One of my great social frustrations is an inability to remember names. So I was intrigued when I saw an article entitled “Why You Forget Names Immediately — And How To Remember Them” by Jamie Ducharme. Why is remembering names so difficult? According to the article, there could be several reasons. The first might be
The world’s population continues to grow. We have an estimated 7.4 billion people now, and could reach as high as 11.2 billion by the year 2100 ( https://ourworldindata.org/world-population-growth ). Which leads to a number of questions, especially “What will we eat?” Don’t worry, someone is working on that. An article entitled “5 High-Tech Foods You’ll Be
You may have heard of the legend of Diogenes of Sinope, who supposedly wandered around ancient Greece, carrying a lantern and searching for an honest man ( https://www.ancient.eu/Diogenes_of_Sinope/). And the search continues today. So how do you make sure people are telling you the truth? Science says it simply depends on how you ask the question.
It’s always interesting to watch what happens when cultures combine. For example, arranged marriages are common in some parts of the world. If you were from Pakistan and wanted to explain how marriages usually happen, how would you go about it? How about a board game? Nashra Balagamwala was from Pakistan originally and now works
Have you ever heard of the Miracle Slicer? I thought it was great until it took a chunk out of a little finger (anyone for red cucumbers?). Cooking the right way is hard and it seems like there are so many gadgets marketed to make it easier. But if you’re like me, all they do
I never took piano lessons; my instrument was a tenor saxophone. But I know music lessons are an important part of growing up — at the least it’s a sneaky way to teach kids math, especially fractions. My opinion has been reinforced by a new study, involving Mandarin-speaking Chinese kindergarteners, that claims the piano can
Do you ever have a list of jobs to do and find yourself doing the less-important ones first? I know I do. So I was relieved to read there is a scientific explanation — the urgency effect. According to the article “Why Your Brain Tricks You Into Doing Less Important Tasks” by Tim Herrera, “Our
If my occasionally reliable memory is correct, there was a “Simpsons” episode in which a family crisis caused Lisa’s birthday to be forgotten. She ended up celebrating by herself: “Happy birthday, overlooked middle child….” I was reminded of that by an article, “The Extinction of the Middle Child: They’re becoming an American rarity, just when
Automated check-outs. Self-driving vehicles. And those are only the obvious jobs being automated. Lots of people’s livelihoods are in jeopardy, so many that I’ve discovered a new term — surplus human. “Are You a ‘Surplus Human’? These Are the Jobs Robots Are Coming After Next” by Alissa Quart is an article that explores this in
From the “I’m Sorry I Asked” Department — All of my life I’m been hearing about Albert Einstein and his Theory of Relativity. He has had such a huge impact on our lives in general and science in particular. In high school, when I was asked to report on the most consequential figure of the
