Link About It: This Week’s Picks

From forest art in Japan to flight suits for space tourists, a brainless blob and more

This Brainless Blob Can Solve Puzzles, Sleep and More Officially on display at the Paris Zoo from 19 October, this unicellular organism will be the first-ever “brainless blob” to be showcased in a zoo. Despite not having a brain, the mass can complete a bevy of tasks from improvising music to maneuvering through a maze, remembering which food it likes best, and crossing a bridge …

Link About It: This Week’s Picks

Emissions-free cement, a women-only spacewalk, Soviet-era train stations, a very rare diamond and more from around the web

Google Maps Adds Vocal Guidance for Visually Impaired Users Now available on Google Maps iOS and Android apps (one day after World Sight Day), a more detailed voice feature will update and guide visually impaired people more effectively. To turn on the feature, access the settings page within the app and toggle through the navigation features and turn on detailed voice guidance under the walking …

Link About It: This Week’s Picks

Talking to dogs, flawless sound, architecture-inspired pleasure toys and the changing face of fashion

New Technology Enhances Dog-Human Communication From Maria Goodavage’s brand new book Doctor Dogs, an excerpt in Wired probes the FIDO program at Georgia Institute of Technology’s Animal-Computer Interaction Lab. The epicenter of dog-human communication studies in the US, FIDO’s researchers have developed several prototype talking vest for dogs. They employ tabs and pulleys that trigger prerecorded statements that the wearer dog intends to convey. FIDO is also …