This Week I Learned - Week 28 2026
This Week I Learned -
* arXiv offers HTML papers alongside the existing PDF to improve accessibility.
* "Students need to learn how to work with AI, recognize weak output, think through choices, test results and decide what is worth doing.
I described my own approach as “delegate maximally”. Instead of keeping a fixed list of AI-proof skills, keep giving AI everything it might be able to do. Whatever remains is the human role for now." - S Anand
* "The reason I dislike this emphasis on term “LLM Visualization” or “Claude Viz” or even “Agentic Viz” is the focus on the tool. No one goes out and says “Excel Viz” // “PowerPoint Viz” // “Figma Viz”. The tool is there to augment the human and has never been the important part. The craft and skill of the human using the tool is what we should acknowledge and celebrate." - Amit Kapoor
* Draw with Data by Schubert De Abreu
* Bharat Atlas is a lightweight open-source visualiser for India administrative boundaries
* Paisa is an open-source Personal Finance Manager created by Anantha Kumaran
* DuckDB is very close to SQLite, except it has higher performances: database size is 3 times lighter, and requests performs 5-10 times better.
* Tad is a free (MIT Licensed) desktop application for viewing and analyzing tabular data. It is a fast viewer for CSV, Parquet files, SQLite and DuckDb databases that support large files. Internally, Tad uses DuckDb for fast, accurate processing.
* Louis Pasteur was awarded one of the first known patents covering a microorganism in 1873, specifically for “yeast free from organic germs of disease.” This patent laid the groundwork for modern microbiology and directly connects to the process we now call pasteurization, used in milk, juice, and wine.
Pasteur patented a method to obtain pure yeast, free from contaminating germs, and processes to prevent microbial spoilage in beer and wort.
Pasteurization is the process of heating liquids (milk, wine, beer, juice) to kill harmful microbes without affecting taste.
* Wool is hygroscopic: it absorbs up to 30-35% of its weight in moisture (vapor or liquid) into the fiber core without feeling drenched on the surface, thanks to its scaly structure and lanolin. This preserves some air-trapping loft (crimped fibers create insulating pockets), and the absorption process is exothermic—it releases heat as moisture binds. It is naturally flame-resistant. It doesn't catch and melt onto your skin like plastic does. It chars, refuses to sustain the flame, and puts itself out when you take the fire away. Wool has high nitrogen and moisture content, a high ignition temperature (570-600°C vs. polyester ~485-560°C or nylon lower), and a high Limiting Oxygen Index. It chars rather than melts, forms a protective insulating layer, self-extinguishes once the flame source is removed, produces less smoke/toxic fumes, and doesn't drip molten plastic onto skin. It manages moisture, breathes, and resists smell so well you can wear it for days.
* US tobacco companies developed billion-dollar food businesses that were prominent internationally between the 1980s and mid-2000s. Tobacco companies developed their international food businesses with the same strategies they used to establish their international tobacco businesses. - American Journal of Public Health (ajph)
* Food Access Research Atlas provides food access data for populations within census tracts in the US.
* There is really only one "world ocean." Oceanographers have divided the world ocean into five principal areas, or basins: the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and Southern Ocean basins. The Southern Ocean has the unique distinction of being a large circumpolar body of water totally encircling the continent of Antarctica.
* The vagus nerve (cranial nerve X) is uniquely "special" due to its extensive reach, complex function, and role as a master regulator of the body's involuntary processes. It is the longest cranial nerve in the body. While most cranial nerves primarily serve the head and neck, the vagus nerve originates in the brainstem and "wanders" (the Latin origin of vagus) down through the neck, chest, and abdomen, branching out to connect to vital organs including the heart, lungs, stomach, intestines, liver, and kidneys. It is a critical component of the parasympathetic nervous system (the "rest and digest" system). It houses approximately 75% of the nerve fibers in this system, making it the primary pathway through which the body promotes relaxation, digestion, and recovery after stressful events. The vagus nerve acts as a superhighway for information between the brain and the gut. It sends signals about the state of internal organs to the brain, while simultaneously conveying instructions from the brain back to those organs. This connection is central to the "gut-brain axis," influencing mood, stress responses, and cognitive function. Beyond its role in heart rate and digestion, the vagus nerve has significant immunomodulatory properties. By regulating the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, it helps the body manage inflammation, which is a factor in many chronic diseases. Because of its broad influence, the vagus nerve is a major target for medical therapy. Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS)—a technique that delivers electrical impulses to the nerve—is used to treat conditions such as treatment-resistant depression and epilepsy.
* Vitiligo affects 1 to 2% of the global population. India's prevalence runs higher than the global average.
* Gamifying tax payment - In order to prevent stores from evading taxes, every receipt in Taiwan is automatically a lottery ticket, too, which can win up to $300k, turning customers into voluntary tax auditors.
* PhonePe and Google Pay have split four-fifths of UPI volume between them for four straight years, even as the regulator’s 30% market-share cap keeps getting deferred. - Time Series of India
* 47% of all Fixed Deposits with all banks in India are held by senior citizens
* The Guilloche pattern is a sophisticated, highly intricate design feature used on the Aadhaar PVC Card. Consisting of interlaced, continuous geometric curves, it is extremely difficult to replicate or forge accurately, acting as a visual security layer to prevent counterfeiting. The Guilloche pattern can be found overlaid near the borders and design elements of the card.
* While English is an official language of the Union under the constitutional provisions relating to official languages, it is not one of the 22 official languages in the Eight Schedule of the Constitution.
* India is the world's largest producer and exporter of rice, yet the Food Corporation of India (FCI) is holding rice stocks that are nearly five times the prescribed buffer norm, at a carrying cost of over Rs. 10,712 crores in FY25. The environmental costs of the current policy framework, including the use of ~ 4,000 litres of water to produce one kilogram of rice, high methane emissions from paddy cultivation, and nitrate contamination of groundwater associated with serious health risks. - ICRIER
* “It doesn’t matter whether a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice” - Deng Xiaoping
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