MarcAbrahams

MarcAbrahams, 11 months ago to random

"The opera 'La Traviata' can improve the survival rate of heart-changing mice: an interview with Masaharu Uchiyama, a lecturer at Teikyo University School of Medicine, what the Ig Nobel Prize taught me" https://tw.news.yahoo.com/%E6%AD%8C%E5%8A%87-%E8%8C%B6%E8%8A%B1%E5%A5%B3-%E5%8F%AF%E6%8F%90%E9%AB%98%E6%8F%9B%E5%BF%83%E8%80%81%E9%BC%A0%E7%9A%84%E5%AD%98%E6%B4%BB%E7%8E%87-%E5%B0%88%E8%A8%AA%E5%B8%9D%E4%BA%AC%E5%A4%A7%E5%AD%B8%E9%86%AB%E5%AD%B8%E9%83%A8%E8%AC%9B%E5%B8%AB%E5%85%A7%E5%B1%B1%E9%9B%85%E7%85%A7-%E6%90%9E%E7%AC%91%E8%AB%BE%E8%B2%9D%E7%88%BE%E7%8D%8E%E6%95%99%E6%88%91%E7%9A%84%E4%BA%8B-014004811.html

MarcAbrahams, 11 months ago to random

"The man who snapped his fingers for 60 years and was recognized in 2009" https://elmanana.com.mx/cultura/2023/7/10/el-hombre-que-trono-sus-dedos-lo-largo-de-60-anos-fue-reconocido-en-2009-103073.html

MarcAbrahams, 11 months ago to random

"Several weeks ago my Block III tutor group was abuzz with the news that our tutor, Dr. Robin Radcliffe, and his colleagues had been honored with the 2021 Ig Nobel Prize in recognition of their work evaluating the efficacy of transporting rhinoceroses by hanging them upside down from helicopters." https://mypet.blog/a-conversation-with-dr-robin-radcliffe-wildlife/

MarcAbrahams, 11 months ago to TimeTravel

How many news editors will resist turning this into loud headlines? "This process inevitably transforms such a traversable ring wormhole into a time machine. We estimate the time scale of this process." #TimeTravel https://info.aps.org/l/640833/2023-07-06/2pvvt1/640833/1688668210U9ipEDf4/DE13288_min.pdf

MarcAbrahams, 11 months ago to random

We live in a golden age of con men. This Washington Post headline says: "Mitch McConnell: Neither party can count on the Supreme Court to be its ally" https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/07/10/mitch-mcconnell-supreme-court-ideology/

MarcAbrahams, 11 months ago to random

"The females of these insects have a curious organ similar to a penis" [National Geographic, Spain] https://www.nationalgeographic.com.es/medio-ambiente/curioso-pene-hembras-insecto-brasil_13407

MarcAbrahams, 11 months ago to random

Historic photo of historians photographing the installation of a historic site informative plaque on the wall of a historic site.

MarcAbrahams, 11 months ago to random

Another mystifying UpIsDown article in the NY Times, painting yet another con man as something of a hero, and painting the people who revealed the con as petty jerks. Nutso: "Uri Geller claimed to bend metal with his mind on live television. Skeptics couldn’t beat him. Now they’ve joined him." https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/08/business/uri-geller-magic-deep-fakes.html

MarcAbrahams, 11 months ago to random

Phase One evaluation session — eastern Massachusetts low temperature gooseberries experiment summer 2023

masonporter, 11 months ago to random

The story of my professional life. :)

MarcAbrahams, 11 months ago to random

'The attack came after Crusius ranted online, warning of a "#Hispanic #invasion of Texas." ... In the years since the #shooting, #Republicans have described migrants crossing the southern U.S. border as an "invasion," waving off critics who say the rhetoric fuels anti-immigrant views and violence.' https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2023-07-07/el-paso-walmart-shooting-fort-bliss-10664611.html

MarcAbrahams, 11 months ago to random

It reads much like the starts of conversations people have late at night in the first year of university – fun explorations of what-ifs as if maybe there are no ifs – but done here by people who have the high-honed thinking and writing skills of professional philosophers. https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg25934463-200-academias-love-affair-with-flowers-hasnt-been-the-same-since-freud/

MarcAbrahams, 11 months ago to random

Nominative determinism: "... said Evan Power, vice chair of the Republican Party of Florida" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/05/desantis-trump-florida-2024-gop-primary-loyalty-00104819

MarcAbrahams, 11 months ago to random

"My analysis, of course, could be entirely wrong! You’re the one who knows the full details of the situation and all the extenuating circumstances. What was your gut reaction reading this?" https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/06/magazine/after-some-big-losses-friend-seems-stuck-his-misery/

MarcAbrahams, 11 months ago to random

Flowery polymorphic perversion / Screwing up / Plant on meat [my column this week in New Scientist] https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg25934463-200-academias-love-affair-with-flowers-hasnt-been-the-same-since-freud/

MarcAbrahams, 11 months ago to random

"When I saw that the adhesive labels once attached to the specimens were now lying at the bottom of the cases in the dust, I felt sick. The violence of lost labels is that once the connection between a thing and a name is broken, it is gone. Humankind has to start the work of knowing it all over again." https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/04/opinion/apples-genetics-biodiversity/

MarcAbrahams, 11 months ago to apple

"The thing about #apple trees is that they can live to be 150, even 200 years old. So if you were the kind of person who drives around central Maine in the fall with your eyes glued to the shrubs . . . the kind of person who noses around in other people’s backyards and drives up derelict lanes and checks out old homesites . . . you just might find a tree about to die. And it might be a variety that no one living has ever recognized." https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/04/opinion/apples-genetics-biodiversity/

MarcAbrahams, 11 months ago to random

Icky Cutesy Research: Gills Want Fun, Collection Oil https://improbable.com/2023/07/04/icky-cutesy-research-gills-want-fun-collection-oil/

MarcAbrahams, 11 months ago to random

"Where are the fireflies?" https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2023/firefly-summer-extinction/

MarcAbrahams, 11 months ago to random

This week's pleasingly-worded science headline: "Ancient extinct skink was orders of magnitude bigger than any skink alive today" https://phys.org/news/2023-06-ancient-extinct-skink-magnitude-bigger.html

lauren, 1 year ago to random

Seriously, it's easy to picture Gov. Ron DeSantis in a black Nazi SS uniform. Can't say that about Trump -- he'd look more like a character from Hogan's Heroes.

MarcAbrahams, 1 year ago to random

Another organization with a name that seems opposite to what it does: "The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a car industry trade group, sued to block enforcement of the law almost from the moment it was passed by voter referendum in 2020." https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/05/26/business/carmakers-ask-judge-block-mass-right-to-repair-law-which-could-be-enforced-june-1/

MarcAbrahams, 1 year ago to random

They have a fifth goal: Manipulate the laws and the judges so that they — and nobody else — will have have control of the entire government. Really, that is probably their main goal. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/19/opinion/republican-legislatures-abortion-trangender-education.html @jbouie

MarcAbrahams, 1 year ago to random

#Sex in Space (Victorianly), and Listed #Cranks, and High-Tech #Coffee-Sniffing (my column this week in New Scientist) https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg25834380-900-scientists-wonder-if-space-tourists-will-want-to-have-sex-in-orbit/

MarcAbrahams, 1 year ago to random

NYC city analysis: effective rat population reduction versus parking spots preservation https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2023/05/08/analysis-waste-containerization-will-be-big-lift-but-could-be-historic-change-for-trash-city/