Link About It: This Week’s Picks

From gigantic "sea dragons" to unbaking the planet, news from the worlds of science, design and beyond

Open Call For Upcoming “The Uncook Book” Upcoming publication The Uncook Book from Given (a London-based agency that works with purpose-driven brands) aims to communicate climate solutions in artistic ways, because “where science and logic can’t reach, creativity and imagination can.” Artists of all disciplines have been invited to contribute to the book via an open call for submissions that closes 31 January. The three …

First-Ever Footage of Lightning Being Triggered

Low Frequency Array (LOFAR)—a state-of-the-art network of thousands of radio telescopes primarily used for astronomy—tunes its antennas to thunderclouds when storms roll in and impede its normal work. This allows the tool to document that “million or so radio pulses that emanate from each lightning flash,” according to Wired, “on a meter-by-meter scale in three dimensions, and with a frame rate 200 times faster than …

Building an Army of Oysters Around NYC To Mitigate Floods + Erosion

Before commercial harvesting, oyster reefs used to compose more than 220,000 acres of New York’s coastline, acting as a natural flood-mitigation system in addition to increasing marine biodiversity. With these reefs’ destruction, New York is dangerously vulnerable to natural disasters—a threat that (as Hurricane Ida recently showed) is only growing. To protect the city, Billion Oyster Project founded by Urban Assembly New York Harbor School, …