SmarterEveryDay made a cannon that can fire a baseball into the heavens at one thousand miles per hour, then used that cannon to fire baseballs first into a dummy of a person, then later into a baseball glove, then later still (after finding that one baseball glove is insufficient to catch a 1000 mph baseball) […]
Tag: speed
Wildflower Identification from a Speeding Car
A blur can contain and provide detailed, discriminable information. One need not stop and smell the flowers to recognize which flowers are zipping across one’s field of vision. This book helps decipher the bits of light: A Field Guide to Roadside Wildflowers At Full Speed, Chris Helzer, Prairieecologist.com, 2019. The author explains: “What good is a […]
The peak velocity of elbow joints during hair-combing activities (study)
If you comb your hair, you may have found yourself wondering how fast (in metres per second) your elbow moves as you do so. In which case, help is at hand – in the form of a recent paper published in the American Institute of Physics (AIP) Conference Proceedings. A research team from Kolej Poly-Tech […]
“Roxanne,” plus 5 percent compounded
The song “Roxanne,” by The Police, gets a five-percent speed boost every time the singers sing the word “Roxanne”, in this video: Thanks to Mason Porter for bringing this to our attention. BONUS: Earlier today, we reported a different experiment in data communications: “Data Communications via Wet Sting, or via Hungry Snail.”
Car Horn Honking Studies (part 2)
Although car horn honking might be viewed by some as a measure of aggression it can also have its positive side. For example in driving simulators, where participants sometimes drive more slowly than they would do on a real road (when not attending to driving) – maybe a horn honk would encourage them to drive […]
Anti-productivity productivity: How to spay a cat fast
The veterinarian and blogger known as The Dog Zombie writes about a skilled colleague: The key to high volume spay/neuter is, obviously, speed. She can spay a cat in seven minutes.
The Effect of Music on the Efficiency of Surgical Closures
“Time” as they say “is money.” Especially relevant perhaps, in a plastic surgery operating theatre, in which running costs can reach $66 a minute. And where, for example, “A 10% reduction in operative time per hour equals savings of $396 per hour.” What might help to speed-up surgeons’ performance (without of course compromising accuracy and […]
Boer’s Lively Dining Table and Toilet Brush
“Sharing a mealtime, but not truly eating together can cause social friction and discomfort. For instance, being closely observed whilst eating can feel awkward and disrespectful. The person who is last to finish the food may suffer the discomfort of being watched by their no longer actually eating dining companions.” What, if anything, might be […]
The Dilemma-Zone Calculation
Yellow traffic lights posed and provided an opportunity for applied mathematicians. Witness this study, published more than a half century ago: “The Problem of the Amber Signal Light in Traffic Flow,” Denos Gazis [pictured here, reportedly thrilling an audience], Robert Herman, and Alexei Maradudint, Operations Research, vol. 8, no. 1, 1960, pp. 112-132. The authors, […]
Vibrostimulating the Latvian bobsleighers can produce victory (study)
With the Winter Olympics about to begin, what better time to ask, ‘Do Latvian bobsleighers have a unique advantage? Specifically, the RE21 from the Latvian Academy of Sport Education? [photo at right] Details were revealed in a 2011 paper for the LASE JOURNAL OF SPORT SCIENCE 2011/2/1 | 3 by Uģis Ciematnieks, Nauris Ķeizans, Sandis […]