By +Scott Knaster, Google Developers Blog Editor

This week Google and the Comparative Constitutions Project launched Constitute, which puts constitutions online for people everywhere to explore. Constitute includes 177 constitutions, many of which weren’t online previously.



Each country’s constitution is tagged for easier navigation, marking such attributes as citizenship, foreign policy, and electoral oversight. Having them all online together, tagged and searchable, enables unprecedented research. For example, you can quickly see which countries grant rights to minorities, and even how each country defines a minority. You can also watch the progress of trends such as marriage equality and voting rights.

With dozens of new and amended constitutions in the world each year, Constitute can become a central source for exploring what’s new and for helping drafters of future constitutions think about how to proceed with their work.

Constitutions have been around for thousands of years, but a discovery in the Yukon earlier this year revealed something far older: dinosaur tracks. Dozens of fossilized dinosaur footprints were found by scientists from the University of Alaska on an expedition near the Arctic Circle. According to researcher Paul McCarthy, “The tracks were so abundant along the Yukon River that we could find and collect as many as 50 specimens in as little as 10 minutes”. That’s a lot of footprints made by a lot of big feet.

Finally, we congratulate the winners and participants in this year’s Google Science Fair. First place went to Eric Chen, who studied ways to fight the spread of flu. Other winners included Vinay Kumar, Ann Makosinski, and Elif Bilgin. But we think the best part is the cool Lego trophy each winner gets to take home.


All we are is dust in the wind, or tracks in the Yukon, or something similarly temporary. But while we’re here, there’s Fridaygram to bring some fun nerdy news for your weekend. Thanks to our Yukon correspondent +Louis Gray for the dinosaur tip.

By +Scott Knaster, Google Developers Blog Editor

Regular Fridaygram readers know that Street View goes places even if there aren’t any streets, like the Galapagos Islands. This week we launched the panoramic images collected earlier this year with the Street View Trekker, and they’re pretty cool.


As we mentioned back in May, we also used an underwater camera to collect images of marine life in the waters off the Galapagos. Between the land and the sea, we collected pictures of blue-footed boobies, Magnificent Frigatebirds, and other island creatures. These images will help with Galapagos environmental research. If you’re interested, you can read more about it.

Speaking of the wonders of nature, researchers have used high-speed video cameras to record insects with natural gears that mesh to enable movement. Scientists Malcolm Burrows and Gregory Sutton of the University of Cambridge found that young planthoppers have microscopic gear teeth that synchronize their legs when they jump. Their legs move within 30 millionths of a second of each other, ensuring that their jumping is effective. As the insects mature, they lose these baby teeth and learn to jump without them.

Finally, last Wednesday’s Google Doodle honored the birthday of legendary physicist Léon Foucault, namesake of the Foucault pendulum, which shows the effect of the Earth’s rotation. The doodle itself is a working Foucault pendulum, complete with controls to change its time and location. We hope it inspires you to do some weekend inventing and adventuring of your own.


The world keeps turning, and Fridaygram keeps publishing. Look us up for nerdy cool news right before you start your weekend. And for still more amazing Galapagos stuff, see Darwin for a Day, built by the Charles Darwin Foundation and iNaturalist using the Street View API.

By +Scott Knaster, Google Developers Blog Editor

We normally talk about cool and nerdy things on Fridaygram, but today we're focused on just the "cool" bit. The Clash exploded onto the stage in the late 1970s in the UK. Led by Joe Strummer, The Clash were popular, successful, and influential. They were often billed as “The only band that matters”.



We’re talking about The Clash right now because Google Play has just released a five-part documentary on the band, which you can watch on YouTube. This documentary series shows the band at work during the recording and release of its albums, including hours of previously unreleased footage of Joe Strummer talking about the band. If you already love The Clash, you’ll enjoy learning about their backstory, and if you’re not familiar with them, here’s your chance to see what’s up.

Turning from a new subject to one of our repeat favorites here on Fridaygram, this week NASA announced that Voyager 1 has become the first human-made object to reach interstellar space. Launched in 1977, the same year The Clash’s first album came out, Voyager has been teasing us with the question of exactly where it’s located for some time now. As Voyager project scientist Ed Stone says, “We can now answer the question we’ve all been asking – ‘Are we there yet?’ Yes, we are.”

