Gleanings of the Week Ending January 7, 2017

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Shortest-possible tour of 49,603 sites from the National Register of Historic Places – Who knew there were that many? There is a 38 second movie to show the route for the whole US and then individual state maps. Take a look at your state!

The Scientist’s Year in Review – Links to the cover story and one news highlight for each of the 12 issues.

The Robotic Grocery Store of the Future is Here – Oh no! I enjoy grocery shopping….not sure I want this future. I particularly like picking my own fresh fruit and veggies from the bin.

2016 Year in Science – From Visionlearning. There could be others added…but here are 6 with a succinct description of each.

Vibrant Paintings of Colorful Fish Merged with Their Coral Environments – Eye candy!

Mining 24 hours a Day with Robots – Another example of automation that reduces the need for manpower. The mine where these huge self-driving trucks are used is in Australia….but it could soon be anywhere in the world.

The Best of Cool Green Science 2016: Birds and Birding Edition  and The Best of Cool Green Science 2016: From the Field Edition and The Best of Cool Green Science 2016: Celebrating Nature Near You – Three year end posts from The Nature Conservancy….with great pictures!

3-D Models Capture Endangered Species Before They Go Extinct – A few years ago I too an archaeology course (via Coursera) and they talked about capturing objects with 3-D techniques (notably merging multiple pictures of an object into a rotatable image). This project is doing it with living animals….with a “Beastcam.” There is a link to the slide show about 1/3 of the way through the article.