How Mexico’s ‘chicken peacocks’ conquered the world
Note the boy on the left and the dog on the lower right, both seizing the moment to make off with a prized turkey. This engraving was made in 1589, […]
Category Archives: srsly?
A robot judges my photos
Over the years, I’ve uploaded thousands of photos into online storage. On a whim last week, I typed the keyword ‘love’ into the search field. Google’s algorithm delivered one result: […]
Maze runner: what an oversized bug penis reveals about evolution
“We then experimentally shortened the penis using scissors, without harming the male. We show that the shorter the penis after cutting, the lower a male’s reproductive success.” – Dougherty et. al. […]
Boxy kept ham
Eleven letters are shared by the Greek, Latin and Russian Cyrillic alphabets (if you consider Y / У and K / К to be the same). In this dandy Venn diagram, the […]
A salmon retires
I am so happy to know that some salmon get to retire from the whole “epic migration” thing. In one species – the Dolly Varden char – the oldsters actually […]
Gecko-vescence
geckovescence /ˈɡekōˈvesəns/ noun: the self-propulsion of water droplets off the skin of gecko lizards “…when dew forms on the gecko skin it takes the form of tiny water drops which, […]
Boston vs. Portland in one chart
Boston Portland Most abundant resource: Colleges & universities Bars w/ nude dancers Coffee: Dunkin’ Donuts Stumptown Driving style: The Boston left Politeness gridlock Health care: One dozen Harvard-trained specialists per […]
The bouldering addiction test
[With apologies to Dr. Kimberly Young, developer of the IAT, a genuine clinical questionnaire for assessing Internet addiction.] Conceptually, the diagnosis is a compulsive-impulsive spectrum disorder that involves the following […]
Pison eu, Colon grossum!
“No zoologist should propose a name that, to his knowledge, gives offense on any grounds.” – The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature • • • If you discovered a delicate, […]
Uggstep (rhymes with dubstep) & other portmanteaus
“Generally portmanteaus with the greatest sticking power seem to be those which fill an existing gap in our lexicon. They describe experiences for which we lack words.” – OxfordWords blog […]
