Hexup for Mar 1

New month, new Hexup! Though technically this happens every week. We’ve got some great links this week, from a brief explanation of Canadian Healthcare for Americans, to some incredible edible art, to some…Interesting experiments in artificial intelligence from IBM, NASA, and Aperture Laboratories.

How Canadian healthcare works

Dr. Aaron Carroll explains how healthcare works here in Canada under a single payer system. His series, Healthcare Triage, focuses on explaining medical policy and on addressing popular medical myths and superstitions that we have. Give it a watch, it’s a pretty good time, and I always learn something.

Art by Jamie Smart

Get on with it then

Artist Jamie Smart drew a thing about how not to start a new project.

I’ll take the Pollock

Ever wanted to eat a Mondrian? Now you can. The British Art fund had a bake-off that challenged people to recreate famous works of art in their baking. From Pollock to Van Gogh, there are some delightful and delicious pieces here. I’ve been producing my own modern art food pieces, though they all come out pretty abstract.

Supernova

NASA just release some new photos from the Hubble Space Telescope, including one of a supernova at its absolute brightest. From Geek.com, “Type Ia supernovae are generally hard to capture because they are less energetic than some other types. In fact, this supernova was likely caused by a collision or some other extreme change in its mass distribution.” It’s also beautiful.

Chocolate burritos and artificial intelligence

What do they have to do with each other? Everything if you’re IBM. IBM will have a food truck at the Pulse Conference in Las Vegas, and the menu will be designed by an artificial intelligence. According to eater.com, you can be on the lookout for “Creole Shrimp-Lamb Dumpling, Baltic Apple Pie, Austrian Chocolate Burrito, Turkish Bruschetta…” and a lot more. It sounds delicious, but given AI’s tendency to be evil, I’m skeptical.

GladOS meets NASA

Speaking of evil AIs, our video feature this week is a partnership with our favourite evil AI and NASA, who come together to explain nuclear fission and fusion.