Tag Archives: Science

Aroma begins with an idea that pulled me up short: Smell is a cultural, hence a social and historical, phenomenon.

The ailing, 84 year-old Pope John Paul ll may not be doing much public speaking — ever — following a tracheotomy (a small opening cut into the neck and windpipe, with a breathing tube inserted into it so air can flow directly into the lungs) yesterday to alleviate a breathing …

In a fascinating, counterintuitive finding (for Americans, anyway), Dacher Keltner, a psychology professor at the University of California in Berkeley, found that the British have much more expressive smiles than Americans: British smile by pulling our lips back and upwards and exposing our lower teeth, Americans are more likely simply …

As a city cyclist, one of the banes of my existence is ridiculously large vehicles, particularly 4WDs. (SUVs in American parlance.) Many of their drivers seem utterly unaware of the poor visibility of these hulks, or indeed even of their real size – near had my shoulder taken off by …

First off, allow me to preface the rather notable news that Volvo is announcing a contest to give away a seat on the Virgin Galactic spaceship during their Super Bowl commercial Sunday, by noting that Richard Branson is a dickleak. I have nothing in particular against the guy and his …

One of my most surprising, “whow” books of 2004, was The Fossil Hunters, by Adrienne Mayor. Posted on my blog is a reconstruction of the skeleton of a Protoceratops, a dinosaur that lived in what is now the Gobi desert. Below is a Scythian “griffin”, placed into the same stance. …

I will no longer tell my children to stop fidgeting: The most detailed study ever conducted of mundane bodily movements found that obese people tend to be much less fidgety than lean people and spend at least two hours more each day just sitting still. The extra motion by lean …

Talk about people not in touch with themselves: this guy was unaware that he had shot a nail into his brain: A dentist found the source of the toothache Patrick Lawler was complaining about on the roof of his mouth: a four-inch nail the construction worker had unknowingly embedded in …

The cause of severe partisanship? Deep down we are attracted to both candidates in an election and in order to suppress this we emphasize the negative attributes of the one for whom we are not voting – like fans do with sports teams. Interesting theory: PRESIDENT BUSH begins his second …

Our 5 year-old daughter is now totally into monster and superhero movies, and so we were watching The Return of the Mummy the other night. The scene where the reconstituted mummy, who has powers and shit, raises up the waters of the Nile into a monstrous wave with his open-mouthed …