Thanks for using the spoiler tag. It’s working now.
And yes, I took into account that electronic nerds’ houses are different from most others.
The storyMy Genius optical mouse was tracking poorly, even on patterned surfaces and mouse mats. I cleaned the lens and that didn’t help. So I used a knife to open the chip, which is a pinhole camera with a die that integrates the sensor, a basic image processing system, button, wheel and LED controller and a USB (or maybe also PS/2) interface. I cleaned the chip with alcohol (mainly to remove the dust that had landed on it while it was open) and reassembled the mouse to find that it made no effect on ots functionality. I ultimately found out that the focus distance was off and I fixed it by removing the rubber pads at the bottom. The chip appears to have no alphanumerical marking. Full picture of the PCB with this chip – it is slightly damaged because I needed to scrape off parts of it to allow the cover to come off; I also did this because I thought of readjusting the focus by slightly lowering the chip (by bending its legs).
AnswerA thermostat chip uses a big transistor to control a relay, and is usually integrated with a touch/button and display driver, and it can be inside a conventional package. The thermistor is usually a discrete component created with different technology and away from heat-dissipating components. However, your idea that it’s a sensor that needs to interact with the outside world in a special way is not entirely incorrect.
Sorry for the inconvenience, I’m just trying to help people find hints in comments without someone ruining their experience by accidentally revealing the answer without a spoiler tag. This will keep the game fun even after someone guesses correctly.
Okay, I’ll drop the rule but I hope the correct guessser will retroactively do it anyway.
It’s not a bank card for the same reason it’s not a SIM (form factor)
AnswerInside a common humidity sensor
Lovely guess but no. This one has more pins, the integrated circuit is more complicated and many people don’t have one at home.
Well, his research was very sound by modern standards, mostly adhering to the scientific method. It would be very untimely 200 or more years prior. His paper (even in its original form!) is understandable by any modern intelligent person who can read German cursive.
He also kept bees in the monastery garden and tried to do experiments on them but it wasn’t known back then that bees mate high in the air, so his attempts to breed them were futile. Other monks were often stung or annoyed by the nasty bees so he quit beekeeping.
Source: Mathematics of Life by Ian Stewart. I also visited his museum on Mendel Square, Brno.
Once Upon a Time… The Discoverers ep. 16 also mentioned that the monks were annoyed at eating peas too often but I forgot to ask at the museum if that’s true.