When I came across this story about a person getting killed in an attempt to retrieve a cellphone that had fallen on rail tracks, I was saddened but not surprised. Some people are really attached to their phones, seeing them as almost their lifeline to the rest of the world and feel lost and isolated if separated from it. [Read more…]
In this article, Jason Marlin describes what it felt like to be hit by a direct lightning strike. [Read more…]
All of us know the rule of thumb that says that one calendar year for a dog corresponds to seven years for a human, though the origins of the formula are unknown. But this is a very rough approximation because small dogs age more quickly early on (for the first two years it is 12.5 years per human year for small dogs, 10.5 for medium-sized dogs, and 9 for large dogs) and then age more slowly later. In other words, smaller dogs have a truncated childhood and extended adulthood when compared with bigger dogs. There is a calculator that enables you to calculate more accurately the equivalent age of your dog for a certain number of breeds.
There are two things about dogs that immediately strike an observer and those are the huge diversities in size and lifetimes within this single species. Dogs range from the tiny Chihuahua (2-6 lbs) to the massive Spanish Mastiff (121-154 lbs). Such diversity gives us a unique window to study how size affects aging. [Read more…]
The actor seems to be deeply interested in science.
(This clip aired on May 30, 2013. To get suggestions on how to view clips of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report outside the US, please see this earlier post.)
The website Amusing Planet has a fascinating article about the annual migration of 50 million red crabs from the forest to the coast on Christmas Island. [Read more…]
It is hard for people to get their minds around small probabilities, very long times, the very small, and the very large, which is why people have a hard time accepting the theories of evolution, quantum mechanics, relativity, and cosmology, which depend crucially on them. [Read more…]
Anyone who has played even a little of modern video games would be impressed at their realistic quality. The avatars on the screen have been programmed to look almost human. Now what if the designers could program the avatars to have thoughts as well, and that we make them do things by affecting their thinking and putting thoughts in their heads. So rather than making them do things, we give them the thought that makes them do things, as if they had decided to do so themsleves. Then the avatars might think that they are real and acting on their own volition and not being manipulated by an outside agency. [Read more…]
One of the things that really annoys me is what I like to call ‘first world whines’. These are the complaints of people who live lives so pampered that the slightest inconvenience causes them to throw a tantrum.
Take for example, airline flight. This has become unpleasant for many reasons but the one thing that does not bother me is being asked to shut off personal electronic devices (PED) during the take off and landing stages. It seems like such a tiny price to pay in exchange for reducing the chances of the plane crashing. [Read more…]
In the spirit of exploring this issue more deeply during the current National Masturbation Month, I looked into how close to the truth is the old joke that that 98% of people masturbate while the other 2% are liars. [Read more…]
I am fortunate to have never been near a tornado. The deadly ones that hit Oklahoma yesterday were massive. There is a breed of people called tornado chasers who actually seek them out to follow and photograph, some for scientific purposes, others just for the thrill of it. [Read more…]