Multi-frightening birds; Two more trivial superpowers; AI sheep-counting

This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has four segments. Here are bits of each of them: Multi-scare the birds — …Their report advises that: “At present, there is no bird control technique that provides maximum protection for crops, so it is recommended to use a combination of scaring methods at the same […]

Approaches to conducting a squirrel census (alt: wallabies)

Amateur scientists in Atlanta Georgia devised their own methods for counting squirrels (thanks to investigator Amy Baxter for bringing this to our attention.) They write: In the spring of 2012, a statistical count was made of the Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) for the neighborhood of Inman Park in Atlanta, GA. The Inman Park Squirrel Census (IPSC) […]

Math Exercise: Count the REPETITION

This week’s Math Exercise is: Count how many times the word “repetition” appears in the following text. The text is the citation for a published academic study: “Importance and Need of Reconsidering Rhetorical Repetition,” Sabzalipour Jahandust [pictured here], Journal of Faculty of Letters and Humanities (Tabriz), Fall 2009-Winter 2010; 52(211):81-103. The author, at Rasht Azad University, […]