MATHEMATICS AND Moby-Dick
I’VE MET SEVERAL world-famous mathematicians, including Lotfi Zadeh, 1921–2017, the discoverer of fuzzy logic. And my life has also been enriched by learning from those I’ve not had opportunity to … Continue reading
ON INDUSTRY 4.0
THE MARCH 2021 Shift, published as a supplement to Automotive News, has a most interesting editorial by Leslie J. Allen, Shift Editor. She writes, “I’m not much for buzzwords,” but … Continue reading
AAAS MEMBER COMMUNITY FORUM GLEANING
AFTER ALMOST TWO years of lively—not to say occasionally raucous—exchange, the American Association for the Advancement of Science has modified the Terms and Conditions of its Community Forum. Some members … Continue reading
FINNED SEISMOLOGISTS AID IN OCEANIC RESEARCH
THE FIN WHALE, Balaenotera physalus, grows to about 80 ft. in length, weighs up to 80 tons, lives more than 80 years, and chats with others of its species in … Continue reading
BLAISE PASCAL—COUNTING ON THINGS
SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY MATHEMATICIAN Blaise Pascal was also a physicist, philosopher, theologian, and inventor, perhaps best known for co-founding the mathematical theory of probability and devising Pascal’s Triangle coefficients of the binomial … Continue reading
THE DRONE RACE
DRONES CAN BE entertaining radio-controlled hobby craft. They’re useful for aerial photography and employed in news and traffic reports. They’re increasingly seen as delivery vehicles. And, alas, they’re the hot … Continue reading
ISADORE SINGER—BRIDGE BUILDER
IN THE NEW York Times, February 14, 2021, Julie Rehmeyer observed the passing, at age 96, of mathematician Isadore Singer. The article caught my eye when she wrote that Singer … Continue reading
THE ONLINE AD BUBBLE
HAVE YOU BOUGHT anything because of online advertising? I don’t believe I have. Ever. You know the kind of ad I have in mind: those ubiquitous online comeons that are … Continue reading
SCIENCE TIDBITS: FASCINATING, TIMELY, CONSEQUENTIAL
SCIENCE MAGAZINE, PUBLISHED weekly by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, often includes tidbits of one sort or another. Some are arcane, others as timely as today’s headlines … Continue reading
CAN SCIENCE BE IRRATIONAL?
IT SOUNDS CONTRADICTORY to say that science can be less than rational. However, a book review in Science magazine, published weekly by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 