A list of intriguing things
One: Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum offers a stunning virtual art history lesson titled ‘Closer to Johannes Vermeer’—hosted by none other than actor Stephen Fry. He offers context for Vermeer’s paintings—and points out wonderful little details. It is easy on the eye and soothing to the ear—a lovely way to while away an afternoon or two. Check it out over here. PS: The immersive guide is part of the museum’s Vermeer exhibition—which is the largest in the world. Watch a trailer for it below.
Two: Machines can do pretty much anything these days—including cook a pretty decent lobster risotto. In a Zagreb restaurant called the BOTS&POTS Sci-Food bistro, a robot chef can whip up 70 different one pot meals. All the humans have to do is load the GammaChef with fresh ingredients. Sure, you’ve seen robots make pizzas or fries, but the owners insist "there is no robot which makes a one pot meal from fresh food." More importantly, these robots may soon redefine ‘fast food’. The five robot cooks can each produce four meals in 15 minutes or nearly 100 meals in an hour! Watch how it works below. (Reuters)
Three: Here’s something fun and heart-warming: little ceramic huts for African penguin families. Back in the day, these penguins would dig burrows in layers of seabird and bat shit that was plentiful around their colonies. But humans started selling guano as fertiliser—and their eggs were left exposed to predators and the hot sun. The numbers of African penguins then started to plummet. As of 2019, there were less than 20,000 breeding pairs.
So the African Penguin Nest Project in South Africa has come up with a brilliant idea to give penguin parents a break—artificial nests that offer a safe and shaded place to raise their chicks. Now, the dome below doesn’t look very impressive—but the design took years to develop. The hardest part: getting the right indoor temperature and humidity. Also: the penguins love their new digs—99% of them are occupied. There’s more over at CNN or you can watch this lovely 12-minute video on the project.
Bonus video: This astonishing ‘Nature’ clip on how African penguins ‘commute home’ in rush hour traffic—yes, real traffic:
