HackerNews Summary (2023-05-01 06PM)

Source: Bio-inspired: developing technology to mimic the function of skin

Summary
UNSW Sydney researchers have developed an electronic device mimicking the functionality of human skin that can detect mechanical stimuli with ultra-low power consumption. The system could be used to monitor vitals in healthcare settings, the health of athletes and people working in hazardous environments.

Fact

🤖 Researchers from UNSW Sydney have combined artificial synapses with advanced sensors to mimic the properties of human skin.

📡 This technology could find applications in elderly care, extreme sports monitoring, and motion capture.

🏥 E-skins emerging as a transformative sensing technology to meet the rising demands for real-time monitoring of vitals including blood pressure, temperature, and oxygen levels.

💪 Recently developed stretchable strain sensors can detect and convert external stimuli into electrical signals.

🧠 The neuromorphic computing device mimics biological synapses which play a key role in brain memory and learning functions.

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Source: Wind farm in Germany is being dismantled to expand coal mine

Summary
Wind turbines in Germany near the Garzweiler open pit mine operated by RWE are being dismantled to expand lignite mining. The excavation site, located in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, has an annual production of 25 million tonnes and lignite reserves estimated to last until 2045. The deconstruction of the wind farm is aimed to make space for new lignite exploitation.

Fact

💨 Wind turbines are being dismantled in Germany near the Garzweiler open pit mine to expand lignite mining.

🏭 The excavation site has an annual production of 25 million tonnes of lignite with estimated reserves to last until 2045.

🏘️ To expand the mine, the small town of Lützerath will be completely evicted and demolished.

🌍 Climate activists have opposed the plans to expand the mine and view Lützerath’s situation as symbolic.

⛏️ The Ministry of Economy of North Rhine-Westphalia stated that the deconstruction of the wind farm is necessary to maintain security of supply and carry out recultivation.

🌱 North Rhine-Westphalia announced that it will phase out coal by 2030, as did RWE, the company that owns the Garzweiler mine.

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Source: Introducing Grasshopper – An Open Source Python Library for Load Testing

Summary
Alteryx’s new open-source project, Grasshopper, is a user-friendly load-testing Python library that measures software performance by load testing against an API by generating metrics such as response times, failure rates, and custom trends and reporting those metrics to a timeseries database. It offers key features such as Checks, Custom Trends, Timing Thresholds, Timeseries DB reporting and tagging, and integration with PyTest.

Fact

📈 Grasshopper is a load-testing Python library that measures software performance.

📊 Its key features include Checks, Custom Trends, Timing Thresholds, Timeseries DB reporting and tagging, and integration with PyTest.

🐍 It uses Locust under the hood and extends its capabilities to provide useful metrics such as response times, failure rates, and custom trends.

👩‍💻 Alteryx’s team built Grasshopper because they found that Locust lacked essential features like measuring the timings that span multiple HTTP requests and aggregating metrics for a generalized conditional statement.

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