• Planets and Anomalies in the Antikythera Mechanism. The Antikythera Mechanism is one of the fascinating relics of the ancient world — a 2000 year old clockwork “computer” that could be used to track the Sun, Moon, and calendar.  In a detailed post, Alun at AlunSalt describes recent research that highlights again how ingenious the device is.
• For the Love of the Game: A Look at Fans and Disappointment. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the successes and failures of one’s favorite sports team, but we typically don’t think about it as an anthropological exercise.  Krystal at Anthropology in Practice relates some research on disappointment versus discouragement in baseball fans: why do we stick with a losing team?
• Rethinking petroleum a little too hard… Most people realize that one day we’ll run out of oil, but there are some diehard skeptics who believe that new oil is naturally produced all the time in the Earth’s interior, and is effectively limitless.  Greg Fish at weird things throws some cold water on that hypothesis and describes the origins of this stubborn abiogenic theory.
• Confidently Wrong: Correcting False Memories. Remember the time that you saw that thing happen — even though it never did?  Daniel at Ingenious Monkey talks about the phenomenon of false memories, and how we stubbornly cling to those memories.

Check back next Monday for more “miscellaneous” selections!