MarcAbrahams

MarcAbrahams, 2 months ago to random

What is a financial smirk? The Options Industry Council, which advises investors, explains, somewhat, that “When mapping implied volatility levels, the curve these points create is typically identified as either a ‘smile’ or a ‘smirk’ depending on the shape created by the level for out-of-the-money puts and calls“ https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26134822-700-will-you-be-enjoying-your-robot-dessert-wriggling-or-stationary/

MarcAbrahams, 2 months ago to random

Sad news: Frans de Waal — Ig Nobel Prize-winning biologist who studied the many odd ways that monkeys and humans and other primates behave — has died. https://improbable.com/2024/03/16/sad-news-frans-de-waal-is-gone/

MarcAbrahams, 2 months ago to random

SLICEABLE KETCHUP — "Ketchup eaters, as well as food technologists, can satisfy some of their hunger for knowledge by reading the study 'Textural and rheological properties of sliceable ketchup', published in the journal Gels." https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26134822-700-will-you-be-enjoying-your-robot-dessert-wriggling-or-stationary/

MarcAbrahams, 2 months ago to random

Will robots eat us? Or will we eat robots? Both technophiles and -phobes have hungered to learn which will happen first. The answer has now arrived. [my column this week in New Scientist] https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26134822-700-will-you-be-enjoying-your-robot-dessert-wriggling-or-stationary/

MarcAbrahams, 2 months ago to random

This is good stuff. "For some budding musicians (and even old pros), the very sight of sheet music can elicit a fight-or-flight response, bringing up painful memories of strict piano teachers and high-pressure recitals. George Collier, a 20-year-old music transcriber, is doing his part to change that." https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/12/arts/music/george-collier-music-transcriber-youtube.html

MarcAbrahams, 3 months ago to random

"THE BLOB, THE HEADLESS ORGANISM THAT REVOLUTIONIZES THE STUDY OF INTELLIGENCE" https://www.mnhn.fr/fr/le-blob-l-organisme-sans-tete-qui-revolutionne-l-etude-de-l-intelligence

MarcAbrahams, 3 months ago to random

The special ANTS issue of the magazine (Annals of Improbable Research) #ants https://improbable.com/2024/03/11/the-special-ants-issue-of-the-magazine/

MarcAbrahams, 3 months ago to random

"Do you really slip on banana peels?" Some of the science of that. https://www.geopop.it/si-scivola-davvero-sulle-bucce-di-banana-ecco-cosa-dice-la-scienza/

MarcAbrahams, 3 months ago to random

Warning and advice (for humans) about magpie swooping https://improbable.com/2024/03/11/warning-and-advice-for-humans-about-magpie-swooping/

MarcAbrahams, 3 months ago to random

"The Anthropocene war: The controversial vote that decided not to change the planet’s geological epoch" https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2024-03-08/the-anthropocene-war-the-controversial-vote-that-decided-not-to-change-the-planets-geological-epoch.html

MarcAbrahams, 3 months ago (edited 3 months ago) to random

Feedback is delighted to learn about a company's Valentine's Day promotion offering "a complimentary breeding pair of genetically modified mice" to potential customers in the mood for romance https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26134811-900-could-two-genetically-modified-mice-come-in-handy-on-valentines-day/

MarcAbrahams, 3 months ago to random

Sounds very like the 2024 dominated-by-Republican-politicians courts and congress of the USA: "By co-opting apex courts, incumbents bent on regime survival can entrench themselves in power while maintaining what their citizens consider to be sham democracies." https://africacenter.org/spotlight/regime-capture-courts-africa/

MarcAbrahams, 3 months ago to random

"On the one hand, caps to credit card late fees and an attempt to address price gouging; on the other hand, local police with immunity rounding up millions of people and putting them in camps, for deportation. And, in between the two, an election.
People had better start paying attention." https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/march-5-2024-tuesday?r=2y7i1&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

MarcAbrahams, 3 months ago to random

The NY Times is struggling to write headlines these days. A better headline for this article would be "NY Times Does Crappy Job Informing Public about a Con Man's Crime Spree" https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/05/us/politics/donald-trump-poll-crimes.html

MarcAbrahams, 3 months ago to random

Sibley’s Improbable How-to-Identify-Rare-Birds Advice https://improbable.com/2024/03/04/sibleys-improbable-how-to-identify-rare-birds-advice/

MarcAbrahams, 3 months ago to random

Preview: The Ig Nobel EuroTour returns to EPFL in Lausanne on April 16. (Topics: people who habitually stay up late, sexual activity of anchovies, repeating a single word many, many, many times.) https://nccr-marvel.ch/events/save-the-date-ig-nobel-award-tour-show-2024

MarcAbrahams, 3 months ago to random

"Ig Nobels reach 33 – now that’s improbable!" Interviewed by Robyn Williams, Australia's (and the ABC's) national living treasure. https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/scienceshow/ig-nobels-reach-33-now-that-s-improbable-/103529568

MarcAbrahams, 3 months ago to random

"The End of Info-Glut". A long time ago I was writing the back page column in Byte magazine. (Until that magazine was sold, and its new owner killed the column, and eventually the magazine.) The col was fun to write: fiction that was all too real. Here's one of them.

MarcAbrahams, 3 months ago to random

"Negative refraction... Professor Michael Berry (known best for the so-called 'Berry phase,' though it is not called that by him) published a pair of papers in which he asked: suppose one could amplify the light in the neighborhood of one of these dark regions where the spectrum changes rapidly. What would the result look like to the naked eye?" https://skullsinthestars.com/2009/05/19/what-does-negative-refraction-look-like/

MarcAbrahams, 3 months ago to random

An appreciation of Don Featherstone, creator of the plastic pink flamingo https://artdogs.substack.com/p/donald-featherstone

MarcAbrahams, 3 months ago to random

The old saying “If you can measure it, it must be important” haunts the many research efforts to explain why it is important to measure two of the five fingers on a person’s hand. The two-finger quest sometimes looks at addiction as being something you can better understand by measuring fingers. https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26134803-000-analysis-of-cats-during-a-cat-show-reveals-they-mostly-lazed-around/

MarcAbrahams, 3 months ago to random

"Mitch McConnell is one of those perhaps historic figures for whom the greatness of his skill and impact are matched only in inverse by the malignity of his impact on our politics. To put it more brashly, McConnell was great at doing political evil." https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/mitch-mcconnell-some-thoughts-on-mastery-destruction-and-minority-rule/sharetoken/5XyHHpQk5nHZ

MarcAbrahams, 3 months ago to random

Everything visible here (on the New York Times web site) appears to be part of one and the same story.

MarcAbrahams, 3 months ago to Cats

When cats are forced to endure a crush of mass attention from an adoring public, do they continue to behave in their famous, endearing, imperious “cat-like” ways? Simona Cannas and her colleagues at the University of Milan in Italy produced some data that may bring attention to the question. #cats https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26134803-000-analysis-of-cats-during-a-cat-show-reveals-they-mostly-lazed-around/

MarcAbrahams, 3 months ago to random

"Aha! What is the secret behind the banana peel that made a 50,000-ton cargo ship move?" https://kid.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2024/02/28/2024022802693.html