{"id":44970,"date":"2025-10-19T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=44970"},"modified":"2025-10-16T14:21:36","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T21:21:36","slug":"retro-recomendo-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/retro-recomendo-science\/","title":{"rendered":"Retro Recomendo: Science"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Our subscriber base has grown so much since we first started nine years ago, that most of you have missed all our earliest recommendations. The best of these are still valid and useful, so we\u2019re trying out something new \u2014 Retro Recomendo<\/strong>. Once every 6 weeks, we\u2019ll send out a throwback issue of evergreen recommendations focused on one theme from the past 9 years.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quick research explainers<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Two Minute Papers<\/a> is a YouTube channel featuring short videos (sometimes 5 minutes long) created by a professor who reviews new research papers in visual programming, artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer graphics, simulations, and other state-of-the-art computer science. He explains the research\u2019s significance, while running very cool graphics demo-ing the results. I find it a painless way to keep up in this fast moving field. \u2014 KK<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Understanding physics<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Isaac Asimov\u2019s 768-page Understanding Physics<\/a><\/em> clearly explains the principles of motion, sound, heat, light, magnetism, and electricity in a historical context. It gave me a better understanding of physics than four years of mechanical engineering school, and was actually fun to read. \u2014 MF<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collaborate with scientists<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

NASA has a page dedicated to their Citizen Science Projects<\/a> where you can volunteer to help make scientific discoveries, like mapping bird diversity, cloud gazing, tracing patches of kelp, or identifying celestial objects in search of Planet Nine. Currently, there are 30 projects open to anyone in the world, and most can be done with just a cellphone or laptop. \u2014 CD<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best geology overview<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Often science documentaries these days are fluffy with wiz-bang graphics, slick re-enactments, endless repetitions, and fancy hosts, but Doug\u2019s Geology Journal<\/a>, a series on Amazon Prime, has none of those. Doug is a regular-guy geologist who draws his own graphics with pencil, and carries his own camera as he trudges across the landscape, giving the big picture of what has happened to shape the land, and how that shapes the culture on it. He gives you the right level of details, at the exact place on the land, which makes the big picture visible. He\u2019s my favorite geology teacher. \u2014 KK<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Retro anatomy book<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I have a small collection of mid-century science books for young adults, and one of my favorites is The Human Body: What It Is and How It Works<\/a><\/em>. Published in 1959, this beautifully illustrated book describes how our muscular, reproductive, digestive, endocrine, respiratory, skeletal, nervous, and circulatory systems work in simple English. Out of print but inexpensive used copies are easily found online. \u2014 MF<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An app to teach you about the fourth dimension<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This iPhone\/iPad app<\/a> does just one thing \u2014 it gives you a feel for the fourth dimension by moving from 0 dimensions to 4. I\u2019ve had this jewel of an app on my phone for years and still open it from time to time. It\u2019s a great companion to Flatland. \u2014 MF<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recomendo – issue #484<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13684,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[2323],"tags":[2324],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44970"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13684"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44970"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44971,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44970\/revisions\/44971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}