If you savor jargon-enriched descriptions of iffy much-touted computer-involved approaches to using small amounts of data about things that are difficult to measure and interpret, this study may be of special interest: “AI-driven prediction of consumer liking of coffee from sensory data,” Michael Gunning, Maite Pilar Serantes Laforgue, Jean-Xavier Guinard, and Ilias Tagkopoulos, npc Science […]
The June 2026 issue of mini-AIR, our teeny tiny free little e-newsletter of overflow detritus that did not fit in the magazine (Annals of Improbable Research), has just gone out. The issue contains (among other stuff) info about research on the topic of hammers. It includes announcement of a competition to a write a limerick […]
A business Powerpoint presentation — apparently genuinely made by someone at a company called Softbank — includes this educational image of a goose with a caption that says “Goose was not valued.” Call it a metaphor, call it whatever you like, this Powerpoint slide brings renewed meaning to the old business phrase “goosing the numbers”. […]
The image you see here, when combined with a few moments’ thought, provides the answer to the puzzling question: How can one write in a completely foreign language? The solution to that puzzle is: On a piece of paper, handwrite any phrase you like, in a language you do know. Then rotate the paper 180 […]