Always look on the bright side
Huo Jiyu, China, whose apartment was demolished by a space capsule on re-entry, is quoted in New Scientist,
“The satellite landed in our home. Maybe this means we’ll have good luck this year”[…]

Why Genesis failed
Apparently they put the sensors that detected re-entry in the wrong way up. A serious case of “elbow-posterior uncertainty at work” as the caption in this week’s New Scientist would have it.[…]

Seen on TV this weekend – an advert for the National Lottery which claims your chances of winning increase 100% if you buy a ticket.
Arrrgggghhhh….[…]

Made wealthy by science (almost)
Normally i read my New Scientist as soon as it arrives. Last week I didn’t, as I was reading a rather good book at the time, in fact it was several days before I got round to reading my magazine.
The cover story[…]

Don’t try this at home…[…]

Fireworks
To celebrate the 50th birthday of CERN a firework display was held telling the story of the universe. It included a big bang (obviously), inflation, fundamental forces, matter, stars and planets. According to Rolf Landau, who helped design […]

On Scientists and Statistics
 
“The Law of Large Numbers guarantees that one-in-a-million miracles happen 295 times a day in America”
 
Of course this is only true if you make some truly bizarre assumptions, like only one p[…]

Fantastic stuff
 
“… according to a 1997 U.S. News and World Report study on who Americans believe are most likely to go to heaven, 52 percent said Bill Clinton, 60 percent thought Princess Diana, 65 percent chose Michael Jordan and […]

Guys – the next time your partner complains that you’re not listening, just explain that it’s a natural reaction…[…]

Kinda scary …
… until you reach the end of the article and find out how big they are.[…]