Tue, Jan 21, 2014
Have you noticed those little strings when you look at a plain bright surface? Those are floaters; little fibers of collagen casting a shadow on your retina. And they will be there for the rest of your life. But not to worry. Everytime one stops moving around your brain will learn to ignore it and you won't see it any more.
Tue, May 6, 2014
The Kola Superdeep Bore Hole is the deepest hole drilled by humankind reaching a depth of 12 kilometers when work was stopped. There were some surprises. The crust is hotter than expected making drilling impossible as the rock behaved like plastic. But there is water probably squeezed out of the crystal structure of the rock due to high pressure. And there are microscopic fossils.
Mon, Mar 23, 2015
Before being distracted with founding a nation Benjamin Franklin spent a decade working at the forefront of the study of electricity. Among his scientific accomplishments are demonstrating that electricity is one force not two and that lightning is indeed electricity. Ever practical he used his work to invent the lightning rod.
Wed, May 4, 2016
In 1998 Roy Baumeister published a definitive study showing that ego depletion (meaning will power is a limited resource) is real. But then in 2010 studies began finding the opposite and other labs were unable to reproduce Hagger's results. Controvery ensued and continued to this day (May 2016). But there are also concerns that the experimental methodologies used in the social science may be unreliable.
Thu, Jul 7, 2016
If you're an internet troll you probably know why you do it. If you're not you're probably asking 'why?'. Psychologists have wondered too and have taken an active interest in researching the subject. There seems to be a broad spectrum from people who take advantage of their online anonymity to joke around to people with deep seated psychological problems.
Thu, Sep 29, 2016
Game theory is a field of mathematics conceived by John Nash that deals with how people handle situations where they are effected by other people's decisions. Hank reviews what game theory has to say about competitive situations so an individual obtains their best result and cooperative situation so individuals obtain a fair result.
Tue, Aug 22, 2017
Warts are a contagious skin infection caused by the human papillomavirus; yes, the cervical cancer virus. If you have one, it my go away on it's own, eventually. But there are treatments such as salicylic acid and freezing. Or, if you prefer hardware stores to pharmacies, some people believe duct tape will work.