If you think humans are the most efficient at building cities and other intricate structures, you may have overlooked another species — ants. An abandoned colony of grass-cutter ants was located, and scientists decided to study it in depth. First they filled the empty chambers and passageways with concrete. Then they excavated around the concrete
This is a story we used to tell around the campfire when I was a Boy Scout. It’s been around so long many versions have been published. This is mine. The Hook “Hello, Heidi. My, don’t you look hot tonight!” Jason had been looking forward to this Saturday night for a long time. Yes, Heidi
So much of history is personal. One fascinating source is letters from soldiers to their families. I’m currently reading Diary of a Dead Man, compiled by J. P. Ray, that contains the letters from a Union soldier during the Civil War who ultimately died at Andersonville Prison in Georgia. But what really got my attention
How many words are there in the English language? I’ve seen estimates ranging from 400,000 to as many as a million if you count all the scientific and technical terms, although a quick Google search says the Second Edition of the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary contains full entries for 171,476 words in current use (https://wordcounter.io/blog/how-many-words-are-in-the-english-language/). No matter who is counting, a
If you are looking for a new game to play with your pet rat, may I suggest hide-and-seek? Neuroscientist Juan Ignacio Sanguinetti of the Humboldt University of Berlin does just that. Drawing inspiration from YouTube animal videos (really!) he has taught rats to play hide-and-seek. His work was recently published in the journal Science. The
I spent a nice weekend visiting my niece who started her post-high school education this fall at Syracuse University. While visiting, I began to wonder why SU’s nickname is “The Orange”. Syracuse University was founded in 1870. The first official colors in 1872 were pea green and rose pink. In 1873 the student consensus was
No, this is not a joke. It’s just a great “what if?” — if dinosaurs were alive today, how would veterinarians treat them? Like all wild animals, dinosaurs had difficult and violent lives. Scientists who study fossils can identify all kinds of wounds and injuries. For instance, a tyrannosaur skeleton has been found with a
One way to keep up with what’s happening is to follow word trends, According to Merriam-Webster, here are some of the words people have been looking up recently. Kangaroo Court — Inquiries jumped 11,000% on October 8 after President Trump described the congressional impeachment hearings as “a totally compromised kangaroo court.” Merriam-Webster’s definition is either “a
There has been a lot of talk recently about how some think the next target for our manned space exploration should be Mars. But if you examine the details about time and distance, and consider the limitations of our rocket technology, there’s a compelling case for sending women. And maybe it should be only women.
As a history nerd, I’ve often wondered how any war could be considered civil. I’ve recently found a logical explanation, and it goes all the way back to the Roman Empire. Recall how most English words have more than one meaning. So it is with civil. The first definitions we usually think of are “quiet
