote is taken from “Evolution of Conflicts and Weapons in China” in The Art of War by Sun Tzu.