The Lockdown Diary – Day 34

…those who reached and needed a hospital. Try this. In this pandemic, policy-makers and commentators need to know what overloading health-care services actually means. It is not just about overworked heroes or scandalous lack of protective equipment or ventilators. To work – or attempt to work – in a barely functioning system at precisely the time when that system is required to function even better than normal can be devastating.  If ever rational… Continue reading

A tribute to William T Cooper, bird artist (1934 – 2015)

…ions vibrant too and Attenborough acknowledges this as one of Cooper’s greatest skills. Great-billed Parrot (Tanygnathus megalorynchos) and Blue-naped Parrot (Tanygnathus luciorensis) As I watch Cooper at work and listen to his commentary I can’t help noticing the similarities between his working methods and mine. There is dedication to accuracy. There is collection of background materials and photography of subjects for reference. He uses transpa… Continue reading

Urban explosions? Brilliant young scientists are on the case!

…by explosions and other extreme energy events (e3e) can be detected in real-time and geo-located. The “R” and “L” black dots on the board are microphones that detect the position of any explosion or gunshot within 2-3 km. The sound signals are analysed for the unique “acoustic signature” of the explosion, triangulated with those picked up by other detectors and ultimately fed onto a publicly accessible, web-based map. The detectors are made from c… Continue reading