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Is it true that Archimedes formulated his famous principle based on an observation he made as he immersed himself in a bath?

4 Mar 2022

Archimedes’ principle states that any object, totally or partially immersed in a fluid, is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object. But. it was not the...

The Powder of Sympathy

25 Feb 2022

Four hundred years ago Belgian physician Johann Baptist Van Helmont was persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church for promoting the use of the “Powder of Sympathy” that was supposed to treat wounds...

The Legend of the Wartime Placebo

11 Feb 2022

Facts rarely get in the way of a good story. There is a foundational myth in placebo research that has been repeated over and over again, sometimes with inexplicable flourishes, often with the...

Juggle Balls, Not Numbers!

14 Jan 2022

We see a great deal of juggling of numbers these days. Various agendas are pushed by manipulating COVID vaccination effectiveness rates, the supposed successes of treatments with hydroxychloroquine...

The Time I Thought I Would Meet My Maker

12 Jan 2022

Being of Hungarian origin, I have had some experience with hot paprika. That’s why I was not averse to trying some of the hot sauces offered up for tasting at one of the many spice shops in New...

Looking at Iridology

30 Dec 2021

Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, a young Hungarian boy, Ignatz Pecely was attacked by an owl. A fight ensued and as Ignatz managed not only to fend off the attacker but to break its leg....

Want to cuddle? Personality is likely to get you further than oxytocin.

10 Dec 2021

Why do people cuddle? According to a slew of media reports, that answer lies in oxytocin, dubbed either the “cuddle chemical” or the “love hormone.” English pharmacologist and neurophysiologist Sir...

The Sweet and Sticky Science of Sugar

3 Dec 2021

Sugar is sweet and sticky.  That’s a fact.  In fact, during the reign of Edward the Confessor in the early eleventh century, "ale tasters" were employed to check on the work of brewers.  They would...

Would the Lone Ranger’s silver bullets have tarnished?

26 Nov 2021

We do get some interesting questions. The Lone Ranger was a television series that ran from 1949 to 1957 and recounted the adventures of a former Texas Ranger who with his companion, the Native...

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