MarcAbrahams

MarcAbrahams, 12 hours ago to random

"This is consistent with an observation by Charles Spence, a psychologist who heads the Crossmodal Research Laboratory at Oxford and has won an Ig-Nobel Prize for research on the links between sound and taste when potato chips are consumed." https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/09/science/hot-water-sound-cold.html

MarcAbrahams, 21 hours ago to random

Howard Zaharoff tells what happened when he (long ago) got to interview one of his heroes. https://www.humortimes.com/119402/my-interview-with-isaac-asimov/

MarcAbrahams, 1 day ago to random

Conversation about the Ig Nobel Prizes and some history and other stuff, on the Lab Matters podcast. https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-2utmi-16087a5

MarcAbrahams, 1 day ago to random

Another headline that — metaphorically or factually — could and maybe should replace a long-running series of attention-robbing "important news" articles: "R.F.K. Jr. Says Doctors Found a Dead Worm in His Brain" https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/08/us/rfk-jr-brain-health-memory-loss.html

MarcAbrahams, 4 days ago to random

Telling Narcissists They Are Intelligent [research study] https://improbable.com/2024/05/06/telling-narcissists-they-are-intelligent/

MarcAbrahams, 4 days ago to random

The special ANTS & AUNTS issue (volume 30, number 3) of the magazine https://improbable.com/annals-of-improbable-research-may-june-2024-vol-30-number-3/ You can read several of the article free on the web site.

MarcAbrahams, 5 days ago to random

On a walk this morning encountered a suddenly-creepy corner that today has over-friendly bankers on the sidewalk enhorting people to go behind the building and have coffee.

MarcAbrahams, 7 days ago to random

US Senator John F-word Kennedy: "Senator John Kennedy’s profanity-laden rant at Wednesday’s Senate hearing is now being used against him." https://heated.world/p/gop-senator-accidentally-creates

MarcAbrahams, 8 days ago to random

Chung To Kong found a way, in the spirit of unboiling an egg, to make banknotes from shredded banknote pieces.... [And other stuff, too. My col this week in New Scientist] https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26234891-500-how-to-make-138000-from-shredded-banknotes-if-youre-in-hong-kong/

MarcAbrahams, 8 days ago to random

When you are a noted author you get notable invitations. This one arrived today.

MarcAbrahams, 10 days ago to random

"We pay much attention these days to how dictators come to power, but understanding how they decline and exit –almost always involuntarily—and remembering the disasters they caused to their people and the world is equally important right now." https://lucid.substack.com/p/remembering-mussolinis-fall-the-power?utm_source=substack&publication_id=300941&post_id=144127639&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&utm_campaign=email-share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true&r=2y7i1&triedRedirect=true

MarcAbrahams, 10 days ago to random

Cuteness as soft power [research study] https://improbable.com/2024/04/29/cuteness-as-soft-power/

MarcAbrahams, 10 days ago to random

Yup. This (1) sounds crazy, and (2) it is crazy, and (3) it is true. "As Republicans have embraced unlimited power for the president, they have also turned against the right of American citizens to have a say in their government." https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-28-2024

MarcAbrahams, 12 days ago to random

"It’s difficult! People are a lot more socially adrift than we were before the pandemic. Everyone’s gone a little feral and awkwardness abounds." https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/04/24/magazine/oversharing-information-on-a-first-date/

MarcAbrahams, 13 days ago to random

"de Waal ... was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences... In 2012, he won an Ig Nobel Prize for a paper he coauthored showing that chimpanzees could match familiar individuals’ faces with their posteriors, suggesting that they had mental representations of their group mates. Consistent with his ability to embrace the humor in everything, Frans loved receiving an Ig Nobel." https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adp4966

MarcAbrahams, 13 days ago to random

'The story that I always tell when I speak to groups is about [my book,] "Cats are a Liquid." That is the fastest I have ever gotten an idea, written it down, and sent it to an agent. It was listening to an NPR story about the Ig Nobel prizes' https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/49724/20240426/the-story-spark-a-conversation-with-potsdam-children-s-author-rebecca-donnelly

MarcAbrahams, 14 days ago to random

Faraz Alam sent us a study that he and colleagues at Imperial College London published in 2013 in the journal PLoS One, saying: “Here is the paper where I accidentally made genitalia glow in the dark.” … https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26234882-800-the-next-frontier-of-forensic-science-blood-splatter-in-microgravity/

MarcAbrahams, 15 days ago to random

Blood spatter on high [my column this week in New Scientist] https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26234882-800-the-next-frontier-of-forensic-science-blood-splatter-in-microgravity/

MarcAbrahams, 16 days ago to random

In the news business, one must never write the phrase "con man". Instead, do this or something like it: "CEO Elon Musk, who has a unique penchant for redirecting the conversation,..." https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/04/23/elon-musk-tesla-earnings-outlook/

MarcAbrahams, 17 days ago to random

I expect most other magazine editors, too, get article submissions that need a reply like this one (which, sorry to say, I felt compelled to send today): "Dear ______. Thanks for sending this. I’m afraid, though, that it doesn’t work for our audience. It’s written for people to whom everything you mention is unknown or nearly so. That’s not our audience."

MarcAbrahams, 17 days ago to random

“I once performed an autopsy on a deceased pedestrian who had been wearing 23 layers of clothing. It took us longer to undress him than to perform the autopsy.” https://improbable.com/2024/04/22/unexpected-23-fold-depths-of-an-autopsy/

MarcAbrahams, 18 days ago to random

'Changing the Future of Food with “Electric Salt”: Ig Nobel for “Augmented Gustation Using Electricity” ' https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-topics/c12404/

MarcAbrahams, 21 days ago to random

The Effects of Peanut Butter on the Rotation of the Earth https://improbable.com/airchives/classical/articles/peanut_butter_rotation.html

MarcAbrahams, 22 days ago to random

Does the future of boxing lie in humans versus robots? Well... [this an other stuff in my col this week in New Scientist] https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26234871-800-does-the-future-of-boxing-lie-in-humans-versus-robots-possibly/