Flora Lichtman of Science Friday interviewed “Brenda Tan and Matthew Cost, high school seniors from Trinity School in New York City, used a technique called DNA barcoding to find out what species were present in over 200 animal products.” A surprising finding: most street vendors’ hot dogs — at least the ones the students tested — contained only the kinds of meat they were supposed to contain.
Here’s the video.
If you want a 19th century biology professor’s perspective on oysters, twisted or untwisted, you would do well to consult the works of Professor Karl August Möbius, especially his book Die Auster und die Austernwirthschaft.
NOTE: Do not confuse Professor Karl August Möbius with August Ferdinand Möbius, the man credited with discovering the Möbius strip.
Dr. Elena Bodnar writes, in The Guardian, about the soon-to-begin 2010 Ig Nobel Tour of the UK:
For the Ig Nobel award ceremony, I designed a hot pink Emergency Bra that has now been dubbed the Harvard model. I demonstrated it on Nobel laureates Wolfgang Ketterle (Nobel prize for physics, 2001), Orhan Pamuk (literature, 2006) and Paul Krugman (economics, 2008). Although they were not expecting it, they seemed to enjoy the demonstration.
During the forthcoming UK Ig Nobel tour this month, I will also demonstrate that the Emergency Bra is not only an effective, economical and readily available personal protective device but that, first and foremost, it is a beautiful piece of lingerie. Its additional function of personal protection does not interfere with its aesthetics or its main purpose.
I have no doubt my demonstrations will generate some laughs. However, I also look forward to addressing some serious questions from the British public….
…although peripherally perceived facial expressions affect the appreciation of faces, Mona Lisa’s smile seems to constitute only part of her enigma. She keeps her mystery, even when one catches her smile.
Concludes the latest research into the elusiveness of the Mona Lisa smile, which has recently been published in the online version of the journal Psychological Science.
Researchers at the Department of Experimental and Neurocognitive Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, the Department of Psychology, University of Bamberg and the Department of Psychology and Center for Neurocognitive Research, Paris-Lodron-Universität Salzburg, showed photos of one hundred morphed female faces (each in a smiling and a neutral version) to 16 test subjects who were monitored via an eye-tracker system.
Click to continue reading “Further pinpointing Mona Lisa’s elusiveness”
Would you welcome financial advice, twisted or untwisted, from a man named Mark Mobius?
An October 5, 2009 Moneysense article implies that you should. It says:
APAFS Chairman, Gerard Cruz added, “Having Dr. Mobius speak about emerging markets is like having Bill Gates speak about the future of computer systems. Powerful people pay to listen to his advice, we are fortunate to have him address our group”.
NOTE: Do not confuse Dr. Mark Mobius with August Ferdinand Möbius, the man credited with discovering the Möbius strip.
If you don’t know how to build a machine that accomplishes as much as a Dr. Thomas Galen Hieronymus Machine — the all-in-one machine described here yesterday ‚ just get some ready-made plans. The self-noted inventor William D. Jenson has generously formulated a set of plans, which he placed on his web site along with additional plans for additional machines that may work fully as well as the Dr. Thomas Galen Hieronymus Machine. Mr. Jenson’s instruction manual begins with this caution:
“Only 1 person should use your machine as a rule of thumb.”
