BUILDING THE UGEARS PNEUMATIC ENGINE
HERE’S AN ENTERTAINING pursuit emerging from a crowdsourced startup. UGears fulfills a dream of Denis and Gennady, two Ukrainians who hold fond memories of building mechanical models as kids. As … Continue reading
METHUSELAH AND THE BOMB
ABOVE-GROUND NUCLEAR weaponry helped researchers identify longevity of the Greenland shark, the world’s oldest known living vertebrate. Recently, a 400-year-old shark made the news; details of the research are given … Continue reading
CATCHING A RUM RUNNER BY VIEWING A SUNFLOWER
THE FOG LIFTS MOMENTARILY. You and your Coast Guard crew spot a Rum Runner some distance off. The fog descends immediately and the Rum Runner heads off at its known … Continue reading
THE MATHEMATICAL BRIDGE, CAMBRIDGE
PLACE YOURSELF AT 52.2022 N, 0.1150E (for armchair travellers, Google Maps will help). Good, you’re now on the River Cam in Cambridge, England, 60 miles north of London. I like … Continue reading
APT, LG, SEC, BEAUT RIV VU, NR TRANS + SHPNG
HOUSE HUNTERS in Bronze Age Britain had some interesting options. As reported in Science, the weekly magazine of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, archaeologists have discovered residences … Continue reading
STAND TALL/STAAN HOOG/STĀVĒT GARŠ
THE TALL GUY—or gal—gets the goods. Researcher Majid Ezzati at Imperial College London notes, “Being taller is associated with enhanced longevity, and higher education and earnings.” Examining this worldwide, he … Continue reading
AS RARE AS… EARTH?
A PRESS RELEASE dated July 12, 2016, caught my eye: “Daido Steel and Honda Adopt World’s First Hybrid Vehicle Motor Magnet Free of Heavy Rare Earth Elements.” I’d agree, avoiding … Continue reading
DREADFUL THINGS LARGE AND SMALL
LOOKING FOR something to worry about? I confess, my topics here at SimanaitisSays are ordinarily chosen to be pleasant, upbeat, non-threatening. I figure we’ve got plenty of other places to … Continue reading
JET LAGS I HAVE KNOWN
IN CASE YOU EVER wondered, Joanna Klein explained, “Why Jet Lag Can Feel Worse When You Travel From West to East,” in The New York Times, July 15, 2016. Klein … Continue reading
FOUR THINGS LOGICIANS DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW!
WELL, IT ISN’T that they don’t want you to know. (And, by the way, do you too find these “don’t want you to know” headlines a bit ludicrous?) Rather, it’s … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 