Finally, we’ve added some cool new features to Google search that you might want to spend some time checking out. Search can now answer questions about your stuff. For example, if you ask “What’s my flight status?”, you’ll get a personal result that shows you whether your plane is on time. You can also ask about your dining reservations, hotels (“When is my next hotel stay?”), packages, calendar events (“When is They Might Be Giants?”), and photos (“my photos from Austria last year”). For extra awesomeness, try this feature with voice search in Chrome, Android, or the Google Search app on iOS. Have fun!


Voyager 1 has left us behind (or has it?), but Fridaygram is still here for you. If it’s nerdy, cool, or nerdy cool, it’s fair game for us.

By +Scott Knaster, Google Developers Blog Editor

Google Code Jam is a time-honored tradition in which coders around the world solve programming problems for glory and cash prizes. The 10th annual Code Jam finals took place last week in London, and when the dust settled and the flying fingers stopped typing, the winner of the coveted title Code Jam Champion 2013 was Ivan Miatselski. The champion (also known as mystic) bested 45,000 entrants to win the competition.


Code Jam participants get to use whichever programming language they want, and they chose dozens, including Python, Java, C++, and even COBOL, Fortran, Smalltalk, and Mathematica. This year’s devilish final round involved solving five challenges in four hours, including puzzles about driving around a traffic circle backwards and finding a drummer for your band. If you missed it, don’t worry: Code Jam 2014 is on the way.

As we switch from enigmatic problems to mysterious celestial bodies, there’s news that Saturn’s moon Titan is continuing its shady ways. According to new research, Titan could have a thick crust of ice, very different from previous theories. Geophysicist Doug Hemingway of UC Santa Cruz says “Already things on Titan were hard to explain. This makes it even worse.” Indeed, Titan is a pretty weird place, with its methane atmosphere that comes down in rain and forms lakes.

Finally, would you like to meet a restaurant waiter who remembers you across visits, even if they’re years apart? That’s the story of Julian Lim, a super recognizer who recalls almost every face he’s ever seen. This superpower even works across many years, as super recognizers can pick out people who have grown up and changed substantially. Researchers studying this phenomenon have found more than 20 super recognizers so far. Some of them didn’t realize they had a special ability and assumed everyone else could do it too.


On Fridaygram, scientists are heroes, space news is amazing, nature never ceases to surprise, and fun is important. We hope your weekend is filled with wonder and general cool stuff.

By +Scott Knaster, Google Developers Blog Editor

In 2011 Points of Light and Google got together and started HandsOn Tech, an organization designed to help US nonprofits learn to use technology in their work. HandsOn Tech connects nonprofits with expert volunteers who really want to help make the world better.


HandsOn Tech helps with all kinds of programs, including improving literacy and making information accessible. This fall, HandsOn Tech starts its third year of programs. Want to volunteer? You can apply to join the team until August 31. If you’re selected, you’ll receive a week of training here at Google in Mountain View, California. If you make it, let us know when you’re in town by sharing a post with +Google Developers.

You could do a lot of good if you lived forever. While that might not be feasible yet, scientists are on it with research into Hydractinia echinata, an Irish sea creature that doesn’t age and can regenerate any part of its body. Dr. Uri Frank of NUI Galway says the marine animal is “perfect for understanding the role of stem cells in development, aging and disease”. Humans are probably too complex to regenerate body parts this way, according to Dr. Frank, but there’s lots to be learned from humble Hydractinia.

Finally, here’s a sight that previous generations could only dream of viewing: Phobos crossing in front of Deimos, as seen from the surface of Mars. The video, poetically titled “Two moons passing in the Martian night”, was shot from Mars by the Curiosity rover. It’s short, so you can enjoy it over and over again.


This week Fridaygram notes a couple of spacey milestones: happy 5 years in low-earth orbit to the Fermi Space Telescope, and congratulations to NASA’s Juno spacecraft, which passed the halfway point on its journey to Jupiter: 1,415,794,248 kilometers down, 1,415,794,248 kilometers to go.

By +Scott Knaster, Google Developers Blog Editor

Every year the Google RISE (Roots in Science and Engineering) Awards are given to non-profit educational programs around the world. The awards help open up access to programs in computer science and technology for underrepresented groups in K-12.

Last year, 30 RISE Awards were granted to organizations in Nigeria, Argentina, New Zealand, Germany, Liberia, and many more locations. Applications for this year’s awards are open until September 30th. If you’re involved with an educational group, you might want to look into it. An award could inspire someone and help change lives.

