The Kid Who Talks to the Blockchain
He is only 27 and already a billionaire. More important, though, he gave birth to the technology that showed what blockchain is capable of. Ethereum's creator, Vitalik Buterin, is a fascinating character, and we should expect plenty more serious tech news from him.
162Uncle Dan and the Ugandan Children Who Dance the Horo
You have seen them online or on television, and they are unbelievably moving: focused, serious and artistic, whether they are singing “My Country, My Bulgaria” or dancing the Danube horo, and looking nothing like the usual performers of these songs, just smiling, talented… Ugandan kids. The bridge between cultures is thrilling, and so is the uplifting story of Uncle Dan and his 100 children.
163Grigori Perelman: The Last Mad Genius
The mathematician Grigori Perelman became a global star after solving one of the “Millennium Problems,” which matter for the technological progress of all humanity. Then… he turned down the $1 million prize that came with it! The story of the undisputed mathematical genius of our time is not only fascinating but also rather instructive…
164The Strange Story of Bulgarian History
Time for the thrilling story of Bulgarian History! These young people love nothing more than debunking clichés. A few examples: – The new generations don't care about Bulgarian history. – Publishing is a dying trade with nothing in it for the young. – Patriotism has been irreversibly emptied of meaning after a spin through the centrifuge of politics. The Bulgarian History association is that likable group of young people who tour schools to charge children with the magic of history. You have surely come across some of their impressive books from recent years.
165Munch, The Scream, and a Short History of the Selfie
A century before the selfie became the pandemic before the pandemic, one of the most famous artists of our era, Edvard Munch, discovered photography and began producing a series of striking self-portraits. What could that possibly have to do with today's selfie mania? And how did our own face become our favorite image as mobile phones advanced?
166Levski's Handwriting Comes Alive Online
Stefan Peev is a philologist who has also been working in typography for two decades. His impressive project, the first freely available digital font based on the handwriting of Vasil Levski, was presented recently. How was the font created? What will it be used for? And what makes the Apostle's letters so distinctive?
167Kris, Google and the Art of Car Maintenance
Kris Mladenov founded his Das Auto Academy to share what he knows with auto mechanics, and in doing so to help develop a sector that in Bulgaria has clearly fallen far behind. Little by little, his academy has “moved” online. Recently it won $1.5 million in backing from Google to become a regional leader in its field.
168Estorium: A Digital Treasury of Stories
A treasury of meaningful stories, told online. That is Estorium! A digital anthropological archive where people stay alive forever, captured in a small piece of their everyday lives. The idea is as inspiring as it is real.
169A Major Honor for Digital Stories
The Digital Stories project has won the grand prize in the Technology and Innovation category of the Web Report awards for good journalism. Organized by Dir.bg, the competition has become one of the leading journalism challenges in Bulgaria in recent years.
170“They Just Have to Live…”
Photographer Sandro Arabyan shows the first seconds of life of 70 newborns. “I have photographed the end before, but photographing the beginning was a deeply philosophical question for me. And the two actually turned out to be very close…,” the photographer says.
171Outrunning the Virus
The pandemic is just beginning. Machine learning specialist Youyang Gu comes across wildly contradictory mathematical forecasts of how the situation will unfold. He decides to build his own algorithm and model using neural networks, and quickly becomes a star, because his model produces far more accurate forecasts than those of scientific units with multibillion-dollar budgets.
172Stars Over Sofia: The Capital Is About to Get Its Planetarium
Two aircraft engineers who graduated in Moscow, an electrical engineer who studied in South Korea, and an operations director who is just 17. They are part of the team at the Photonika design bureau, and they promise to build Sofia's first planetarium by the end of the year, then bring similar facilities to many other Bulgarian towns. Fasten your seatbelts, we're taking off!
173A Message in a Bottle, Emailed Across the Generations
“Do your best to make your dreams come true, so that you will have a happy old age!” Moving emails in a bottle sent across the generations exactly a year ago, carrying a message that truly matters…
174Robots vs. Silodeys: The Story of Bulgaria's First Science Fiction Writer
In 1930, Georgi Iliev wrote the first Bulgarian science fiction novel. Instead of “robot,” he proposed the poetic word “silodey.” His life story is worthy of a film, though today his name is almost forgotten…
175Radostin and the Neural Network
Radostin Cholakov is only 15, but he already has solid experience as a programmer. His latest project is the AzBuki.ML platform. Thanks to it, we will soon be able to use the most advanced AI text-processing capabilities in Bulgarian.
176The Earth Is Flat!
For more than two millennia we have been lied to that we live on a ball. It is time for the truth to come out! Today, when anyone online can say whatever they like, when access to information is unprecedented and general knowledge is shrinking in proportion, it is time to question the sixth-grade physics textbook. While you read… be careful not to fall off.
177See You Again in… Five Years
The years fly by, but friendship stays. Ever since the distant year of 1982, these five friends have gathered once every five years by Copco Lake to recreate one symbolic photo. To chat, and to remind themselves what true friendship is…
