Compare and contrast, if you will, this press release from the University of Colorado: “Artificial gravity breaks free from science fiction” …and the Ig Nobel Prize-winning patent by George and Charlotte Blonsky: “Apparatus for facilitating the birth of a child by centrifugal force”
Tag: birth
Innovative Scientists Talk About Their Childhood (4): David Hu’s Sister Being Born
Here’s David Hu talking about seeing the birth of his sister—an experience that, when he was a child, excited David in a way that led to his eventual unusual career. David uses math and physics—and experiments—to try to understand some of the seemingly simply, scientifically mystifying things that happen in nature every day. ABOUT THIS […]
The birth of the Big Bang Theory
This study is, quite plainly, the birth of the Big Bang Theory: “Nitroglycerin to Facilitate Fetal Extraction During Cesearean Delivery,” M. David, H. Halle, W. Lichtenegger, P. Sinha, and T. Zimmerman, Obstetrics and Gynecology, vol. 91, no. 1, January 1998, pp. 119-24. (Thanks to Richard Leavitt for bringing this to our attention.) The authors are, […]
Possible Effect of the World Cup on Births
The World Cup brings more than passing excitement to the world. This newly published study suggests that the World Cup also brings, eventually, a change in the world population: “The sex ratio at birth in South Africa increased 9 months after the 2010 FIFAWorld Cup,” Gwinyai Masukume and Victor Grech, Early Human Development, epub 2015. […]
A closer look at the Blonsky Device in Dublin
The Science Gallery in Dublin produced this short video closeup of their full-scale model of the Ig Nobel Prize-winning Blonsky centrifugal birthing device: For background on this see our February 21, 2014 report “The Blonsky centrifugal birthing device in Dublin“.
Concoction again loses the race with reality: The centrifugal birthing device
Yes, you can dream up clever twists of science and technology that are funny. But reality generally manages to get there sooner—and even more twistedly—than even the cleverest of comedians. Here’s yet another example: Here’s the actual patent. Here’s video of the ceremony that included the complete opera about the invention and the inventors. (If […]
Extracting a stuck wine cork — or a new child [patent applications]
Extracting a stuck wine cork from a bottle inspired this method for bringing a child into the world. Jorge Ernesto Odon of Argentina invented a new method for assisting the birth of a child, using an insertable, inflatable bag to grip the child’s head, in the same way one can extract a cork that has […]
Birth-Fluid Dynamics, and the Splashy Hydrodynamics of Urination
Aatish Bhatia (of Empirical Zeal) alerts us to an outpouring of soon-to-be-announced birth-centric and micturation-modulation fluid dynamics insights. Anne Staples [pictured here], of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, will chair a session on “Pumping Phenomenon“, at the American Physical Society’s 66th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics,in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, […]
To hasten the birth of a child, apply centrifugal force [Blonsky!]
While some persons in Britain eagerly await the birth of a royal child [if you are one of those persons, see the live webcam provided by The Sun newspaper], we remind you that George and Charlotte Blonsky solved the general problem. Their patent, granted in 1965, is for a device to assist in birthing a […]
Counting on: Childbirth and Orgasm
Today’s implicit statistics lesson is contained in a new study: “Childbirth climax: The revealing of obstetrical orgasm,” Thierry Postel, Sexologies, epub May 3, 2013. The author, in Blainville-sur-Mer, France, explains: “Giving birth and feeling an orgasm is a seemingly improbable link. For most women, this notion is perceived as an inconceivable myth. This study, published […]