From RISE awards to the ocean’s rise, scientists have studied why wooden shipwrecks off western Antarctica seem much better preserved than those in most other areas. The answer may be that shipworms that devour wooden ships don’t like it there. A strong current plus a confluence of cold and warm waters seem to discourage the ship-eaters. A Swedish team tested this by placing wooden planks and whale bones underwater for more than a year. The wood was well-preserved, while some other really cool-looking worms feasted on the whale bones. Following this research, scientists now hope they can find a long-sought shipwreck in the area.

Finally, we want to tell you about (yet another) small, cool, handy feature in Google Search you might not have noticed: it’s a timer. If you need to count down time, just go to a Google Search box and type timer 60 seconds or something similar. You’ll see a timer that you can stop and restart, and even an optional alarm. Now you can remember that it’s time to do that thing, even if you forgot what it was.


Fridaygram always shows up on Friday, so reading old ones feels a little like time travel, although there is no Google Time Machine yet. And speaking of time, we wish Debian a happy 20th birthday today.

By +Scott Knaster, Google Developers Blog Editor

This week we launched Google Maps Views, a site where you can see and share photo spheres of your favorite places. You can enjoy photo spheres of beautiful and amazing locations, such as the Northwest Territories, Canada and Masvingo, Zimbabwe.

Photo Spheres displayed on the Views site include a handy “View on Google Maps” link, which enables you to see the photo sphere’s location displayed on a large map. And because Views is a community site, we encourage you to contribute your own photo spheres, which you can create using an Android phone or DSLR camera.

Our phones and cameras run on batteries, but it’s hard to get by without electric power in the wall. Power system engineers have studied the massive U.S. power blackout of 2003 and are working to prevent similar failures from happening again. Their primary tool is using phasor measurement units to monitor the interconnected power grid. These devices give early warning when something isn’t right, such as when a generating plant starts to fail. This gives operators time to take action before cascading problems can cause catastrophic failures, as in 2003. So your local power might be out, but at least it won’t knock out the lights for the next 10 cities down the road.

Finally, if you want to contemplate what’s beyond the bounds of Earth, take a look at some of the amazing photos submitted in the 2013 Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. If you really love astronomy photos, you can see all 13,000 photos sent in since 2008. That should give you something to look at while you take a break from coding this weekend.


We’ll share anything nerdy here on Fridaygram. For example, if astronomy photos aren’t your thing, visit these simple animated GIFs that show how machines work. You might get inspired to build something of your own!

By +Scott Knaster, Google Developers Blog Editor

Sometimes you have a baby and a startup at the same time. For times like those, Google’s Campus Tel Aviv recently held Campus for Moms, a startup course designed to be friendly to babies and moms taking care of them. The nine-week course included technical topics like the evolution of cloud computing, legal information, financial advice, and more. The classroom was filled with bean bags and mats so that moms and babies could hang out together during sessions.

Graduates finished up by presenting their ideas to potential investors and class leaders. And during the course of the nine-week class session, four participants announced new launches: their babies were born.

Human babies build memories as they learn and grow, but what about other primates? A recent study provides evidence that chimps and orangutans can remember things for longer and more precisely than previously thought. Researchers found that both species could instantly recall an event (finding a particular tool) that took place three years earlier. The animals could also distinguish events that took place two weeks prior. Could ape startups be next?

Finally – and we really do mean finally – the pitch drop experiment at Trinity College Dublin has come to a successful conclusion. After nearly 70 years of trying, the project now has video proof that tar pitch sometimes behaves like a liquid and, given enough time and the right conditions, will form drops that fall from the main body. The experiment started in 1944, and now it’s done. Hooray!


This weekend, why not start a multi-decade experiment of your own? Maybe we can even feature it on some future edition of Fridaygram, if it still exists when your own pitch-drop moment happens.

By Scott Knaster, Google Developers Blog Editor

Maker Camp is an online summer camp created for teens who want to make gadgets, software and other cool stuff. Anyone can join Maker Camp, and it’s free. The folks at Maker Camp post a new project each weekday morning, and each afternoon there’s a Hangout with experts who show how they make things. Plus, there are Hangout “field trips” to places like NASA Ames Research Center.



