If you talk to some physicists you might hear something like “Not a single word in the series is Landau’s, and not a single idea is Lifshitz’.” Mermin disagrees: “The great Russian physicist L. D. Landau was said to have hated writing. He coauthored an extraordinary series of textbooks in collaboration with E. M. Lifshitz, […]
Consciousness logo answer
The answer to yesterday’s Which one of these is the logo of a Consciousness-Related Organization? contest is choice (B). It’s the logo of The Beckley Foundation, which: was founded in 2000 by Amanda Feilding, Lady Neidpath, who is its director. It is run from its headquarters at Beckley Park outside Oxford where Amanda regularly holds […]
Gray’s electrical fruit primer
Yes, in the right configuration, you can electrocute yourself with an apple. So writes 2002 Ig Nobel chemistry prize winner Theo Gray, who explains in more detail how and why one might act on his suggestion. (The photo below shows a variant on the procedure and on the result.)
Ig-winning dog/human device gets an upgrade
Japanese toymaker Takara Tomy says it will launch a talking version of its Bowlingual gadget that can “translate” dog barks into the human language. The new model analyses 6 emotions, including joy, sadness and frustration, and speaks phrases such as “Play with me!” — an improvement on the original which just showed them on a […]