This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has four segments. Here are bits of each of them:
- New Year’s Eve Adventures — Happy New Year to ears, noses and throats – and to the people who minister to them! Julia Werz at Ulm University Hospital, Germany, and three colleagues began the celebration early, publishing the study “New Year’s Eve in otorhinolaryngology: A 16-year retrospective evaluation“. That celebration comes in three parts. First, a sketch of 16 years of adventures on New Year’s Eve in the otorhinolaryngology department of a single hospital. Simply put: “Pyrotechnics are a long-standing tradition at the turn of the year.” …
- Wild Geese Chased — Wild geese in northern Europe – some of them – have a high time on New Year’s Eve. Evidence for that appears in a study called “Wild goose chase: Geese flee high and far, and with aftereffects from New Year’s fireworks“. The facts, presented plainly, show what the geese were up to on those nights….
- Fish and Arms — Feedback is entranced by the meanings of the title of the old book Heraldry of Fish: Notices of the principal families bearing fish in their arms. Entranced also by the name of the book’s author, Thomas Moule. Moule is a near case of nominative determinism – his surname is the French word for the kind of shellfish English speakers call a mussel. But mussels, being bivalve molluscs, aren’t fish. And Moule, writing about fish, therefore may not be a pure case of nominative determinism. It’s a bit iffy. Maybe a red herring. Which brings us back to the book title….
- Caller Pre-ID — Anne Tener says she has an ability that should be added to Feedback’s list of trivial superpowers. She writes: “Well before the time of call display and often before the phone even rings, I know who is trying to contact me and sometimes, the nature of the call. This ‘power’ has often come in handy when I would prefer to avoid that particular contact at that moment!”… Feedback also notes that Anne Tener, having superior reception clarity, is a case of nominative determinism.