The makers of Maker Camp say they want to embrace not only the spirit of DIY (do it yourself), but also DIT (do it together), and their online community and Hangouts are designed to do just that. Maker Camp started earlier this week and runs for 6 weeks. You can participate any day by visiting the Maker Camp page on Google+ and joining the Maker Camp Google+ Community.

Speaking of great projects, researchers have long been trying to create a mirror that reflects all the light that reaches it without absorbing any – a so-called perfect mirror. Recently, scientists at MIT were studying photonic crystals when they discovered a way to get the crystal to reflect all the light from a specific frequency of red light shined on it. This discovery could lead to more efficient lasers and yet-unknown advances.

Finally, we turn (as we often do on Fridaygram) to space, where amazing things happen, but so do mundane things, like astronauts having to wash their hair. This can be especially problematic if you have long hair and you’re aboard the International Space Station, like Astronaut Karen Nyberg. In this video, Astronaut Nyberg shows how she washes her long hair in zero gravity, where you have to keep track of the water lest it float away from you.


Here’s an idea: future astronauts could look at themselves in perfect mirrors when they wash their hair. That’s just the kind of out-of-the-box thinking you’ll get here on Fridaygram, where we try to provide a respite from your week of coding by offering some fun nerdy stuff.

By +Scott Knaster, Google Developers Blog Editor

This week we launched Street View images showing what it’s like inside (and outside) the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. We love taking Street View places it’s never been, and now we’ve added two firsts: the first collection in the Arab World, and the first one to feature a skyscraper.



As if it’s not enough to visit the 163rd floor of the world’s tallest building, or ride an elevator traveling at 22 mph, we thought it would be fun to send our Street View camera outside the 73rd floor in a maintenance unit for a breathtaking view of the surrounding cityscape. So don’t miss that view, as long as you’re OK with heights.

We go from high above the Earth to under the sea for news of the world’s first robot carp. A team of scientists in Singapore studied these freshwater fish and designed an autonomous underwater exploration vehicle. They plan to use this robofish to study tight spaces in underwater places, such as pipelines or the lost city of Atlantis. The researchers used cameras to record carp doing their thing, then created a mathematical model of carp movements to trigger actuators in their robot.

Finally, let’s journey beyond even the Burj Khalifa, out into (pretend) space, where the Galileo Shuttlecraft served Captain Kirk and the crew of the U. S. S. Enterprise in the original Star Trek universe. This prop was originally considered too expensive for the production company to build, so Federation personnel had to make their way to and from planets by transporter instead. But the craft was eventually built and appeared midway through the first season, in 1967 (or stardate 2821.5, if you prefer). In the years since then, the ship has deteriorated. But now Star Trek fans and a shipwright are restoring the Galileo to its original glory, to be enjoyed by fans everywhere. Magnifico!


Whether on the surface of the Earth, way down below the ocean, or in space, Fridaygram is always your ticket to fun nerdy stuff. Speaking of space (and Star Trek), it looks like Voyager 1 has still not left the solar system, although it has entered a previously unknown area, far out there. This weekend, go and explore something new on your own!

By Scott Knaster, Google Developers Blog Editor

This week we announced Project Loon, a cool and kind of crazy project that launches Internet-connected balloons and shares their connection with people below on Earth. These are not your typical birthday balloons: they’re 15 meters wide, and they rise to an altitude of 20 km, where winds carry them around the world. Software computes where the balloons should go to provide the best network coverage, and the balloons are then steered and moved as necessary.



Sailing along in the stratosphere is an essential aspect of Project Loon. The stratosphere is far above general air traffic and weather, so Loon balloons don’t have to worry about that. On the other hand, the environment is not friendly, with thin atmosphere and -50°C temperatures. But because the balloons are designed for these conditions, they can survive happily.

Moving further away from Earth, all the way to deep space, astronomers have found 26 new black holes right here in the neighborhood, in the Andromeda galaxy next door. Scientists using the Chandra X-Ray Observatory detected the black holes by observing telltale bursts of X-rays as the black holes ingested the outer atmosphere of ordinary stars. And this is just the start: there are likely thousands more black holes in Andromeda. So if Internet balloons ever make to Andromeda, we now know some places to avoid.

Finally, if you’re looking for something fun to do this weekend, you can spend time with a trio of nifty Chrome Experiment games released over the past couple of weeks: Roll It is a classic boardwalk game with the modern twist of using your mobile device as a controller, Racer builds a race track and soundtrack from several mobile devices put together, and Cube Slam lets you play an old-school arcade game over the Internet with friends (and if you have no friends, you can play against a virtual bear). Have fun!


