The influence, or at least of the spirit, of Rube Goldberg is evident in a tangential way, in this news report by AFP: Scientists invent ‘cannabis without the high’ Israeli scientists have cultivated a cannabis plant that doesn’t get people stoned in a development that may help those smoking marijuana for medical purposes, a newspaper said […]
The Chemistry Of Exploding Ants: Oh, Oh
A natural exclamation, to a person upon first encountering the theme of the study “The Chemistry Of Exploding Ants”, might be “Oh-Oh!” That is in fact part of the chemical story, as illustrated in the figure below, which is reproduced from the study. “The Chemistry Of Exploding Ants, Camponotus SPP. (cylindricus COMPLEX),” T.H. JONES, D.A. […]
Attenborough Can Make Anything More Dramatic
Sir David Attenborough’s sonorous tones add a measure of gravitas to any nature documentary. In this video from BBC One’s Graham Norton Show, Sir Attenborough lends the power of his voice to narrate a video of a retifistic tortoise’s unsuccessful advances toward a shoe. (HT to Jerry Coyne for sharing this via his blog) Bonus: […]
Buttock and breast ogling: Britain vs. Argentina
Sex clearly drives Britain and Argentina as they vie to dominate islands of interest. The two great nations are rivals in producing academic studies of whether and how people stare at women’s breasts or buttocks. Britain fired the first shot in this war. In 2007, Adrian Furnham [pictured here] and Viren Swami of University College London published […]