If you have a problem with surfeit of birds or a lack of avalanches, this invention offers a possible dual solution: NOISE GENERATING DEVICE TO SCARE BIRDS OR TRIGGER AVALANCHES, Michael Eggers, US patent application number: 12/303,141, Filing date: Jun 5, 2007.
Month: July 2010
Some chimps like it [spiced crackers] hot
Perhaps it was the title: ‘Acquired preferences for piquant foods by chimpanzees.’ but whatever the reason, Paul Rozin, Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, found it very difficult to get his research paper published. It was inspired by observations he had made in Mexico, when he noticed that – “…virtually everyone in a […]
Body Mass Index (BMI),1901
This 1901 image, from the Scientific American Reference Book published in 1905, is in a tangential way a forerunner to the biomedical concept, refined years later, called Body Mass Index (BMI). It shows the collective body mass of several kinds of farm animals raised in the United States with that of the Eiffel Tower and […]
Optimal shirking
Shirk : verb ‘To avoid work, duties or responsibilities, especially if they are difficult or unpleasant.’ [source: Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary ] The word normally carries quite pronounced negative connotations. But are there circumstances when shirking might have beneficial effects? For example in the efficient operation of teams? According to new research from Tadashi Sekiguchi […]