UK based inventor Austin Houldsworth is in the process of perfecting ‘The fastest tea equipment on earth‘. “The ‘Thermite Kettle’ is a single use kettle. The heating elements within the kettle contain thermite, which is a combination of iron oxide and aluminium powder in a ratio of 8:3. It burns at 2500 degrees. Once lit […]
About: Martin Gardiner
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Posts by Martin Gardiner:
Fawlty Implicatures* in Torquay
The number of scholarly authors who have studied the significance of verbal (and physical) interactions at Fawlty Towers is very limited. Nonetheless, professor Annjo Klungervik Greenall, of the Department of Modern Foreign Languages, at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, has recently done so – examining in detail the many (often heated) exchanges between […]
Viewing soccer, and heart attacks
“Viewing a stressful soccer match more than doubles the risk of an acute cardiovascular event.” This disturbing conclusion was published in a 2008 study based on data regarding 4,279 Bavarian medical emergency cases. The number, and character, of adverse cardiovascular events which occurred during the FIFA World Cup (held in Germany from June 9 to […]
Professorial Product Placement
“Viewing the latest Lady Gaga video, with its ten product placements, I’m inspired by the thought: Why don’t professors do product placements, too?” wonders Eric Schwitzgebel, Professor of Philosophy at University of California at Riverside. There are, according to the professor, many potentially lucrative and as-yet-untapped opportunities – for example to promote products such as […]
I am not a molecule (part 4)
Part 4 – Heat and Work Libb Thims,“Your human chemistry professor” and founder/organizer of the Institute of Human Thermodynamics (IoHTD) published the first edition of The Journal of Human Thermodynamics back in 2005. Since then, the free-access publication has featured a series of papers “… on thermodynamics and its applications to human life as contributed […]
I am not a molecule (part 3)
Part 3 – The Human Molecule Libb Thims,“Your human chemistry professor” and founder/organizer of the Institute of Human Thermodynamics (IoHTD) is author of The Human Molecule “The first full-length book on the history and development of the concept of the human molecule, with focus on its mechanistic function in the 200-year old science of human […]
I am not a molecule (part 2)
Part 2 – Perhaps you’re not a giant molecule? Libb Thims,“Your human chemistry professor” and founder/organizer of the Institute of Human Thermodynamics (IoHTD) continues his investigations into the troublesome question ‘Are you a giant molecule?’. Although, according to his survey, “About 57% of people agree that humans are molecules.” there is still a fierce ongoing […]
I am not a molecule (part 1)
Part 1 – Are you a giant molecule? Author, surfer, American chemical engineer, and ironman (aspirant) Libb Thims is “Your human chemistry professor” and is founder/organizer of the Institute of Human Thermodynamics (IoHTD). Over the next three days, Improbable will be profiling Thims and linking to a suite of his publications – the first of […]
Validating Pitcher Injury Theory
A new discovery regarding injuries to baseball pitchers’ elbows can be described, in round terms, as – the faster the pitch, the more likely the injury. Brandon (Brad) Bushnell M.D. (pictured) and colleagues at the Harbin Clinic Orthop(a)edics and Sports Medicine, Rome, GA. explain the background: “To our knowledge, no study has directly evaluated the […]
Assessing cabbage snaps
“…participants could quantitatively estimate the degradation in freshness of the cabbage simply by looking at the presented images.” The images in question were a 32hr. time-lapse set of photos of a cabbage leaf. And the question in question was whether experimental participants would be able to accurately judge the appetizingly fresh appearance of the leaves […]