Rules of Summoning Benedict Cumberbatch

Benedict Cumberbatch, a British actor with a most unusual name, has been an inspiration to people who study or teach about language. Let’s be more specifically accurate about that: his name has been the inspiration. Here are three items that would not exist but for the existence of Benedict Cumberbatch’s name. Benedict Cumberbatchia (1) “A […]

Names influence faces? Whack-a-mammoth. Stochastic accuracy. Ghostly confession.

This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has four segments. Here are bits of each of them: Face: the future — Should you take at face value a science paper that suggests that your face is the result of a “self-fulfilling prophecy process”? … Did Natalie always look like a Natalie? Or did […]

Bulgarian yogurt in space, Science names hodgepodge, Sickens and the nose, Pomelo Penetration

This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has four segments. Here are bits of each of them: Bulgarian yogurt in space — “Can Bulgarian yogurt enhance astronauts’ performance during the Mars missions?” ask Izabela Shopova, Diana Bogueva, Maria Yotova and Svetla Danova in their study of that name published in the Journal of Ethnic Foods.The […]

Improbable Research