From distant galaxies to ursine videogame opponents, Fridaygram rolls wide and deep. We cover fun stuff that isn’t always directly related to writing code, just in case you need an end-of-week break. If you’re having too much fun with our trio of games and you want to learn something instead, you can read about how we built each of them: Roll It, Racer, Cube Slam.

Scott

Maya

By Maya Amoils, Google.org, and Scott Knaster, Developer Relations

Throughout this month, we’ve asked developers around the world to sign up for Be Mindful in May, a one-month meditation campaign that challenges participants to learn about meditation while simultaneously dedicating their efforts to a global cause: providing clean water to people in developing nations. So far the campaign has raised over $75,000 AUD for this important issue, and the Google Developers team has raised $1700 AUD.

The money raised through Be Mindful in May will go to charity:water, an organization that’s helping to bring clean, safe drinking water to the nearly 1 billion people who struggle every day without it.


To help support nonprofits like charity:water, last month we released the One Today mobile app as a limited pilot in the US. One Today introduces users to new projects each day across a wide range of issues, and enables users to donate $1 to the cause. One Today users can amplify their impact by matching their friends’ donations. If you’re in the US, you can join the One Today pilot by requesting an invite.

From making a difference in the world to wacky science, studies suggest that dogs yawn in response to humans. And not only that: further research shows that sometimes, dogs yawn in empathy with humans yawning, while other times, dogs yawn because they’re feeling stress, as when they’re listening to their owners. Much more research involving yawning dogs and people will be necessary to fully sort this out.

Finally, if you’re previewing the new Google Maps, you might be interested in this cool Easter egg. And if you’re not on the new Google Maps, you can request an invite. It’s really nice, and might even keep you from yawning.


Fridaygrams provide a chance for us to focus on fun and interesting stuff that’s not necessarily related to writing code. Sometimes we even get to feature inspiring content, like this week’s information about helping nonprofits.

Maya Amoils is a member of the Google.org marketing team where she works on a number of the team's charitable giving initiatives. Maya holds a BA in Science Technology & Society from Stanford University. Outside of work, you can find her biking around the Bay Area or making playlists on Spotify.

Scott Knaster is the editor of Google Developers Blog. He likes family time, technology, and watching the San Francisco Giants win baseball games.

By Scott Knaster, Google Developers Blog Editor

On Fridaygram we love to celebrate amazing new Street View images. This week we announced new panoramic views of the Galapagos Islands, collected with with the Street View Trekker in partnership with the Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF) and the Galapagos National Parks Directorate (GNPD). These images will go live on Google Maps later this year, but you can see a preview below and on the Official Google Blog.

The Maps team’s 10-day adventure included lots of interaction with local wildlife, but didn’t take place entirely on land. The team worked with the Catlin Seaview Survey to collect underwater ocean images too. And in addition to being beautiful and fun, these pictures have a practical use: they act as a visual record that can be compared to changes observed in the future.

Speaking of wildlife, do you have a smart dog? And does your smart dog know 1000+ words, plus have a basic comprehension of grammar? Meet Chaser, a 9-year-old border collie who has been taught to recognize the names of 1000 objects, as well as the meaning of some verbs and prepositions. In tests, Chaser correctly (most of the time) responded to commands such as “take ball to Frisbee”, or even “to Frisbee take ball”. If only our friends and family were that helpful.

Finally, there’s some typically mind-blowing news from the world of quantum physics. We already know that quantum particles can share a connection called entanglement, which allows one particle to reflect the state of another no matter how far apart they are. Now an experimental discovery shows that particles can be entangled even if they don’t exist at the same time. We agree with experimenter Jeremy O'Brien of the University of Bristol, who said “It’s really cool”.


Fridaygram is about randomly cool and nerdy stories that we hope will amuse you and possibly inspire your weekend. Around here we’re still feeling the Google I/O afterglow, so we’re going to recommend you spend some time this weekend watching some of the many session videos from I/O. If that’s not your thing, maybe you’d like this brief but inspiring video that kicked off the conference.

