A man in cardboard lobster claws recited invented words onstage in Zurich, 1916, and accidentally slipped into the cadences of Catholic mass. He had to be carried off. Within four years, Hugo Ball quit Dada entirely. The magic bishop who meant it.
A recent study shows that updating #Wikipedia pages for scientific organizations significantly boosts public trust and credibility. When experts and editors actively improve these entries, readers view the institutions as far more trustworthy.
A fantastic reminder of why our editing community's work matters so much!
When an academic thoroughly updated the American Association for Anatomy's Wikipedia page, readers viewed the organization as more credible. A new study suggests experts should actively edit the platform to improve public access to accurate science.
RE: https://mastodon.online/@globalmuseum/116585757080544483
It's not mysterious at all.
Verses of Homer's poems were frequently used in Roman-era Graeco-Egyptian ritual and magic, attested in the Greek magical papyri (all from Egypt) and other sources, e.g.: PGM IV, 2145-2240 (various purposes), PGM IV, 475-829 (amulet), Alexander of Tralleis (against gout).
PGM VII, 1-148 details an extensive dice-based #Homer #oracle I describe in one of my videos starting at 03:54 https://www.antikemagie.com/video-the-greek-magical-papyrus-pgm-vii/
A wanted gem thief published a stranger's dinner-party lies, created a European sensation, then died running a fake copper mine. The stranger sued the wrong person and spent his last years turning visitors away. Baron von Münchhausen: history's most reluctant famous liar.
Martin McKee writes about lessons from the current Hantavirus outbreak.
"We were lucky with Hantavirus—next time we might not be"
Couple of points I found interesting:
1. We got lucky that someone thought to test for it. Respect to Lucille Blumberg:
"By great good fortune, both infected individuals who had reached South Africa came to the attention of Lucille Blumberg at South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases. Initial tests for other causes were negative, but, displaying the curiosity that is a core public health attribute, and knowing the ship’s path, she and her team tested the pair for Hantavirus. The positive results triggered an extensive international programme to trace all those who had been in contact with people on the ship."
2. And for our present understanding of its (airborne) transmission, one particular piece of research stands out, from 2018:
"... what really made a difference to our understanding was a very detailed paper on another outbreak in Argentina in 2018. We owe an enormous debt to the researchers involved. Their meticulous detective work documented chains of transmission with unusual precision.
"The findings were unambiguous. Human-to-human spread of Hantavirus did not require prolonged or intimate contact, and transmission could occur in settings that many would have dismissed as low risk."
3. And a bonus point about media narratives:
"Unfortunately, some of the early commentators on this latest outbreak seemed not to have read their paper. This was a reminder of a recurring problem in health crises, most recently with Covid: inconvenient findings are overlooked in favour of comforting assumptions."
This week's #NewBooks at the library: Three more books from our January clearance sale
- Jellyfish Age Backwards: Nature's Secrets to Longevity by Nicklas Brendborg, published by Hodder & Stoughton.
- Ancestors in Evolutionary Biology: Linear Thinking about Branching Trees, a more technical volume by Ronald A Jenner, published by Cambridge University Press as part of their series of Systematics Association Special Volumes (@SystAssn).
- #Acrocanthosaurus Inside and Out by Kenneth Carpenter, published by the University of Oklahoma Press.
#Books #Bookstodon #Scicomm #MolecularBiology #EvolutionaryBiology #Evolution #Paleontology #Palaeontology #Fossils #Dinosaurs @bookstodon
After my chat with Curt Jaimungal on his Theories of Everything Podcast, I have entered the #CORE1 contest and recorded a video with a deep-dive into "How dark is our universe?". Have a look at it here:
https://youtu.be/k9_OslGFQnM?si=wj-ln2CTlStdktqT
The Origin And Evolution of Poisonous Birds
“Amongst vertebrates, we know there are poisonous frogs, reptiles, fishes and now we know there are poisonous birds too!”
#poison #birds #physiology #ornithology
https://grrlscientist.medium.com/the-origin-and-evolution-of-poisonous-birds-4d66fa3d2df1
WOW! i have a “trending” tag next to my name-calling parrots piece! that’s never happened to one of my pieces before …
#SciComm #parrots #ornithology https://www.forbes.com/sites/grrlscientist/2026/05/14/parrots-use-proper-names-like-humans-do-to-call-out-individuals/
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Oddlet - Lovable Weirdos
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