No, really, that’s what it says in the headline to this story, written by Vivian Song for Sun Media, in which I’m one of several theorists quoted in an in-depth examination of the latest scientific thinking regarding the amazing feats of Jolly Old Saint Nick. This appeared in the Winnipeg Sun, but it’ll probably be …
Tag: science
Myths of the season
If there’s one thing science has taught us, it’s that just because “everybody knows” something is true, that doesn’t mean it’s true. Just in time for Christmas, two doctors, Aaron Carroll and Rachel Vreeman, both associate professors of pediatrics at Indiana University and practicing pediatricians at Riley Hospital for Children, have published a study taking …
I have a dream…wanna see it?
“I’m dreaming of a White Christmas,” singers warble this time of year. Up until now, we’ve had to take their word for it. But what if there were technology that could actually record imagery from a dream, and play it back for everyone to see? Hang onto your nightcaps, because it may be on its …
A bunch of stuff I wrote about biomass hits the Web
Earlier this year I wrote a lot of fact sheets about various aspects of biomass for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Those fact sheets are now online: you can drill down from the main page. The largest section of what I wrote dealt with agricultural residue. Here’s what’s on that page, with links leading to more …
A first step toward the future of Andy Nebula?
My 1999 YA science fiction novel Andy Nebula: Interstellar Rock Star (which you can read online, or download, in its entirety) postulated a future in which company called Sensation Singles uses a computer to identify the next “big thing” on the interstellar music scene, plucks a person matching that description from musical obscurity, and raises …
The epidemiology of happiness
‘Tis the season… Oh, no, wait, I can’t use THAT opening again. Um, how about…At this time of year, there’s a lot of talk about joy and happiness. There’s also a lot of talk about influenza. You might think them unrelated, but in fact they share one very interesting characteristic: they’re both contagious. If contagious …
Seizing appetite by the NAPE
’Tis the season to begin newspaper columns with the phrase “’Tis the season,” and who am I to resist? Failing to resist that particular temptation is of little moment, of course. Failing to resist another temptation endemic to this time of year is not: the temptation to eat…and eat…and eat. Why do we eat more …
I itch, therefore I scratch
Before you read any further, let me warn you: today’s column may cause itching. It’s got nothing to do with the ink it’s printed with, either, or mysterious radiation from your computer monitor. It’s simply because I’m going to write about the science of itching, and one of the peculiar things about itching is that …
The 1960s moon in high-def
Download larger version. A little over 40 years ago, to help it select potential landing sites for its Apollo lunar missions, NASA sent five unmanned spacecraft over two years to orbit the moon and photograph pretty much every inch of its surface. The images sent back were amazing, especially one of the Earth rising over …
A bit about bias
A Bit About Bias Now that both the Canadian and the American elections are over, it’s time to ask ourselves a serious question: How on Earth could so many people be so pig-headed and blind as to have disagreed with you and me (I’m assuming, of course, that you agree with me) about the best …
The Bloodhound SSC
It’s no secret that people occasionally speed between here and Saskatoon. At the speed limit, 258 kilometres should take about 2 1/2 hours. But by doing (in the immortal words of The Dukes of Hazzard theme song) “just a little bit more than the law will allow,” some people cut that down to, say, 2 …
Faces
Faces, both metaphorically and in reality, hold real power–which has made them a fruitful area of research over the years. Much of that research into faces has focused on attractiveness–because, as Lisa DeBruine and Ben Jones, experimental psychologists at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, put it, “people preferentially mate with, date, associate with, employ, …
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