1st-ever Improbable Dramatic Readings event in Poland

On Saturday, July 1, 2023 the first-ever Improbable Dramatic Readings event in Poland will happen, as part of  Bazyliszek, in Warsaw. Mikołaj Kowalewski will compere. BACKGROUND: What Is/Are Improbable Dramatic Readings? Here’s what happens at this kind of event. Luminaries (of various wattage) each do brief dramatic readings from seemingly absurd, genuine research studies and patents. […]

Down and up in a cat, dried plasma, animalistic us, snot useful

This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has four segments. Here are bits of each of them: A sick experiment —The phrase “what goes up must come down” isn’t obviously relevant to the insides of a cat. The countervailing “what goes down must come up” is, when that cat has swallowed something of dubious […]

Stepping parts of a big organ

Roland Eberlein tells some of the history of how people tried and sometimes succeeded at supplying the wind for bigger and bigger pipe organs. His essay “Technique of the Organ, ” published by the Walcker Foundation for Organ Research, goes into detail about some of the largest improvements: “The sound of the medieval organ must […]

What happens if you give Froot Loops to a rat and study its penis

This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has four segments. Here are bits of each of them: Not such a comfort — To see how a man’s stress levels and diet might alter his shape, one might give comfort food to a stressed rat and study its penis. Researchers at the State University of […]

Electric meringue recipe, public relations equation, and two sleepy superpowers

This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has four segments. Here are bits of each of them: Power meringue — Researchers in South Korea and the US have cooked up a recipe for meringue that you can then use to make electrical batteries…. Public relations equation — “It will cost up to $21.5 […]