Tag: science
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Hair, and Belief, Washing
Several years ago I stopped washing my hair after watching this YouTube video about how it wasn’t really needed. It went great, and I was a true believer who’d prophesize about it to anybody that asked, or even hinted at asking. Then I read this → https://wapo.st/3YsBDPR For a 54-year-old single fella, reading “may contribute…
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Beethoven’s Lead
Beethoven’s deafness & ailments were likely caused by lead → https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/06/health/beethoven-deaf-lead-hair.html I love that science can detect this after so many years (and that scientists are still trying to learn more about Beethoven’s issues & death). The article also gives lots of good little info nuggets about his 9th Symphony, including: “He set the poem…
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Persistent Superstition
Some potential reasons why humans are, still, superstitious → https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-are-we-still-superstitious/ In a world where 84% of people are, still, religious, I’m not surprised that superstition remains. I’m also not surprised that it’s somewhat related to our old friend, Placebo. Science can advance as much as it wants, but it will never fully defeat the human…
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Richard Feynman
The first in a Freakonomics podcast series about the physicist Richard Feynman → https://open.spotify.com/episode/5ZFcM9fTyYHoYpnzAoE6sO I’ve had a low-grade nerd crush on Feynman for years. He’s just one of those people who come up all the time (Ex: His character makes a memorable cameo in the great movie Oppenheimer) and the more you learn about him,…
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Secret Math
A physicist came up with a formula to determine how long a conspiracy theory “secret” can be kept “true” for → https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/math-formula-charts-the-lifespan-of-hoaxes We’re now awash in conspiracy theories, and then books, articles, and posts debunking them & explaining why humans love believing them so much. So it was refreshing to see this article address it…
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Funniest Words
Mental Floss discusses a study that takes a shot at determining the 200 funniest words in the English language, and figure out why words funny → https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/566352/funniest-words-to-say-in-english One of the reasons I’m posting a recommendation each day (other than to feed into snackpantry.com) is to force myself to post & write something every day. It’s…
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Physics Sphinx
The Sphinx in Giza might have been originally shaped by nature, and merely fine-tuned by humans → https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/11/study-reveals-how-natural-processes-helped-sculpt-the-great-sphinx-of-giza/ What can’t nature do, given enough time: Mountains; canyons; sculptures. This certainly made things easier for folks to make it back in the day, and even makes it seem a little less strange. Or maybe not —…
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Coin Flip Odds
Coin flip odds are not 50/50, as the results are impacted by the initial position of the coin → https://www.iflscience.com/coin-tosses-are-not-5050-scientists-toss-350757-coins-and-prove-old-theory-71047 I love “things are not as you think” articles & findings like this. It’s proof that the scientific method works AND can be super interesting. Please note: If I ever toss a coin with you,…
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Noise Colors
There are different colors of noise. They’re mathematically defined, and have different purposes → https://wapo.st/45pHK83 We’ve all heard & know about white noise, but I don’t think we ever thought that the word “white” meant something very specific. It turns out the color meant something all along, and I’m a believer in the characteristics of…
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