Does “the earthquake chewed my data” trump “the dog ate my homework”?

This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has five segments. Here are the beginnings of each of them: Earthquake snack — The traditional excuse “the dog ate my homework” has a new counterpart: “the earthquake chewed my data.” … Strained fishy pun — Andrew Knapp and colleagues have added to the history of […]

Religious Devotion, Inspired by Black Goo

In an essay called “Patience Amid Long Experiments“, in the Adventist Review, Justin Kim says “The pitch-drop experiment teaches our faith community some lessons.” Kim goes on to explain: “A parody of the world-famous Nobel Prize, the Ig Nobel Prize was established in 1991 to recognize achievements that first ‘make people laugh, then think.’ In […]

Aesthetic scrotums, Workaday, Me-in-a-museum

This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has three segments. Here are the beginnings of each of them: Aesthetic scrotums — Surprises abound in “The scrotum: A comparison of men’s and women’s aesthetic assessments”, a study done by plastic surgeon Carolin Eimer in Hamburg, Germany, and two colleagues at the Medical School of […]

‘Frozen Finger’ in Anal Fissures, Appreciated

“Acute anal fissures are usually managed by various invasive and non-invasive modalities ranging from simple lifestyle changes to chemical and surgical sphincterotomies. Frozen finger, prepared using a water-filled ordinary rubber glove, was successfully used in one hundred patients, thus providing a cost-effective and simple solution to the problem.” That’s a quote from the study ” […]

Spacey & Timely Superpowers, Life in Triplicate, Man Sniffs Dog

This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has four segments. Here are the beginnings of each of them: Spacey superpowers — Some people have a superior knowledge, and maybe control, of space and direction. That is evident in the harvest from Feedback’s call to identify trivial superpowers – a person’s ability to reliably do […]