Psychedelic Cryptography

Psychedelic Cryptography

California-based nonprofit group called Qualia Research Institute has awarded cash prizes to artists who made videos encoded with hidden messages that can be most easily deciphered by a person who is tripping on psychedelic substances, such as LSD, ayahuasca, or psilocybin mushrooms.

🕷️Meet Joe Arguelles, a comparative biology Ph.D. student in the Museum’s Richard Gilder Graduate School. His research focuses on understanding the molecular drivers of the incredible mechanical properties of spider silks.

🕸️He also studies the evolution of “prey capture systems” (silk, venom, and vision) in active hunting spiders, and how these genes have changed in response to the loss of web-spinning behavior.

There are more possible iterations of a game of chess than there are atoms in the observable universe.

The number of possible ways of playing the first four moves per side in chess is 318,979,564,000.

This vast complexity makes chess an incredibly rich and challenging game, contributing to its enduring appeal and the endless possibilities it offers.

A note from 2014 but still interesting:

Before the Communists came to power in 1949, China had only 22 dams of any significant size. Now the country has more than half of the world’s roughly 50,000 large dams, defined as having a height of at least 15 meters, or a storage capacity of more than three million cubic meters. Thus, China has completed, on average, at least one large dam per day since 1949. If dams of all sizes are counted, China’s total surpasses 85,000. - marginal revolution

*Photo | The Three Gorges Dam spanning the Yangtze River

Breathtaking view of Saturn!

Slovak traditional highland axe dance

EDIT: If you'd like to play a character like these guys in a video game, check out Hellish Quart.