Category Archives: Science

SELLING ICE TO PEOPLE WHO DON’T KNOW WHAT COLD IS.

Posted on August 21, 2018 by Philip

SELLING ICE TO PEOPLE WHO DON’T KNOW WHAT ICE IS. The article by Wu and Dunning begins with the story of an entrepreneur in 1806 who brought a shipload of ice to Martinique for sale. There turned out to be … Continue reading →

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HYPOCOGNITION

Posted on August 20, 2018 by Philip

HYPOCOGNITION. This article by Kaidi Wu, David Dunning at the Scientific American website (August 9, 2018) introduces the term “hyppocognition”, which is defined as “the lack of a linguistic or cognitive representation for an object, category, or idea”. The article … Continue reading →

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SENDING TRAFFIC TO A STREET WITH A 32 DEGREE GRADE.

Posted on August 3, 2018 by Philip

SENDING TRAFFIC TO A STREET WITH A 32 DEGREE GRADE. I posted here about how “cities are constantly playing defense against the algorithms.” Here is an article on Ars Technica by Cyrus Farivar about Baxter Street in Los Angeles which … Continue reading →

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CONSTABLE AND CLOUDS.

Posted on July 31, 2018 by Philip

CONSTABLE AND CLOUDS. I was surprised to see that there was a lot of scholarly opinion that Constable’s late paintings were not realistic but rather expressive. Of course, grief or sadness could have influenced the particular skies and clouds that … Continue reading →

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CONSTABLE PAINTED WHAT HE SAW—THE WEATHER.

Posted on July 30, 2018 by Philip

CONSTABLE PAINTED WHAT HE SAW—-THE WEATHER. Annalisa wrote me that: “The headline of this made me laugh.” The headline is: “‘Gloomy’ artist John Constable wasn’t down about life – he was just painting typical British weather says expert….” Mary Jane … Continue reading →

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POSTURAL CONTROL.

Posted on March 15, 2018 by Philip

POSTURAL CONTROL. Lena Ting, one of the authors of the flamingo study, is an expert in postural control at Emory University. I would never have imagined that there are specialists in postural control. Ting is quoted: “I’m used to studying … Continue reading →

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HOW DO FLAMINGOS STAND ON ONE LEG?

Posted on March 14, 2018 by Philip

HOW DO FLAMINGOS STAND ON ONE LEG? This article at the Atlantic site by Ed Yong (May 23, 2017) reports on a study by Young-Hui Chang and Lena H. Ting in Biology Letters (May 24, 2017) on how flamingos stand … Continue reading →

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A PENGUIN DANCING.

Posted on March 8, 2018 by Philip

A PENGUIN DANCING. I posted here about penguins having trouble walking. I had previously thought they were surefooted. Here is a video from the Daily Mail website of a crested penguin at the Edinburgh Zoo who dances.

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PENGUINS ALL AROUND.

Posted on March 7, 2018 by Philip

PENGUINS ALL AROUND. This article by Fiona MacDonald on the Science Alert website tells of the discovery of a colony of penguins in the Antarctic. There are estimated to be 1,5 million penguins in the colony. What is remarkable is … Continue reading →

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TENNIS BALLS—THE RETURN OF THE BLUE DRESS.

Posted on March 5, 2018 by Philip

TENNIS BALLS—THE RETURN OF THE BLUE DRESS. The other explanation offered by Koren is that the problem is the same as the problem of the blue dress that I posted on a number of times, including here. The issue, much … Continue reading →

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