WHACHAMACALLIT?
SCIENCE TYPICALLY avoids the word “whachamacallit,” which, with cool dictionary humor, Merriam-Webster defines as a “thingamajig.” What’s more, humor possibly thought rare for science is discussed in Gregory R. Goldsmith’s … Continue reading
SCULPTURE OF THE STONE AGE
IT’S SAID THAT Michelangelo “liberated bodies that were trapped in blocks of marble.” And, hundreds of millennia before this, stone age hominins chipped away at stone to reveal tools and, … Continue reading
SCIENCE TIDBITS PART 2
THE AMERICAN Association for the Advancement of Science publishes a weekly magazine, Science. Yesterday’s SimanaitisSays offered Part 1 of its recent tidbits. Here’s Part 2. Could artificial intelligences get the … Continue reading
SCIENCE TIDBITS PART 1
I AM a science dilettante in the original sense of this word. “Dilettante,” which today may carry a sense of superficiality, comes from the Latin, dilectare, “to delight.” That is, … Continue reading
WHENCE U.S. OIL THESE DAYS?
WHAT WITH the world at sixes and sevens (now there’s a phrase to investigate!), it’s worth identifying the sources of petroleum and its products imported into the U.S. Recent data … Continue reading
LET’S HEAR IT FOR CHROMESTHESIA!
WHAT COLOR is Mozart’s Ein Kleine Nachtmusik? How about The Rolling Stones’ Satisfaction? Or Glenn Miller’s Moonlight Serenade? Synesthesia is the experience of one sensory input leading involuntarily to another. … Continue reading
VPS (VIKING POSITIONING SYSTEM) PART 2
MEDIEVAL VIKINGS sailed much of their known world, and even portions of that still unknown, with practical navigation. Yesterday, we learned from an article in The New York Times, April … Continue reading
VPS (VIKING POSITIONING SYSTEM) PART 1
FISH DO it, bees do it. Even medieval Vikings do it: namely, use polarized light to navigate. Navigation skills in the animal kingdom have been recognized for awhile. I just … Continue reading
SCIENTIFIC HUZZAHS!
THERE ARE times when I delight in celebrating multifold aspects of science. Here are three examples appearing in Science magazine, published weekly by the American Association for the Advancement of … Continue reading
BLOCKCHAINS AND CRYPTOCURRENCIES PART 2
DIGITAL CRYPTOCURRENCIES rely on blockchains for their bookkeeping. Yesterday, we discussed the basics of why cryptocurrencies may be shady, but blockchains aren’t inherently at fault. Today, we continue this theme … Continue reading