By Scott Knaster, Google Developers Blog Editor

The Google Transparency Report is designed to point out government censorship, requests to Google for data, and other details about our information services. The newest report, just out this week, shows that government requests for content removal have reached a new high level, with more than 2200 requests received in the second half of last year.
Government removal requests are probably the best known part of the Transparency Report, but there’s plenty of other fascinating and useful data. For example, you can see information about removal requests for specific URLs from copyright owners, or read about the legal process that takes place when a government organization or court requests information about a user. You can learn a lot by spending some time with the Transparency Report.

If you’re on the U. S. East Coast this spring and summer, you won’t need a report to tell you that massive numbers of cicadas are emerging from their underground homes to breed, fill the skies, annoy countless humans, last a few weeks, then die (and annoy even more humans who have to clean them up). This year’s bunch are Magicicada septendecim, or periodical cicadas with a 17-year life cycle. So we can look forward to a similar event in 2030.

Finally, if you haven’t already played with the Earth Day Doodle from last Monday, consider taking a few minutes this weekend to enjoy it. You might find yourself mesmerized by the tranquil scene (cicadas not included).


Fridaygram is mostly about fun and informative stuff that’s not related to development, but we seriously want to congratulate Googlers Peter Norvig and Arun Majumdar on their election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Arun runs Google’s energy strategy as vice president of energy, and Peter is our director of research, although he’s also known for his whimsical take on presentations and technology.

By Scott Knaster, Google Developers Blog Editor

Just about two years ago, we said that Kansas City would be the first place to get very high speed Internet access from the Google Fiber project. This week we announced that Austin, Texas will be the next location for Google Fiber. Like Kansas City, customers in Austin will be able to get gigabit Internet and Google Fiber TV service. Many schools, hospitals, and other public buildings in Austin will get gigabit Internet at no charge.



If you live in Austin or Kansas City, and you want to find out more, take a look at the Google Fiber website. Or maybe you’ll want to plan to move to one of those cities.

Speaking of moving, the next time you’re moved by music, you might be interested to know what’s going on in your brain. Recent research shows that when people like a new song, the nucleus accumbens becomes active, while other parts of the brain work on pattern-matching and emotional connections. The more complex the activity among these various brain regions, the more the brain's owner likes a song, according to the research. Scientists are hoping to use this work to learn more about how we process all kinds of sounds, not just cool new tunes.

Finally, take some time this weekend to watch this amazing NASA video of Earth from orbit. It’s part of NASA’s Earth month, which includes a bunch of other images of our favorite planet that are also fun to look at. It’s sure to light up your brain.


With all its interplanetary travel, it’s nice of NASA to have a month just for us earthlings. And here on the blog, we’re happy to have Fridaygrams, which allow us to depart temporarily from developer world and just feature some random, nerdy, science-y stuff instead.

By Ashleigh Rentz, Google Developers Blog Editor Emerita

With all of this week’s developer news, it’s easy to forget that Monday was April Fools’ day. As usual, Googlers channeled their playful spirits into creative new “features” for many of our products.  Did you spot them all?  Wikipedia has a recap list, featuring Google Trends’ “Cold Searches” (discover new unique things that nobody else is into!) and Google Analytics’ export support for even more external media options.

After we stopped fooling around, space.com got serious and shared this animated sequence of what astronomers have observed happening to a massive gas giant planet somewhere around 20 times the size of Jupiter: a supermassive black hole 300,000 times the size of our sun has been ripping the planet apart!  (We’re all relieved to know it’s 47 million light years away from our much-beloved Earth.)

If perchance you take advantage of the weekend to catch up on your sleep, take special note of your dreams. Scientists in Japan have been carefully studying brain scans and reached a 60% success rate in identifying what images dreamers are “seeing”. Maybe soon we can finally answer one lingering question: Do Android developers dream of electric sheep?

Each week, Fridaygram brings you geek-friendly stories of interest to enjoy during your weekend. We can’t read minds, though. Just docs.

By Scott Knaster, Google Developers Blog Editor

Computer Science for High School (CS4HS) is a Google-sponsored program to enable professional development for high school and middle school students around the world interested in computer science. CS4HS holds workshops for teachers and provides funding to develop the workshops, along with help from local Googlers.


Earlier this week, we announced the recipients of this year’s grants, which will be the fifth year of the program (and you can see a list of previous years’ programs here). Computer science education isn’t just for university students any more.

