This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has four segments. Here are bits of each of them: Diet of worms? — The phrase “diet of worms” intrigues people (if it intrigues them at all) in various ways. For historians, it can trigger arguments about a political convocation that happened in the city of […]
The higher one stands skeletally, the higher one is likely to rise in rank, if one is officially part of Dutch policing, suggests this study: “Effect of Self-reported Height on Occupational Rank Among Police Officers: Especially for Women it Pays to be Tall,” Abraham P. Buunk, (pictured here), Gert Stulp, and Wilmar B. Schaufeli, Evolutionary […]
Do referees who are short punish players more than referees who are not so short do? A new study by Ig Nobel Prize winner Minna Lyons and colleagues probes that question. The study is: “Referee Height Influences Decision Making in British Football Leagues,” Dane McCarrick, Gayle Brewer, Minna Lyons, Thomas V. Pollet, and Nick Neave, […]
The Skull in the Stars blog writes about the practice, back when, of cat turning: One thing I’ve learn from studying the history of science is that scientists are human beings. Often incredibly weird, weird human beings. For example: in the mid-to-late-1800s, an exciting era in which the foundations of electromagnetic theory were set and […]
