# e-app: the begin: wake up, stay up

<< Mimicker Alarm. A Microsoft Garage Project. Wake up, Stay up. Set your alarm.Act when you hear it.Play a game to dismiss >>

<< Mimicker Alarm is a morning alarm clock app that helps you get up and stay up by playing a simple game, called a "Mimic". To dismiss your alarm, we might ask you to snap a selfie, speak a phrase, or even get out of bed! The Mimics require you to be alert, smart, and use yourself and your surroundings. Watch out - if you don't finish the game in time, we'll assume you've fallen back asleep and your alarm will start ringing again >>

Microsoft, Jan 25, 2016 09:23:51 UTC

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/garage/workbench-apps-details/Mimicker-Alarm/MimickerAlarm.aspx

<<  I tre giochi compresi nella sveglia sono Express Yourself, Color Capture e Tongue Twister >>

<< Un’idea all’apparenza divertente (..) >>

http://businessandtech.com/2016/01/25/microsoft-un-rompicapo-per-spegnere-la-sveglia/

# s-acad: more 'soft' sci res, more stat positive (true H1 alternative hypothesis) results

<< This study analysed 2434 papers published in all disciplines and that declared to have tested a hypothesis. It was determined how many papers reported a “positive” (full or partial) or “negative” support for the tested hypothesis. If the hierarchy hypothesis is correct, then researchers in “softer” sciences should have fewer constraints to their conscious and unconscious biases, and therefore report more positive outcomes. Results confirmed the predictions at all levels considered: discipline, domain and methodology broadly defined >>

Daniele Fanelli. “Positive” Results Increase Down the Hierarchy of the Sciences.  PLoS ONE 2016; 5(4): e10068. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010068

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0010068

# rmx-s-chem-tech: If you've ever blown up a balloon or pulled at a pair of pantyhose ...

<< If you've ever blown up a balloon or pulled at a pair of pantyhose, you may have noticed that the more the material stretches, the more transparent it becomes. It's a simple enough observation: the thinner a material, the more light shines through >>

<< For buildings and windows that automatically react to light, you don't have to spend as much on heating and air conditioning (..) The problem is, these materials are too expensive to produce for every window in a building. Our idea was to look for a simpler and cheaper way to let through more or less light, by stretching a very simple material: a transparent polymer that is readily available >>

http://news.mit.edu/2016/tune-polymer-material-transparency-smart-windows-0122

Francisco López Jiménez, Shanmugam Kumar and Pedro Miguel Reis. Soft Color Composites with Tunable Optical Transmittance. 21 Jan 2016. DOI: 10.1002/adom.201500617

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adom.201500617/abstract

# s-astro: a giant new planet, probably but not necessarily discovered

<< Scientists Have Probably But Not Necessarily Discovered a New Planet the Size of Neptune >>

https://twitter.com/singularityhub/status/690718595358330880

<< Planet Nine, if it exists, is likely in the hardest place to find >>

Tanya Hill and Jonti Horneron. Somewhere Out There Could Be a Giant New Planet in Our Solar System: So Where Is It? Jan 22, 2016.

http://singularityhub.com/2016/01/22/somewhere-out-there-could-be-a-giant-new-planet-in-our-solar-system-so-where-is-it/

# s-gst: periodic stripes: spacing and orientation

<< Patterning of periodic stripes during development requires mechanisms to control both stripe spacing and orientation. A number of models can explain how stripe spacing is controlled, including molecular mechanisms, such as Turing’s reaction-diffusion model, as well as cell-based and mechanical mechanisms >>

The Hiscock and Megason's  master model << predicts three main perturbations that can affect how stripes orient: one is a change in "production gradient," which would be a substance that amplifies stripe pattern density; second is a change in "parameter gradient," a substance that changes one of the parameters involved in forming the stripe; and the last is a physical change in the direction of the molecular, cellular, or mechanical origin of the stripe >>

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-12/cp-amm121815.php

Tom W. Hiscock, Sean G. Megason. Orientation of Turing-like Patterns by Morphogen Gradients and Tissue Anisotropies. Cell Systems, 2015; 1 (6): 408 DOI: 10.1016/j.cels.2015.12.001

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S240547121500215X

# s-ecol: zebra (and okapi?) fashion

<< The most longstanding hypothesis for zebra striping is crypsis, or camouflaging, but until now the question has always been framed through human eyes >>

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160122170837.htm

Melin AD, Kline DW, et al. Zebra Stripes through the Eyes of Their Predators, Zebras, and Humans. PLoS ONE 11(1): e0145679. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0145679

http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0145679

# s-epidem: diurnal mosquitoes with Zika virus inside

<< Experts are concerned that the illness, which is increasingly linked to a disorder that causes paralysis, may become a problem in the U.S. >>

Dina Fine Maron. Zika Disease: Another Reason to Hate Mosquitoes.  October 8, 2015

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/zika-disease-another-reason-to-hate-mosquitoes/

A new global map highlights places #Zika could spread

https://twitter.com/ScienceNews/status/690677908927598593

Meghan Rosen. Rapid spread of Zika virus in the Americas raises alarm. Mosquito-borne disease linked to birth defect is pushing northward from Brazil. 3:08PM, January 22, 2016

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/rapid-spread-zika-virus-americas-raises-alarm