by Kevin Burton Researchers found that cats can recognize their owners’ voices. Duh! Why would you need a team of researchers to figure that out? Call me when researchers have figured out how to get the cats to listen and obey. That will be news I can use. “While dogs are …
Category Archives: science
A New Tool In The Fight For Braille Literacy
by Kevin Burton Last week we ran a story about subjects that are either gone from classrooms or close to it (“Subjects No Longer Taught (Much) In Schools,” March 6.) That got me thinking about Braille. While growing up at the Ohio State School for the Blind, I just assumed that all …
Continue reading “A New Tool In The Fight For Braille Literacy”
Subjects No Longer Taught (Much) In Schools
by interestingfacts.com Think back to your school days: Are you nostalgic for flipping through a dusty library card catalog or clacking away on a typewriter? Some subjects you remember from those days are probably things of the past, although the finer points of how schools have changed might surprise you. These six subjects …
Continue reading “Subjects No Longer Taught (Much) In Schools”
Ferris Wheels Also Make The World Go Round
by Kevin Burton In response to one of my Valentine’s Day posts, a reader let me know that Feb. 14 is also National Ferris Wheel Day in the United States. Now that’s news I can use! What an apt metaphor for the “love” of love songs that is wrapped in feelings, or perhaps …
Continue reading “Ferris Wheels Also Make The World Go Round”
Valentines Dirty Dancing With The Burtons
by Kevin Burton This will teach me, always have a plan, a good plan. For my wife’s birthday, which also happens to be Valentine’s Day (Are those wedding bells in my head or a cash register?), I wanted to do something special. I want to do two somethings special, every year. My …
Continue reading “Valentines Dirty Dancing With The Burtons”
The Healing Science Of Practicing Kindness
By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira CNN When my father died of bone cancer last year, I received an outpouring of messages from friends and family sharing their condolences. While I appreciated everyone who reached out, I was especially grateful for two of my former college roommates who surprised my family with a delivery of bagels …
Continue reading “The Healing Science Of Practicing Kindness”
Doctors Perform First Whole Eye Transplant
by Jacqueline Howard CNN It was a moment Meagan James never expected to witness. A surgical team at NYU Langone Health in New York had performed the world’s first successful whole-eye transplant in a living person: her husband, Aaron James. After an accident at work led to the loss of his left …
Continue reading “Doctors Perform First Whole Eye Transplant”
How Long Is A Jiffy Exactly?
by Kevin Burton Last month on Page 7 we looked at words such as several and handful that defy exact definition. Here’s another: Jiffy. How long is a jiffy? Merriam-Webster says a jiffy is “a very short period of time: moment, instant.” The Cambridge dictionary lists synonyms “flash, heartbeat, instant, split second.” …
A Lunar Light Show Called A ‘Moonbow’
by Kevin Burton Would you believe? Rainbows by night; moonbows! They’ve got to be good looking ‘cuz they’re so hard to see. But they do exist. Poets, take note. Never heard of this, but this week I read about them on interestingfacts.com, then on Wikipedia. I say, there must be a song …
Long Live Caffeine, Death To Bugs
by Kevin Burton I am late to the great caffeine-vs-decaf debate. But if we take caffeine from our coffee, let’s certainly not throw it out altogether. Why not? Because caffeine is a natural insecticide, according to the New York Times and others. Yesterday I mentioned that I am considering switching to decaf …
Page 7 