This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has three segments. Here’s how they begin: Reptiles(?) in Ancient Egypt— “Did prehistoric people consider themselves as equals or unequals?” asks a publication from 2020. The question is broader than it may appear. An earlier study by the same scientist suggests that some of those people weren’t people. It […]
Phrasing something a different way can flip its apparent meaning. Here’s an example. A press release begins by saying this: “Adults over 50 who sleep for five hours or less per night have a greater risk of developing more than one chronic disease…” Now re-phrase that — in a way that is equally true — […]
2007 was a stellar year for psychological essays about gassing and braking and the self. At least one such essay was published that year, namely: “Gassing, Braking, and Self-Regulating: Error Self-Regulation, Well-Being, and Goal-Related Processes,” Michael D. Robinson, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, January 2007, vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 1–16. The author, at North […]
This video, made by iFaces in Pakistan, asks the plain question “What will happen if you fall into a pool of honey?” The answer it presents involves some Ig Nobel Prize-winning research about swimming:
This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has three segments. Here’s how they begin: Holy nitpicking — Nitpicking often draws criticism, but Gérard Lucotte, Areki Izri and Thierry Thomasset didn’t let that deter them from publishing their sixth article in a series of keen looks at some old hairs…. Quantum Spirituality […]
Left and right and hobbies in Greece all existed for a long time before anyone took a long look into whether they might be connected or interrelated. That long look gets a writeup in the study: “Handedness and Hobby Preference,” O. Giotakos, Perceptual and Motor Skills, vol. 98, no. 3, part 1, June 2004, pp. […]
I sent this note to the editors of the Somaliland news site Wargeyska Dawan: Dear editors, I learned from your news report today <https://wargeyskadawan.com/2022/10/24/abaal-marinta-farxadda-iyo-qosolka/> that I am dead. In the year 2003, the Ig Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the founder of the Association of Dead People. I am now qualified to apply for […]
This is an especially fun and thoughtful exploration of the Ig Nobel Prizes, on Radio New Zealand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUR7QhX9ygQ
This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has three segments. Here’s how they begin: Seeking a soft landing — The elegant structure of a naturally evolved cat’s paw has inspired a new way to protect paratroopers’ legs…. A bit Heath Robinson — The cat’s-paw-pads-for-paratrooper-protection patent reminds Feedback, a little, of a […]
Experts, especially British experts, both agree and disagree on the question: What is the proper way to make a cup of tea? Investigator Gary Dryfoos reminds us that there are audiovisual materials documenting some of those views. Here are a few of those materials. One might keep in mind that there is an official British […]