CRA ARTS

The   baya weaver   ( Ploceus philippinus ) The   baya weaver   ( Ploceus philippinus ) is a   weaverbird   found across the   Indian Subcontinent   and   Southeast Asia. Flocks of these birds are found in grasslands, cultivated areas, scrub and secondary growth and they are best known for their hanging retort shaped nests woven from leaves. These nest colonies are usually found on thorny trees or palm fronds and the nests are often built near water or hanging over water where predators cannot reach easily. They are widespread and common within their range but are prone to local, seasonal movements mainly in response to rain and food availability. Among the population variations, three subspecies are recognized. The   nominate   race   philippinus   is found through much of mainland   India   while   burmanicus   is found eastwards into Southeast Asia. The population in southwest India is darker ...

Energy-saving light bulbs and TVs contain LEDs, which produce light from crystals called ‘quantum dots’. At the University of Utah, scientists have learned how to make quantum dots  from food waste specifically, chemicals in discarded pieces of bread, tortilla and soft drinks. The goal is to produce more environmentally friendly LEDs than those made from cadmium selenide, which is toxic when it breaks down.

  The buildings of Gouqi Island are slowly being consumed by a thick blanket of green. The island is located a few hours east of Hangzhou Bay in eastern China, and was once home to a thriving fishing community.   But as the shipbuilding and tourism industries grew, the village became deserted.    With nobody left to maintain them, the buildings were soon reclaimed by the natural world. “These buildings are covered with Parthenocissus tricuspidata, a relative of the grape vine and Virginia creeper. It’s native to China but is also widely cultivated as an ornamental climber for its red autumn foliage,” It’s equivalent to ivy in the UK, which will soon cover a building if left alone.”

QR code  ( Quick Response Code) is the trademark for a type of   matrix barcode   (or two-dimensional   barcode) first designed for the   automotive industry in Japan. A barcode is a machine-readable optical label that contains information about the item to which it is attached. A QR code uses four standardized encoding modes (numeric, alphanumeric, byte/binary, and   kanji) to efficiently store data; extensions may also be used. The QR code system became popular outside the automotive industry due to its fast readability and greater storage capacity compared to standard   UPC barcodes. Applications include product tracking, item identification, time tracking, document management, and general marketing. A QR code consists of black squares arranged in a square grid on a white background, which can be read by an imaging device such as a camera, and processed using   Reed–Solomon error correction   until the image can be appropriately int...

A   barcode   is an optical,   machine-readable, representation of data; the data usually describes something about the object that carries the barcode. Originally barcodes systematically represented data by varying the widths and spacings of parallel lines, and may be referred to as linear or one-dimensional (1D). Later two-dimensional (2D) codes were developed, using rectangles, dots,   hexagons   and other geometric patterns in two dimensions, usually called barcodes although they do not use bars as such. Barcodes originally were scanned by special   optical scanners   called   barcode readers. Later   applications software   became available for devices that could read images, such as   smartphones   with cameras. Barcodes became commercially successful when they were used to automate supermarket   checkout   systems, a task for which they have become almost universal. Their use has spread to many other task...