Top Hacker News: Week of January 26, 2015

DevToolsGuy / Thursday, January 29, 2015

The world has been waiting for a way to unboil eggs for generations. Well, not really. But we now know how to do it, thanks to an international team of brilliant chemists. And before you weep over the wasted research dollars, you should know that the newly discovered technology should have some more useful applications, such as possibly making many cancer treatments significantly more affordable.

Read about this breakthrough, plus a cool story about a blind coder, plus how you can break into professional longsword fighting, in this summary of top Hacker News threads:

  • The world of a blind programmer. Florian Beljers wants you to know that coding is possible even for the blind, and in this fascinating blog post, he explains exactly how it works. As a bonus, he also explains what his dreams are like. We also think that his request that app developers keep accessibility issues in mind as they work is extremely important. Click the link to read more about the challenges he faces every day while coding blind, and how he solves them.

  • Is coding the new literacy? Chris Granger adds his voice into the ongoing discussion about the importance of coding and the movement to get everyone to learn basic coding. He argues that modeling, not coding, is what we need to be teaching. But, on the other hand, he also begins his argument by quoting Google’s definition of literacy, freshman comp style. At the least, the post is a good starting point for a better conversation on the topic.

  • We Can Now Unboil Eggs. UC Irvine and Australian researchers have figured out how to pull apart tangled proteins and allow them to refold – in other words, to turn gummy proteins back into clear proteins. And don’t worry: this discovery wasn’t made just so we could take back our foolish plans to make deviled eggs this afternoon. The process will be used by the biotech industry to improve everything from cancer treatments to food production.

  • Learn way too much about hexagonal grids. Waaay too much. But Red Blob Games explains everything extremely clearly and deliberately, starting with the very basics: a hexagon has six sides, in case you missed it. From there, things start to get crazy. Read it not only to learn about hexagonal grids, but also to learn how to clearly explain a complex topic in a detailed but comprehensible way.