Narrowing it down
Proving that something doesn’t exist is hard, though it can be done. More often, scientists work out more and more restrictions on the characteristics something can have, until the idea has no place left to hide.
Proving nothing
explanation
Indirect arguments
Simple is not always true
A common feature of paradoxers is a confusion between a simple argument and a correct one.
The colors of your mind
An unlikely number
Consider the horse
A sudden obsolescence
The most momentous event of the twentieth century, as seen from the standpoint of human history, seems to have gone mostly unnoticed.
Remembrance of things past
When learning doesn’t fade away
Our tutoring consultant has an encouraging experience with his own memory.
A surfeit of features
No one uses them all
Digital cameras, like calculators, have an immense menu of features. It’s certainly rare, and possibly unknown, for anyone to use them all. Why have them, then?
Why a forecast discussion?
More than numbers
Weather forecasts are much more reliable than they used to be, mostly thanks to more powerful computers. Input from people is still important, though.
The lovers’ lodestone
A prehistory of wireless telegraphy
It was much more difficult to stay in touch 300 years ago. A literary magazine from that era has a suggestion for a surprisingly modern way to do it.
Reading the manuscript
Why handwriting?
Communication in writing nowadays is almost exclusively done in type. Why, then, should anyone care about being able to write legibly?