Colvin & Marino, Natural History
If you visit Nikki, one of the domestic pigs who lives at Farm Sanctuary’s 175-acre shelter in Watkins Glen, New York, you can expect her loud voice to announce your arrival. Nikki is gregarious and quick to socialize with human visitors. Don’t take it personally, however, if she keeps you at bay from her babies. She has good reason to be wary of strangers.
Steven Strogatz, The New Yorker
On November 26, 1949, Albert Einstein published an essay in the Saturday Review of Literature in which he described two pivotal moments in his childhood. The first involved a compass that his father showed him when he was four or five. Einstein recalled his sense of wonderment that the needle always pointed north, even though nothing appeared to be pulling it in that direction.
Tom Whipple, Intelligent Life
In the years following the publication of J. Sturge’s canonical “Guide to the Game of Draughts” in 1800, the world of serious players was wracked by argument. Number 105 of Sturge’s “140 Striking Situations” had asked readers to demonstrate that with the pieces in a given position white could always win.
E. Cartlidge, Sci Insider
Six scientists convicted of manslaughter for advice they gave ahead of the deadly L'Aquila earthquake in 2009 today were definitively acquitted by Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation in Rome following lengthy deliberations by a panel of five judges. But the court upheld the conviction of a public official tried alongside them.
Katherine Bourzac, Nature
Every rose has its thorn – but roses grown in a Swedish lab have transistors and electrodes too.Researchers at Linkping University have created bionic roses by incorporating plant-compatible electronic materials into them. One of their modified roses has simple digital circuits running through its stem: another’s leaf changes colour when a voltage is applied.
Rhett Allain, Wired
Plot speculation for Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens is reaching its peak in the weeks before the movie opens. Some suggest the First Order has a super weapon—the Starkiller. This is essentially a more powerful version of the Death Star that doesn’t destroy planets, but solar systems. Perhaps the best way to destroy a solar system is to explode the central star.
Sally Adams, The Guardian
Alcohol “…provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance” said Shakespeare, but was he right? It is common belief that alcohol helps us lose our inhibitions and can also act as an aphrodisiac (sometimes!). But it’s not often thought of as a performance enhancer in the bedroom.
Brian Clark Howard, Nat Geo
Scientists made a startling discovery on an observation flight over a remote fjord in southern Chile’s Patagonia: 337 dead whales. That is the biggest single whale stranding event known to science.Because of the remoteness of the area and the roughness of the seas, scientists have not been able to examine the whales directly, but aerial and satellite photography identified 305 bodies and 32 skeletons in an area between the Gulf of Penas and Puerto Natales, toward the southern tip of the continent.
Beth Mole, ArsT
Before you brush aside your alarm clock for the weekend, you may want to rethink any extended morning snoozes (however glorious they may be).Sleeping late on days-off—and other sleep-time adjustments—are linked to metabolic problems, including insulin resistance and a higher body mass index, according to a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Melissa Hogenboom, BBC
If you tap the back of your head, you will find it is very hard. But in early infancy it is not quite as tough so, with the right techniques, it can be moulded into a different shape, changing how it looks forever.