Education leads to the scientific method, which is how researchers discovered that mysterious circles in the Namib Desert are probably not fairy circles or the work of an underground dragon, but are actually caused by termites in the sand. Norbert Jürgens of the University of Hamburg learned that sand termites eat the roots of grasses, creating the circles in the sand. That’s not nearly as cool as an underground dragon, but it seems more plausible.

Finally, you probably remember that astonishing meteor that lit up the sky over Russia last month, and you might have seen some of the many videos that recorded the event. So did Swedish blogger Stefan Geens, who figured out that he could learn more about the meteor from the videos in non-obvious ways. Geens used a video showing shadows cast by the meteor, along with Google Earth and Photoshop, to roughly calculate the meteor’s trajectory and landing place. From there, scientists figured out more about the meteor, including its size, track, and point of explosion. So this weekend, if you get inspired, you too can use YouTube to figure out something new.


Yes, meteor videos and sand termites are just part of the usual fun here on Fridaygram, where we eschew our usual developer fare and present just cool stuff instead, even if it doesn’t involve coding.

By Scott Knaster, Google Developers Blog Editor

We posted once before about the Google Art Project, a very cool endeavor to make museum art available online to people around the world. We’re writing about it again today because the project has just expanded to include a bunch of great new stuff, including ancient works, contemporary art, and even urban art.


Highlights of the newly added works include hundreds of photos from highly regarded photographers, centuries-old maps, and historical documents. You can spend hours exploring museums from more than 40 countries while you sit in the park with your laptop.

Speaking of traveling without actually moving, a researcher has used public Twitter data to study the use of human languages in various places around the world. Researcher Delia Mocanu and her team studied languages from tweets sent in New York City and used the data to map neighborhoods by language use. In some cases, the secondary language used in a neighborhood matched the language spoken by original residents decades or even hundreds of years earlier. That’s even before Twitter existed.

Finally, when you’re done looking at art and learning about world language use, you can spend some time this weekend with Chrome’s new Peanut Gallery. This project uses Chrome’s voice recognition technology to let you add title cards to old silent films. It’s completely for fun – enjoy!


Get your API info and meaty technical details earlier in the week, because on Friday it’s all for fun: science, the humanities, and just general nerdiness.

By Scott Knaster, Google Developers Blog Editor

Today is International Women’s Day, and one of the ways we’re celebrating is by being part of the Voices Global Conference. The conference includes sessions focused on women in technology, including new Women Techmakers episodes. You can watch live streams and archived videos, all available on the conference site.



Sometimes people ask the purpose of events like this. Beryl Nelson, writing in the Official Google Blog says it nicely: “A diverse workforce is critical in helping us build products that can help people change the world. That includes diversity of all life experiences, including gender.”

Now let’s turn to the uncommon combination of insects and coffee. Researchers in England were able to use caffeine found in some plants to help train the long-term memory of bees. The bees that got a hit of caffeine were far more likely to remember a particular plant than bees that received just sugar water. Coffee drinkers are probably nodding their heads knowingly at this news.

Finally, be sure to read Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling, which has been making the Internet rounds again lately. And try to take the time to enjoy a great story yourself this weekend.


Fridaygram: it’s not the usual yada yada. Sure, you figured out all the hidden codes on the new Google I/O site earlier this week, but think about this: why were those particular numbers chosen? See what you can come up with, then leave a comment on our +Google Developers page.

By Scott Knaster, Google Developers Blog Editor

Each year Reporters Without Borders presents the Netizen of the Year Award to someone who makes a notable contribution in defense of online freedom of expression. This sort of activism is vital, and can be hazardous: bloggers and others are sometimes jailed for what they write online. This year, Internet users (that’s us) get to vote for the winner of the award. There are nine nominees. You can learn their compelling stories and vote for your choice at youtube.com/netizen2013.

The winner will be announced on March 7th and will be invited to receive the award in person at Google’s office in Paris on March 12th, which is World Day Against Cyber Censorship.

Moving from strong online voices to strong insects, researchers have found that Asian weaver ants have an incredibly strong grip, enabling them to hold 100 times their weight with their foot pads. These creatures can even rapidly expand their foot pads if they need more holding power, as when the wind causes the surface they’re standing on to move a bit. This will probably make us feel even worse about dropping our mobile phones.

Finally, spend some quiet time this weekend gazing at these animated Mathematica-based images. They prove that math is beautiful.


Another Friday is here, and we’re back with our Fridaygram, news that's both/either interesting and/or fun. Hold on tight, and enjoy your weekend!