Category Archives: Reviews

Cocktails With A Curator: Italian Painter Rosalba Carriera’s Portraits

In this week’s “Cocktails with a Curator,” Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Xavier F. Salomon celebrates Women’s History Month by examining two exquisite pastels by Rosalba Carriera that recently entered the collection through a bequest from Alexis Gregory and are on view for the first time on the third floor of Frick Madison. Celebrated for her technically innovative pastel portraits, Rosalba was one of the most famous artists of 18th-century Italy, particularly remarkable given the male-dominated society in which she lived. This week’s complementary cocktail is the Vesper Martini.

To view these paintings in detail, please visit our website: https://www.frick.org/rosalbaportraits

Technology: Ranking 10 Printers That Save On Ink

Printers are still the worst but at least new ink-tank printers help you save money on ink. WSJ’s Joanna Stern survived testing 10 home printers from Epson, HP, Brother and Canon to tell you which are worth buying. Personal Technology With Joanna Stern

Biotechnology: ‘Genome Sequencing – Unlocking The Covid Code’ (NY Times)

The advent of commercial genome sequencing has recently, and credibly, been compared to the invention of the microscope, a claim that led me to wonder whether this new, still relatively obscure technology, humming away in well-equipped labs around the world, would prove to be the most important innovation of the 21st century.

And unexpectedly, Covid-19 has proved to be the catalyst. “What the pandemic has done is accelerate the adoption of genomics into infectious disease by several years,” says deSouza, the Illumina chief executive. He also told me he believes that the pandemic has accelerated the adoption of genomics into society more broadly — suggesting that quietly, in the midst of chaos and a global catastrophe, the age of cheap, rapid sequencing has arrived.

Read full article in the NY Times

Science: Social Insects As Models For Aging, Space Mission Crew Conflicts

Most research on aging has been done on model organisms with limited life spans, such as flies and worms. Host Meagan Cantwell talks to science writer Yao-Hua Law about how long-living social insects—some of which survive for up to 30 years—can provide new insights into aging.

Also in this episode, host Sarah Crespi talks with Noshir Contractor, the Jane S. & William J. White Professor of Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University, about his AAAS session on keeping humans in harmony during long space missions and how mock missions on Earth are being applied to plans for a crewed mission to Mars. 

Analysis: ‘March Madness’ Tries To Limit Covid (Video)

The NCAA has created a ‘controlled environment’ with an extensive list of protocols aimed at keeping the coronavirus from upending March Madness for a second year. The stakes are high for both the players and the NCAA. Photo: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports

Science: Optical Atomic Clocks Redefine Time, Astronomer Vera Rubin

A web of three optical atomic clocks show incredibly accurate measurements of time, and the trailblazing astronomer who found hints of dark matter.

In this episode:

00:44 Optical clock network

Optical atomic clocks have the potential to reach new levels of accuracy and redefine how scientists measure time. However, this would require a worldwide system of connected clocks. Now researchers have shown that a network of three optical clocks is possible and confirm high levels of accuracy.

Research Article: BACON collaboration

News and Views: Atomic clocks compared with astounding accuracy

08:55 Research Highlights

The possible downside of high-intensity workouts, and the robot with adaptable legs for rough terrain.

Research Highlight: Can people get too much exercise? Mitochondria hint that the answer is yes

Research Highlight: A motorized leg up: this robot changes its limb length to suit the terrain

11:26 Vera Rubin

Vera Rubin was an astronomer whose observations were among the first to show evidence of dark matter. At the time, female astronomers were a rarity, but Vera blazed the trial for future women in science.

Books Review: Vera Rubin, astronomer extraordinaire — a new biography

18:35 Briefing Chat

We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, carbon cost of bottom trawling, and the fictional French researcher confounding metrics.

The Guardian: Bottom trawling releases as much carbon as air travel, landmark study finds

Science: Who is Camille Noûs, the fictitious French researcher with nearly 200 papers?

Art History: ‘Picasso & Sanyu – Modern Masters’

Pablo Picasso is perhaps the Modern master most admired by Asian artists. His commitment to breaking with tradition resonated deeply with Chinese modernist pioneer Sanyu. In this episode of Expert Voices, our Head of Modern Art in Asia, Felix Kwok, introduces masterworks by both artists, which will headline our upcoming Beyond Legends: Modern Art Evening Sale (18 April | Hong Kong). ‘Nu Avec un Pékinois’ is a masterpiece from Sanyu’s post-war period that reflects themes of love and perseverance and ‘Buste de Matador’ from the 1970s is the first painting in Picasso’s final Matador and reflects an urgency in the face of mortality.

Analysis: The Catastrophic Failures Of The Boeing 777 Aircraft Engines (Video)

A type of Pratt & Whitney engine on Boeing 777s has failed catastrophically three times in a three-year span. Federal investigators are trying to figure out why.