PUPILS—VERTICAL, HORIZONTAL OR OTHERWISE
THE PUPILS I have in mind here aren’t kids in a classroom, they’re the openings in eyeballs, adjustable for different lighting conditions through many evolutionary variations. I learned about these … Continue reading
A RESURGENCE OF WARMTH AND TACTILITY?
VINYL IS making a comeback. It’s a fascinating cultural phenomenon, perhaps in part expressing a preference for warmth and tactility over digital accuracy and efficiency. Or is it simply a … Continue reading
IS URBAN LIFE TOO HYGIENIC?
CHLDREN WHO grow up on dairy farms are considerably less likely to develop allergies or asthma than their urban counterparts. This finding, published in Science, September 4, 2015, offers new … Continue reading
FUN WITH CHEMISTRY—FIVE DECADES AGO
HOW TIMES change. Fun with Chemistry: Easy Experiments for Young People was originally published in 1944. A revised edition appeared in 1962, with additional printings up through 1973. However, were … Continue reading
HELLO, CAN WE HEAR YOU NOW?
NASA’s RECENT announcement that there are signs of water on Mars is a long, long way from any chance that it has life as we know it. However, this news … Continue reading
AFRICA COUNTS
EARLIEST MAN arose on the African continent, and with evolving culture came mathematics. There’s a standard book on this subject, now in its third edition, Africa Counts by Claudia Zaslavsky. … Continue reading
CUTTING FUEL CELL COSTS
AN ADVANCE at Argonne National Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy may significantly lower the cost of fuel cell propulsion. Briefly, Argonne researchers have developed a less costly replacement … Continue reading
WHAT’S A “RENEWABLE RESOURCE” ANYWAY?
THE TERM “renewable resource” gets bandied about a lot. Indeed, I’ve been party to such bandying in discussion of California’s electricity and its sourcing. Most people think of hydro power, … Continue reading
WATER BUGS DO IT, BUT CAN WE?
GERRIDS ARE a family of insects including water bugs, pond skaters, water striders and jesus bugs, all of which can travel atop the water. Water bugs use their mass, musculature … Continue reading
MAN, THE FIERCEST—AND MOST SHORT-SIGHTED?—PREDATOR
HUMANS ARE hunter-gathers by nature. However, in contrast to other predators, we are also technologists devising improved means of predation. And we are the only predators hunting for trophy or … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 