Stories Short and Strange
17 short stories for general audiences ranging from the unusual to the unbelievable to the just plain strange.
The Importance of Sleep
So many people I know complain about not getting enough sleep, yet it is essential to good health. If you fall into that category, you’ll be interested in a new book Nodding Off: The Science of Sleep from Cradle to Grave by sleep researcher Alice Gregory of Goldsmiths, University of London. I discovered this work
What If We Had to Eat Insects?
The world’s population is continuing to grow; we could have as many as 11.2 billion people by 2100 ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projections_of_population_growth ). If that projection comes true, how will we feed everyone? One solution may be to eat insects. That’s not as far-fetched as it sounds. This is what early mammals ate, and this ability has been
Predicting the Future
I know how tough it is to predict the future; I’ve watched Disneyland go through multiple incarnations of Tomorrowland. Yet we keep trying. Like in the AARP Bulletin of June 2018 with its cover article “What’s Next: How Your Life Will Get Better in the Coming Years.” Five areas of our lives are examined, and
Is There a Link Between Crying and Airplanes?
You learn something new every day — I’ve flown on a lot of airplanes, but except for screaming kids, I’ve never thought about crying. And yet, I’ve just found an article entitled “This Is Why You’re More Likely to Cry on an Airplane, According to a Psychologist” by Mahita Gajanan (http://time.com/5274209/airplane-cry- emotion/?, the photo is
Are Nightmares All Bad?
Dreams are flaky enough, and nightmares are worse. But even if you have nightmares, are they bad for you? They could be. In an article “Nightmares Are Scary. But Are They Bad For Your Health?” by Markham Heid (http://time.com/5287932/are-nightmares-bad-for-you/?), Michael Nadorff, an assistant professor of psychology at Mississippi State University and director of the school’s
Around the World in 80 Trees
If you’re interested in a summer read and are a nature lover, I’ve just stumbled across an interesting-sounding book. Entitled Around the World in 80 Trees by Jonathan Drori, the author uses plant science to explain how trees affect our everyday lives. You can guess some of the contents — California redwoods certainly deserve
Starlings and Science, or What is Murmuration?
If you are a bird lover, you may have marveled at how great flocks of starlings move in unison. There are several excellent examples on YouTube, like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eakKfY5aHmY . So how do they do it? Science has been wondering the same thing. It’s only been recently that we’ve had the tools to observe
In Praise of … Spiders?
What if I told you that spiders, those universally reviled members of the bug world, are really valuable and should be protected? Matt Bertone, Extension Associate in Entomology at North Carolina University, makes that point in “A Case Against Killing Spiders” ( http://earthsky.org/earth/case-against-killing-spiders? ). He says spiders are important to both indoor and outdoor ecosystems. What’s more,
Revisiting President Eisenhower
During my recent trip to Asia, I was able to read Eisenhower: Soldier and President by Stephen E. Ambrose. Dwight Eisenhower was the first president I remember, and the only presidential library I ever visited. His presidency is easy to overlook, coming between Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry Truman on one side and John Kennedy
Thoughts On Dictatorships
My first trip to mainland China made me curious as to what I might find. After all, this country was supposed to be one of our Cold War enemies. How much has really changed? Unfortunately, I only spent a few days in Beijing. But even that was instructive — a lot has changed. The Chinese