When it came time to name a new species of spider found in India, there wasn’t much deliberation.
The nocturnal arachnid, found in India’s Western Ghat mountain range, looks so much like the Sorting Hat it’s tempting to wonder where J.K. Rowling got her inspiration from. Indian researchers discovered the spider, which they named Eriovixia gryffindori, in 2015, and named it after Godric Gryffindor, the one-time owner of the hat in the Harry Potter books. No word yet on whether it was discovered sitting atop someone’s head.
It turns out that the spider’s unique body shape also serves a utilitarian purpose: the hat-shaped structure helps it blend into the dead leaves where it makes its home to hide from predators. The researchers found only a single female of the species, so we don’t yet know if males share the unusual similarity to wizarding headgear.
Eink, E-paper, Think Ink – Collin shares six segments pondering the unusual low-power display technology that somehow still seems a bit sci-fi – http://adafruit.com/thinkink
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
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