It’s not very often that one runs across a scientific study whose methodology consisted largely of watching the Fox TV show COPS. But that was how Mardi Kidwell, assistant professor of communication at the University of New Hampshire, went about her research on “the role of gaze in the interactional management of hysteria by the …
Tag: science
This looks like a century-old headline:
“By airship to the North Pole — Zeppelin expedition will survey sea ice in the Arctic.“ But it’s not.
"The purple, purple grass of home…"
I blogged briefly a couple of posts ago about the fact the early Earth might have been purple, not green. This means, of course, that other planets could even now be predominantly orange or purple rather than green, and still have organisms drawing their energy from the sun just as green plants do here. John …
Mrs. Beeton’s Ad of the Day
I can’t find out much about this–it mostly shows up on Google in the form of vintage bottles of ink being sold to collectors (I didn’t know there were vintage-ink-bottle collectors until now!), but I did find an interesting mention in an old scientific paper online, called Herring Investigations at Plymouth, written by E. Ford, …
The see-food diet
There’s an old joke that goes, “I’m on a see-food diet. When I see food, I eat it.” Brian Wansink, John S. Dyson Professor of Marketing and of Applied Economics at Cornell, says there’s a lot of truth to that old joke—and he’s done a lot of studies to prove it. (He’s also the author …
The early Earth may have been purple…
…not green. Chlorophyll, it seems, may have been a relative latecomer.
"The Spider-Goat Clones of Montreal," revisited
Every day or two I check the SiteMeter stats for edwardwillett.com, and today I noticed my visits were around 200 higher than I would expect (I usually get 350 to 450 visitors each day, but today I’m up over 600). A check revealed that the extra traffic is coming from people searching for “spider goat” …
Made-to-order DNA…
…is about to get a lot easier to create: Installing one of those prefab, snap-together wood-flooring kits is a lot easier than shaping and sanding rough planks. Adapting a similar construction strategy, a biotech startup called Codon Devices, based in Cambridge, MA, aims to streamline genetic engineering. It makes made-to-order DNA strands, freeing scientists from …
And as long as I’m on the topic…
…here’s another interview with a German climatologist (one who very much agrees climate is changing and we’re largely responsible, before you ask) taking issue with the tone of the discussion: “We Have to Take Away People’s Fear of Climate Change.”
Plugging computer memory into the brain
Researchers have created computer chips that can talk to the brain, chips which could revolutionize the way we think about thinking, and how we treat various neurological disorders, including Alzheimer’s: “It’s the type of science that can change the world,” says Richard H. Granger, Jr., a professor of brain sciences who leads the Neukom Institute …
Amazing ancient acoustics accounted for
I’ve been to the ancient Greek ampitheatre at Epidaurus, built in the 4th century B.C. The acoustics really are incredible–you can hear a whisper on stage from the very top row. I was there with the Harding University A Cappella Chorus during our European tour in the summer of 1982. (Which was–gulp!–25 years ago, wasn’t …
Universal blood
Blood is always in demand, and not just by vampires. Blood transfusions mean the difference between life and death when people suffer traumatic injuries, or undergo major surgery. But there’s always been a problem with transfusions: people don’t all have the same blood type, and giving someone the wrong blood type is worse than giving …
My latest live walk and vlog
Buy Autographed Books
