New Global Lab – Pinning it Down

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I have produced the May 2016 episode of The Global Lab.

It features a second interview with Sophie Coulombeau (after this one), this time on her academic specialism of eighteenth century literature, specifically the influence of binary classification (e.g. the genus species biological naming convention) on the work of novelist Frances Burney, and why botany was once considered a dangerously racy subject for young ladies.

The episode also contains an interview with Giles Rhys Jones of the fun addressing site What3Words, which has allocated a random three word identifier to every three metre by three metre square of the Earth’s surface. While the project has serious purposes, it’s also entertaining to search the map for fun locations, some of my favourites being Rather Tame Thrills, Wolves Devoured Bill and Demand Manly Cheeses. Hours of fun.

The last interview is with my colleague, Elsa Arcaute, on the subject of defining cities and measuring innovation, drawing on techniques from her background in physics.

Thanks to Mike Fell and Kaisa Puustinen for conducting two of the interviews.


Image: Yellow push pin – Slashme – Creative Commons

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