This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has five segments. Here are bits of each of them: Window Pains — When you donate your future former self “to science”, your generosity might open a door (and, as you will see, close a window) to adventure. A 2012 paper titled “Finger injuries caused by […]
Tag: fingers
How to order a beer [research study, about numbers]
“How to Order a Beer—Cultural Differences in the Use of Conventional Gestures for Numbers,” is one of several studies featured in the article “Numbers Research — research some people think they can count on,” which is one of the articles in the special Numbers issue of the Annals of Improbable Research, which is one of […]
Dirty Books: Quantifying Patterns of Use in Medieval Manuscripts Using a Densitometer
“The dirt ground into the margins of medieval manuscripts is one of their interpretable features, which can help us to understand the desires, fears, and reading habits of the past.” – explains researcher Dr Kathryn M. Rudy who is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Art History, of the University of St Andrews, Scotland. […]
Is the thumb a finger? The medical danger of numbering digits
Is the thumb a finger? How many fingers does a person have on one hand? Difficult questions? People have had the wrong finger(s) amputated because some health care workers refer to the digits of the hand by number e.g. first finger, second finger, etc and this can be confusing. Would it not be safer and […]
Most of sex and biology explained, maybe (by fingers)
A person could use this new study to make sense of almost all aspects of biology and sex, if a person had a way of doing so: “Sociosexual Orientation and 2D:4D Ratios in Women: Relationship to Men’s Desirability Ratings as a Long-Term Pair Bond,” Tara L. DeLecce, John P. Polheber, Robert L. Matchock [pictured here], Archives […]
Three Coins in a Fountain, and Some Salty Finger Problems
We are, all of us, in a certain sense enjoying a steady flow of research reports about fluids. Here are two of the newest items: “Three coins in a fountain ,” H. K. Moffatt, Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 720 , April 2013, pp 1 – 4. [doi: 10.1017/jfm.2013.55] (Thanks to investigator Tom Gill for […]