No one had complained about the parrots, Nichols said, but they were separated for the sake of young visitors and in the hopes that they would pick up natural calls from the other African greys. “People have come to us… Read More ›
Articles
Dreading a dark winter lockdown? Think like a Norwegian
During the darkest periods of the polar night, Tromsø only receives two to three hours of indirect sunlight, shining into the sky from below the horizon. Yet its inhabitants do not show the kind of wintertime depression you might expect… Read More ›
Stanislav Petrov
Preventing the deaths of hundreds of millions, if not billions, of people was a costly decision for Petrov. If he had been wrong, and he somehow survived the American nuclear strike, he likely would’ve been executed for treason. Even though… Read More ›
Why some birds are so smart—and maybe even self-aware
The two papers are already being hailed as groundbreaking. “It’s often assumed that birds’ alien brain architecture limits thought, consciousness, and most advanced cognition,” says John Marzluff, a wildlife biologist and specialist on crows at the University of Washington, Seattle,… Read More ›
Why you should get an autopsy if it’s the last thing you do
This was the moment where fainting tends to happen. I reached for the antacids — and then I found I didn’t need them. Somehow, I understood. It made sense. These men were dead, and this is what we look like… Read More ›
Every solution has a problem
The NHS Covid-19 app was released yesterday and I decided to download it and have a look at how it compares to others. As you can see advice, I then deleted it because I have no faith in the ability… Read More ›
A Failure of Empathy Led to 200,000 Deaths
In reality, the COVID-19 death toll probably passed 200,000 some time ago. And yet “the photos of body bags have not had the same effect in the pandemic” as after other mass-casualty events such as Hurricane Katrina, says Lori Peek,… Read More ›
Dealing with murder in space
Mario Escamilla was furious. A colleague of his, nicknamed Porky, had just stolen his jug of raisin wine. So the 33-year-old Escamilla grabbed a rifle and set out to reclaim it. He had no idea he was about to get… Read More ›
My weird quest to find a lost game
Although the name of the game escaped them, both had a clear memory of how it looked. In the game, you played as anthropomorphised fruit, interacting with other players in a garish 2D environment. The game, they remembered, was linked… Read More ›
Addicted to losing
Shellz, 37, a nurse from Houston, spends at least two hours a day with her husband playing a casino-style smartphone game called Jackpot Magic. The app offers a variety of typical casino games to play, including their favorite, called Reel… Read More ›
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