This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has four segments. Here are bits of each of them:
- Multi-scare the birds — …Their report advises that: “At present, there is no bird control technique that provides maximum protection for crops, so it is recommended to use a combination of scaring methods at the same time, namely: acoustics (propane cannons, pyrotechnic cartridges, speakers, etc.), visually (balloons, mirrors, reflective tapes, kites, lasers, drones, etc.) and physical (nets).” …
- Disturbingly winning — Hazel Russman humbly lays claim to a trivial superpower of staggering worth. This is a potentially controversial addition to Feedback’s expanding catalogue of trivial superpowers. Russman writes: “When I was a small child, I used to guess the winners of horse races for my father…
- Androids dreaming — Counting imaginary sheep while lying abed helps dozy people bring on sleep, some of them like to say. Counting real sheep in a field or a barn helps wakeful farmers keep track of potential milk and mutton and wool. The problem is how to count those real sheep accurately and efficiently. This being the 2020s, artificial intelligence (broad and vague though the phrase is) comes to the rescue! …
- Lying and lying — Andy Maloney gives lie, in two senses, to Feedback’s list of trivial superpowers. He says: “Reading in your column about trivial superpowers, I thought I should tell you about my own. I can always tell if someone is lying just by looking at them… I can also tell, just by looking at them, if they are standing up.”