American Express built a new feature called Amex Passport that converts card transactions abroad into digital collectible stamps stored in its mobile app, using blockchain technology on the Base platform. The idea originated from an employee who noticed that physical passport stamps are disappearing, backed by survey data showing most travelers want digital ways to mark trips. Amex has since expanded the feature to let cardholders generate stamps retroactively for trips dating back to 2019.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-09-08
Australian officials plan to withdraw personnel from a research base on Macquarie Island as H5N1 bird flu spreads toward the island's large elephant seal colony. Scientists anticipate the virus will kill a substantial portion of the seal population, much of which congregates near the station's facilities.
gizmodo.com
· 2026-09-03
A recent analysis explores how someone deciphering an unknown ancient counting system could tell whether it used a positional base (like base 5 or base 20) or a 'bijective' base lacking a zero symbol, similar to Excel's column-labeling scheme. The piece argues that without contextual clues—like knowing what number a symbol represents—distinguishing these systems from raw symbol frequency alone would require enormous sample sizes, though tools like Benford's Law could help identify leading digits in large enough datasets.
johndcook.com
· 2026-08-27
GoKawiil