Day: September 9, 2021

Europe, History, Media&Culture, PhilosophyLeave a comment

A fable of ancient Greece: when the mythic universe became a rational machine

Fernando Kaskais

This short story is a fictional account of two very real people — Anaximander and Anaximenes, two ancient Greeks who tried to make sense of the universe. by MARCELO GLEISER Worldviews change and, with them, the way we see ourselves and our place in the universe. The transition from myth to science as an explanation for the workings of nature took place in pre-Socratic Greece, beginning around 550 BCE. At that time, the Earth was believed to be the center of the universe. The first mechanical model of the cosmos is attributed to Anaximander. Corrections to that model, by his … Continue reading A fable of ancient Greece: when the mythic universe became a rational machine

Architecture, Eco, Future, Health, Living, PoliticsLeave a comment

The Plan to Stop Every Respiratory Virus at Once

Fernando Kaskais

The benefits of ventilation reach far beyond the coronavirus. What if we stop taking colds and flus for granted, too? By Sarah Zhang When London vanquished cholera in the 19th century, it took not a vaccine, or a drug, but a sewage system. The city’s drinking water was intermingling with human waste, spreading bacteria in one deadly outbreak after another. A new comprehensive network of sewers separated the two. London never experienced a major cholera outbreak after 1866. All that was needed was 318 million bricks, 23 million cubic feet of concrete, and a major reengineering of the urban landscape. The … Continue reading The Plan to Stop Every Respiratory Virus at Once