This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has four segments. Here are bits of each of them: New Year’s Eve Adventures — Happy New Year to ears, noses and throats – and to the people who minister to them! Julia Werz at Ulm University Hospital, Germany, and three colleagues began the celebration early, publishing the […]
Bonfires, fireworks and other Guy Fawkes Night celebratory smoke emissions make it difficult for Britons to see, says this new study: “Remember, remember the 5th of November; gunpowder, particles and smog,” Ajit Singh, William J. Bloss and Francis D. Pope, Weather, Volume 70, Issue 11, November 2015, pages 320–324. (Thanks to Tom Gill for bringing this […]
The next time you hear the phrase : “You can’t sink a battleship by blowing bubbles at it.” you’ll be able, with some degree of confidence, to inform the speaker that they’re probably wrong. A new US patent issued on Feb 12th 2013, describes what the inventors call a Bubble Weapons System. Fanciful though it […]
John Ptak is spotlighting some inventions of limited utility. Here’s the first, a boxing exhibition in London, in which the contestants wear asbestos suits with fireworks that explode during the (pardon the pun) match. It’s pictured in a 1937 issue of Popular Science magazine: BONUS: From a later decade: electronic rock-em sock-em robots
