Great moments in science

January 11, 2004 3:34 AM

Pop-science writing by Karl Kruszelnicki,scientist and broadcaster. Includes fun with kissing, bad breath, biscuit dunking, broccoli, Botox, uses of cow parts, maggots in wounds and the IgNobel prize-winning bellybutton lint research.
posted by iffley (5 comments total)

Dr. Karl is quite a standby of Australian public radio, with a regular show on JJJ during which people can phone-in for an explanation of some trivial scientific phenomena they've noticed.

I see he is also doing a series of commercials on driver safety at the moment.
posted by backOfYourMind at 3:53 AM on January 11, 2004

“Imagine these startling headlines with the nation at war in the Pacific six months after Dec. 7, 1941: “No Signs of Japanese Involvement in Pearl Harbor Attack! Faulty Intelligence Cited; Wolfowitz: Mistakes Were Made.”

That's kinda neat, hadn't thought about that one before.
posted by Blake at 4:54 AM on January 11, 2004

Blake: Where in these pop-science articles did you manage to find a quote about faulty pretexts for war?
posted by iffley at 7:22 AM on January 11, 2004

I really can't say I find his explanations or ruminations very informative. For example his article on kissing offers nothing more than some feeble observatioinal data and some weak speculation on mechanisms.

There are lots of better sources for this type of information. My favourite is the last page of the New Scientist Magazine
posted by srboisvert at 10:20 AM on January 11, 2004

The articles on how all women are mutants was fascinating.
posted by rushmc at 10:21 AM on January 11, 2004