Tuesday, June 18, 2024

New top story on Hacker News: Nature retracts 2002 paper that claimed stem cells could become any type of cell

Nature retracts 2002 paper that claimed stem cells could become any type of cell
35 by susam | 13 comments on Hacker News.


New top story on Hacker News: Electricity prices in France turn negative as renewable energy floods the grid

Electricity prices in France turn negative as renewable energy floods the grid
67 by Capstanlqc | 47 comments on Hacker News.


New top story on Hacker News: 'Glowing' plants could help scientists predict flash drought

'Glowing' plants could help scientists predict flash drought
10 by sharpshadow | 1 comments on Hacker News.


New top story on Hacker News: Show HN: Billard – Generate music from ball collisions in 2D space

Show HN: Billard – Generate music from ball collisions in 2D space
10 by bambax | 0 comments on Hacker News.
Hello HN! Here's Billard. It combines music and physics into a unique creative tool, as I explore various unconventional methods for generating music. Most traditional music composition tools revolve around the idea of a repeatable pattern. Billard is a webapp that never repeats itself. It generates music automatically based on the collisions of balls in a 2D space. Collisions trigger notes (or chords) in a given key. One can add balls or move them (y-position is pitch); the app remembers its state between reloads; or it can be reset with the 'init' button on the top left. Gravity can be adjusted in real time to change the behavior of the balls. It owes a lot of inspiration to Brian Eno and Erik Satie (inventor of musique d'ameublement , or "furniture music"). Some may think the lack of pattern makes it not musical enough -- but this lets it be listened to —and watched— for a while without boredom. The webapp is made using plain JavaScript. (All SVG icons were made 'by hand'.) It uses Tone.js only for triggering piano samples. Beyond piano, it's MIDI-enabled and works well at slow speed with haunting, dark synth sounds. Hope you like it!