Category Archives: Science

APOPHENIA—THE CARTOON.

Posted on October 8, 2011 by Philip

APOPHENIA—THE CARTOON. I posted here on September 25 about apophenia, and I have since been encountering discussions of the phenomenon although they don’t use the new word. Nate Silver even linked to this cartoon which dramatizes the phenomenon. The site … Continue reading →

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DAVID HOCKNEY: “THERE’S A LOT MORE TO BE SEEN.”

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Philip

DAVID HOCKNEY: “THERE’S A LOT MORE TO BE SEEN.” I want to draw attention to the beginning of Martin Gayford’s article about David Hockney: “One of your basic contentions, I say to the British artist David Hockney, is that there … Continue reading →

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FLATNESS AND THE SINGLE-LENS VIEW.

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Philip

FLATNESS AND THE SINGLE-LENS VIEW. I posted here on the theory of Margaret Livingstone, a Harvard professor of neurobiology, that it is an advantage for an artist to have poor depth perception. (Professor Livingstone uses the example of Rembrandt.) Hockney’s … Continue reading →

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APOPHENIA.

Posted on September 25, 2011 by Philip

APOPHENIA. I came across an unfamiliar word in a review by Laura Marcus in the Times Literary Supplement (September 9). The word is “apophenia”, and while the word is new to me, I encounter the phenomenon almost every day. Laura … Continue reading →

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FOLDIT REVISITED—A SCIENTIFIC SUCCESS FOR VIDEOGAMERS.

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Philip

FOLDIT REVISITED—A SCIENTIFIC SUCCESS FOR VIDEOGAMERS. I posted here a year ago about Foldit, “a videogame with 57,000 registered users, in which players score points by finding chemically stable configurations for chains of protein molecules.” Now, as this Yahoo article … Continue reading →

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TWIN TALK.

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Philip

TWIN TALK. My parents always told us that there was a period when my brother Elmer and I spoke what they called “twin talk”, a language that nobody else was able to understand. This article in Slate by Jon Lackman … Continue reading →

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FORCING TWINS TO BE DIFFERENT.

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Philip

FORCING TWINS TO BE DIFFERENT. My brother and Elmer were always treated as identical by my parents, but they encountered resistance from the school system as we got older. The theory was that twins had to develop their own individuality. … Continue reading →

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TWINS THAT LOOK ALIKE ARE IDENTICAL.

Posted on August 28, 2011 by Philip

TWINS THAT LOOK ALIKE ARE IDENTICAL. The Slate series has an article on twins by Barry Harbaugh, an identical twin, which corresponds to my experience. Harbaugh and his brother had been told they were fraternal.My brother Elmer and I were … Continue reading →

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WHY IDENTICAL TWINS ARE DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER.

Posted on August 27, 2011 by Philip

WHY IDENTICAL TWINS ARE DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER. Slate has had a special feature with good articles on twins, which, of course, are always interesting to me. Brian Palmer in this article points out the flaws in any scientific study … Continue reading →

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A REASON WHY MONEY MAY NOT BUY HAPPINESS.

Posted on August 20, 2011 by Philip

A REASON WHY MONEY MAY NOT BUY HAPPINESS. I have posted several times on the new literature about the relationship between income and happiness, and Annalisa made a guest post about the economics of happiness here. Bryan Caplan has a … Continue reading →

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