Suspicious eyes, Dad’s superpower, Poo proofs, Apple-a-day

This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has four segments. Here are bits of each of them: Suspicious eyes — In the year 2001, US president George W. Bush foreshadowed a hope that decades later would pervade the robotics industry. Bush stood next to Russian president Vladimir Putin at a press conference in Slovenia […]

The Hairy Ball Theorem revisited – a newer, shorter, proof

Once proved, mathematical theorems* tend to stay proved. Nevertheless, they can sometimes still be improved – say, by making them shorter. Take, for example proofs for The Hairy Ball Theorem. Mathematician Henri Poincaré first drew attention to the Hairy Ball Theorem in 1885 with his treatise ‘Sur les courbes définies par les équations différentielles (III)’ Journal de […]

Safety School: Bulletproof Whiteboards

“The University of Maryland-Eastern Shore announced that it is purchasing 200 [bulletproof] whiteboards from Hardwire LLC, a company based in Pocomoke City, Maryland, citing the need for a heightened sense of security in the wake of deadly mass shootings in recent years,” reports CNN. The manufacturer says its product is “now available in pink, blue, […]