Inventor Edwin Land hypothesised that colour photography looked wrong to us because perceiving colour involves our expectations of colour. One of Land’s experiments asked participants to look at colour photographs behind a red filter. Although logically, people should’ve seen only pink and red in the pictures, people could pick out colours in the image as if it were fully coloured because they know how the objects in the picture were supposed to be coloured. Spectrometers—instruments that measured colour—on the other hand, could only see pink and red in the picture. Read full article here
Societal Issues
To curb drug deaths, communities turn to Reddit, texts and wastewater
With drug overdose deaths on the rise, authorities are attempting to curb the epidemic by tracking and sharing information in real time. In one unique effort, a nonprofit in New York City is using drug-testing equipment and stamping or marking habits of dealers to identify drug batches that may endanger users. Other approaches are also being used, such as monitoring drug-related chatter on Reddit and analyzing local wastewater for opioid and other drug levels. With the combination of these efforts, researchers hope to put a dent in the opioid crisis and reduce overdose deaths. Read full article here
Merv
June 1, 2023
