Wendy W @WendyW@qoto.org

New housing district Merwede in the center of Utrecht:
6,000 homes for 10,000 people.
21,500 indoor bicycle parking places.
0 parking places and no roads for cars.
1,500 underground parking spaces at the edges, €200/month each.
In @nrc today.

COMPETITION ALERT: “The aim is to build an exciting, modern urban quarter for at least 10k residents & 5k workplaces, focused on eco-friendly transportation & land use as part of a carbon-neutral urban environment.”

BIG ambition by #Reykjavik on this international competition! Former Vienna Vice-Mayor Maria Vassilakou & I are jurors and advisors.

Info: https://betrisamgongur.is/keldnaland/

Competition document: https://betrisamgongur.is/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Keldur-Competition-Brief.pdf

❓ Have you ever wondered what makes you you? This is a complicated question to answer in humans where we can’t control every single thing that a human experiences for their whole life.

🐟 This week, writer Kara McGaughey talks about how a group of neuroscientists used a genetically identical group of fish to answer this question.

Read her post to find out whether the fish were born with their individuality or if they developed their individuality over time.

https://pennneuroknow.com/2023/01/24/when-did-you-become-you/

#scienceCommunication #sciComm #neuroscience #brain #psychology #individuality #fish

In its sleep, an octopus will change its skin colour and texture in what appears to be dreaming.

Humans and octopuses are separated by 750 million years of evolution. Our last common ancestor was an ocean flatworm. We may as well be from different planets.

So either even creatures as simple as worms can dream and we inherited that from them, or dreaming is an emergent property of intelligence, appearing independently. And both possibilities are fascinating.

@Lee_in_Iowa @kornbluh @BrentToderian For some reason I couldn’t find any pictures with groceries… You’ll have to make do with camping gear, an adult friend, a flea market haul, and a Home Depot run including a tree. Bakfiets are the kings of cargo.

My dogs are The Saddest™ when I'm eating breakfast #mastodogs #dogsofmastodon #restingpibbleface #dogs #pitties #hongry

I dreamt I was learning a language with two important words, wimak and mak. You used ‘mak’ in factual sentences where the basis for your assertion was anything you could touch (including taste) and ‘wimak’ if what you knew came from dreams, communication with ghosts, or intuition. Stuff you saw or heard was an unmarked case. People argued about whether tv or internet was wimak or not. #linguistdreams

Mornin’.

Blue Tit in the brambles.

It must be exhausting always being on the scope for danger.

What they don’t see coming though is us…taking/destroying their habitat.
Poisoning their air, water and forage.

Birds need trees. Need brambles. Need hedgerows. Need insects. Need seed heads. Need wild.

They don’t need tidy. Concrete. Plastic. Pesticides. Us.

#BlueTit #birds #bird #birdsofmastodon
#beesanctuaryireland #bees #nature
#wildlife #naturereserve #organic #vegan #wildlifephotography

China’s Chinese New Year exodus threatens more factory disruption

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/china-s-chinese-new-year-exodus-threatens-more-factory-disruption

Hello everyone, it's time we start officially posting on Mastodon, so here is our #Introduction -- we are the #Chandra Director's Office, responsible for updating you on all of the goings-on at the #ChandraXray Center operating NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. From newsletters and workshops to proposals and peer review, we are here to keep you in the loop with what is going on in Cambridge and in orbit. #Astrodon #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Space #Science #Satellite #NASA #XRaysAreTheBestRays

This is one reason why the transition to clean energy is estimated to save (not cost, but save) trillions of dollars. https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2022-09-14-decarbonising-energy-system-2050-could-save-trillions-oxford-study

Have we made any progress on climate change? A good update from Claudia Tebaldi, @hausfath@twitter.com and others. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFDnknU0h0s

A quarter of all kilometers cycled in Dutch cities are to/from a train station. Half of all train trips start with a bike ride.

Thanks to the trains, there is more cycling; and thanks to cycling, more train usage. A virtuous circle of sustainable travel.

Our interview with Polish newspaper Wyborcza Trójmiasto: https://trojmiasto.wyborcza.pl/trojmiasto/7,35612,29285576,kazdy-moze-byc-jak-amsterdam.html