The next time someone tries to tell you ancient folk medicine was equivalent to modern science, remind them that people once consumed other humans as part of legal trade. Apothecaries sold powdered mummies, or at least what they claimed were powdered mummies, because of belief in medical cannibalism and that it cured everything from headaches to the plague.Take that, antibiotics, your job could...
read moreSamhain, All Hallows Evening. Hallowe'en, Halloween. The name has changed but the world’s fascination with a day of spooks and scares has never wavered. Except it has also always been about harvests and farming and food. It may seem odd to lump together food and ghosts but that is Halloween in a cultural nutshell; a confusing mash-up of cultures and beliefs. That is actually a good thing. It...
read moreAre kids walking at night on Halloween safe? What's the physics of ghosts? How many toxic chemicals are in that organic pumpkin I bought? Is there a Secret Sadist out there putting razor blades in candy? You can find out the answers to all those questions and more in Halloween Science 2.0. It covers the history of the holiday, of course, this is Science 2.0, not a textbook, through the lens of...
read moreAir India Flight 171 Accident Summary - Key Findings Air India Flight 171 Accident Summary - Key Findings The purpose of an air accident report is to establish the most probable cause of the accident. An air accident report should make recommendations to avoid such an accident in the future and should avoid assigning blame. The AAIB Preliminary Report fails on both...
read moreAir India Flight 171 Accident Summary - Key Findings Air India Flight 171 Accident Summary - Key Findings The purpose of an air accident report is to establish the most probable cause of the accident. An air accident report should make recommendations to avoid such an accident in the future and should avoid assigning blame. The AAIB Preliminary Report fails on both...
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