Category Archives: Science

Give a Monkey a Brain and He’ll Swear He’s the Centre of the Universe

Posted on 9 June 2012 by Larry Russwurm

That’s not my title, it’s from a Fishbone album in the ’90s but it suits my post nicely. A long, long time ago in the eighties, I was thinking about what I want to do with my life as far … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Science, Wee Bit O' Humour | Tagged astronomy, biology, centre of the universe, chemistry, economics, geography, history, physics, psychology, your favourite area might be the centre of the universe | 2 Comments

To Boldly Go Where Men Have Gone Before

Posted on 23 May 2012 by Larry Russwurm

By now many of you who are old Star Trek fans will have heard the news that James Doohan’s (Scotty’s) ashes have made it into space. And I bet some of you are thinking neat, and I’d like to put … Continue reading →

Posted in Science, Stage and Screen, Wee Bit O' Humour | Tagged 6 Million Dollar Man, cremation, James Doohan, new ideas for spreading ashes, orbit, reentry, Scotty, SpaceX, Star Trek, to boldly go where no man has gone before | Leave a comment

Monopoly Pricing

Posted on 19 May 2012 by Larry Russwurm

In this first story Spacex (provider of space flights) decides to partner with Bigelow (potential maker of a private space station). This of course means less competition in space and thus lesser incentives to improve technologies and pricing. But this … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Humourless, Politics, Science | Tagged American Congress, Bigelow, can legislate competition, free enterprise not always better, monopolies are bad news, monopolies need extreme oversight, monopoly, NASA, SpaceX | Leave a comment

Someone Forgot His Oath This Morning

Posted on 25 April 2012 by Larry Russwurm

The Green Lantern plummeted out of the sky quickly. Suddenly his ring made a giant green bouncy castle and that is where he landed. The gathered scientists just coughed and kicked stones, waiting for the superhero to stop bouncing. Finally … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Humour, Science, Science Fiction, Writing | Tagged chromatic aberration, energy beast, Green Lantern, Green Lantern oath, reflecting telescopes, refracting telescopes, ring, telescopes, the Doppler Effect, white lab coats, yellow is immune to Green Lantern's ring | Leave a comment

What if Average Height Keeps Increasing?

Posted on 15 February 2012 by Larry Russwurm

I was going to cite the information tidbit that was in the margins of one of my elementary school textbooks that said, ‘children will grow up to be one inch taller than their same sex parent’. This may have been … Continue reading →

Posted in Humour, Science, Social Science | Tagged average height might keep increasing because of progress, basketball could get boring, Dr. Oz, height increases and decreases throughout history, height science is complex, immunizations and antibiotics are healthy, many health improvements to go, men's voices would be subsonic, might evolve a relay of hearts, more wind the higher we are, one inch taller than same sex parent, The Doctors, the more healthy a society - the taller the people, women and children would sound like Barry White | Leave a comment

Making Sense Out of Cell Replenishment

Posted on 8 February 2012 by Larry Russwurm

Perhaps you’ve heard that every seven years, your bodily cells replenish themselves. Or maybe you’ve heard it happens every ten years. Well I have heard this, too. The seven year thing, especially, makes sense. After all if you’ve broken a … Continue reading →

Posted in Humour, Science | Tagged bankruptcy lasts for 7 years, broken mirror means 7 years of bad luck, cell replenishment, cells replenish themselves at different rates, cerebral cortex neurons are never replaced, fat cells replenish themselves in 10 years, heart replenishes itself at different rates at different ages, new human every 7 years, the 7 year itch | Leave a comment

New Improved Birth Order Theory

Posted on 25 January 2012 by Larry Russwurm

In the post All Psychologists are Lazy, I took umbrage with the state of birth order theory. I especially disliked that theory which stated 5th born children are the same as 1st born children and 6th born children are the … Continue reading →

Posted in Humour, Pseudo Science, Science, Social Science | Tagged 1st born same as only children, 5th born is the same as 1st born, birth order theory, even lazier theory, preserves the 5th born same as 1st born cycle, psychology, simpler cycle | Leave a comment

The Leap Week Calendar

Posted on 4 January 2012 by Larry Russwurm

Imagine that you have a birthday on a Monday. ‘Fine’ you sputter on that Monday morning ‘at least I have almost equal odds of getting a birthday on a Sunday or a Saturday’. But you’ve been hearing rumours of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Mathematics, Science, Social Science, Wee Bit O' Humour | Tagged 5 or 6 years between leap weeks, elimination of Friday the thirteenth, Every 400 years there is a whole amount of weeks, Friday the thirteenth birthday in perpetuity, Gregorian calendar, I want my birthday on a Friday or Saturday or Sunday, leap week calendar, Monday birthday in perpetuity, start of season could be way off the 21st | 2 Comments

Portents and the Hesitation of Our Ancestors to Call it a New Year

Posted on 30 December 2011 by Larry Russwurm

I’m expecting many of you to know about comet Lovejoy – the little comet that could. It had a run in with the sun that it was not expected to survive in mid December. Not only did it survive but … Continue reading →