Amplia Group's Friday Top Five
This week’s top five pieces of curated content focus on the intersection of art and technology, on brilliance in science, and on politics. Let’s dive in:
Olafur Eliasson and his Augmented Reality (AR) Wunderkammer Project
Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson is known for his large-scale installation art that combines and features elements of the natural world with our own, to enhance our perceptions of self or create behaviour change. You can also check him out on the second season of the Netflix documentary, Abstract: The Art of Design. Now he is bringing rare natural matter, including a burning sun and a sprightly puffin, into people's homes with his AR Wunderkammer works, created in collaboration with Acute Art, a VR and AR agency.
The Wunderkammer project, which is available through an app available on the App Store and on Google Play, marks the first time that Eliasson has combined his work with AR.
It’s a meet up of personal space and art like only Eliasson can deliver.
Olafur Eliasson’s artworks will be available to experience for free through the Acute Art app and the artist plans to release a further series at a later date.
We ❤️ Science
Our two science articles focus on one brilliant mathematician and a space crew with snazzy new space suits and a souped up new ride.
Grad Student Lisa Piccirillo solves an epic 50-year old maths problem in a week
Piccirillo’s proof appeared in Annals of Mathematics in February. The paper, combined with her other work, has secured the UT Austin grad student a tenure-track job offer from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). According to the Smithsonian Magazine, she will begin her new role on July 1, 14 months after she finished her doctorate.
NASA and Space X Launch
For the first time since 2011, these astronauts are scheduled to reach orbit from US soil, undertaking a mission that could usher in a new era of space travel…if the weather cooperates.
NASA and SpaceX have rescheduled the launch of the Crew Dragon capsule due to bad weather this week. The next attempt is currently planned for Saturday, May 30, at 3:22 p.m. ET. We will be tuning in on Saturday, will you? Those space suits and the interior of the shuttle are pretty cool.
Politics
We have two very different political pieces this week, one focusing on the regulation of the internet and one on the coattail effect.
How Big Tech is handling medical misinformation - and the President’s response
According to Recode, tech giants making tough decisions and navigating political divides over how to respond to the pandemic, routinely making controversial calls. When Twitter fact-checked a pair of the President’s tweets on mail-in voting, the President vowed revenge, responding with an Executive Order.
The beneficiaries of the executive order could perversely be the big platforms themselves.
Riding on a Candidate’s Coattails
In anticipation of the 2020 Presidential election, down ballot candidates are weighing their options. According to Geoffrey Skelley, Election Analyst at the Five Thirty Eight Blog, the presidential race could decide more than just who the next president is. It could also determine which party controls the Senate or House or even a state’s legislature. It all hinges on something called the “coattail effect,” which is when the popularity of a candidate at the top of the ticket helps those candidates from the same party lower down on the ballot.
It’s unlikely that Trump or Biden’s candidacy will make up all the difference in these key races, but for some down-ballot candidates, it might not hurt to grab hold of their presidential candidate’s coattails.
That’s a wrap for this week
With all of the news we’ve consumed - and we are sure you have, too - we curated this content that is hopefully insightful and a bit different from what you might normally read in the headlines. Let us know what you think in the comments or drop us a line at hello@ampliagroup.com.
