Magnitude and Direction, Issue #6 | 11 May 2018

Hardware, Prototyping, and Fabrication


Dissolvable support has been a thing for several years already in the field desktop 3D printing. Now it's also a thing for metal printing and, personally, I am ~shook~ (A second article of the topic can be found here.)

Staying on the 3D printing topic: For FDM printed parts, pattern doesn't affect strength that much, and 100% infill is pretty much the same thing as a block of the raw material.

Teach yourself how to use all of the equipment at Autodesk's Pier 9. 

It takes some serious infrastructure to make 99 million liters of vodka per year.

 

Software and Programming


Lil Miquela is an Instagram influencer with 1,000,000+ followers. The only thing is, she isn't real.

Check out HoloViews, a beautiful data visualization library for python.

The decentralized Internet isn't just a plot device in HBO's Silicon Valley. (Sorry if I just spoiled that for you)

 

Science, Engineering, and Biomedicine


In an example of a tool you don't even know you want until you see it, engineers at the University of Buffalo have developed a microscope slide that can also tell you the temperature.

Original content! --> An article I wrote for a new science advocacy magazine at Yale University, Distilled, was recently published in their first ever issue. In the article, I discuss how technological advanced are leading to the rapid automation of work in many different sectors, including white collar and "thinking" jobs once thought to be outside the reach of robots and automation. Check out my article and all the others in Vol. 1 No. 1 of Distilled here.

It takes a certain kind of scientist to put a crocodile in a MRI scanner.

 

Mapping and Data Science


How Uber, Lyft, and other ride hailing apps changed the dynamic of taxis in New York City. There's a good chance, similar effects ("stolen" jobs in city centers and expanded rides from the periphery) would be found in other cities.

The island of Manhattan is as valuable as the nation of Canada.

The saddest Amtrak stations in America. 

The former and current unrecognized states of Africa.

 

Events and Opportunities


It's shaping up to be another crazy two weeks, especially May 15th...

 

Map of the Month

It looks like the weather is finally getting nice, which means its time to start enjoying sidewalk cafes again. Find out where they all are with this map from the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs.

 

Odds & Ends


Control what color lights will illuminate an old telephone tower in Stockholm.