Category Archives: Weirdscifacts

Currently out of town at a meeting in Toronto, as the following picture should hopefully demonstrate: Nevertheless, the Twitter #weirdscifacts must go on!  Here are the previous week’s posted facts: 480. July 06: In 1875, William Lowthian Green, eventual Hawaiian … Continue reading →

Been a crazy week and a holiday week, but the Twitter #weirdscifacts just keep on coming! 473. June 29: In 1897, J.J. Thomson introduced the electron as a particle; in the 1920s, his son G.P. helped prove the electron is … Continue reading →

Things have been quiet on the blog this past week — I’ve been traveling and planning a couple of big, tricky posts!  In the meantime, here are the Twitter #weirdscifacts for the past week. 466. June 22: A fungus named … Continue reading →

Here, as always, are the Twitter #weirdscifacts for the past week! 459. June 15: The horrific 1983 Byford Dolphin decompression accident. Warning: the text description alone is grisly and awful.  When a pressurized chamber is opened suddenly, terrible things happen. … Continue reading →

Here are the week’s Twitter #weirdscifacts! 452. June 08: The cookiecutter shark — it gouges round plugs from its prey like, well, a cookiecutter! 453. June 09: Cotard’s syndrome: strangely, some folks believed they were zombies even b4 “Night of … Continue reading →

Once again, the Twitter #weirdscifacts for the previous week! 445. June 01: “17th c. Archimedes”, Étienne-Gaspard Robert, suggested using mirrors to burn ships in 1796 war of France vs. Britain! I’ve written before about the Archimedes “death ray”, and numerous … Continue reading →

Here are the Twitter #weirdscifacts for the past week! 438. May 25: Halomonas titanicae, a new species of bacteria found in 2010 to be eating the Titanic!  This is doubly odd, in that the bacteria eats iron oxide and also … Continue reading →

Here are the Twitter #weirdscifacts for the past week! 431. May 18: Paris syndrome: some visitors to Paris experience hallucinations, feelings of persecution, etc.  The city, which has such an influence on people’s imaginations around the world, apparently can overwhelm … Continue reading →

Still going strong on the #weirdscifacts!  Here are the past week’s selections that appeared on Twitter. 424. May 11: The bombardier beetle: sprays boiling acid at any predators that attack it!  425. May 12: Anophthalmus hitleri — a blind cave … Continue reading →

Still going strong with the Twitter #weirdscifacts!  Here are this week’s facts. 417. May 04: Aerogel: lowest-density solid with density almost as low as air: 1.9 mg/cm^3 for gel, 1.2 mg/cm^3 for air!  Aerogel is an amazing substance — it … Continue reading →