Physics of Low Pressure Popcorn Popping

There’s news, though a few years old, about low-pressure popcorn popping: “The Effects of Popping Popcorn Under Reduced Pressure,” Paul Quinn [pictured here] and Amanda Cooper, Bulletin of the American Physical Society, Volume 53, Number 2 (poster at the 2008 APS March Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana). The authors, at Kutztown University, report: “In our experiments, we […]

Pop psychology: Skinner and Redenbacher

Two psychology tidbits, both involving Skinner and Redenbacher: First: Robin Abrahams, our psychology editor, notes that behaviorism psychologist B.F. Skinner and popcorn magnate Orville Redenbacher resembled each other [see photos here]. [NOTE: Can pigeons can be trained to distinguish photographs of one from photographs of the other? The experiment has not yet been done.] Second: A […]

Improbable Research