David Almandsmith Semate munched his feed as i cinched up his English-style saddle. He was a sturdy gelded Basuto not-so-small pony with a shiny thick roan coat. He was named for being “Smart”, as in having a neat appearance, but for someone who speaks only Sesotho, his name comes out as Se-MAH-teh. Next, i secured the saddle … Read more
4 October 2026 Hello again, fans of science, Hallo allemaal, wetenschapsliefhebbers![Nearly 30 million people speak Dutch as a first or second language.] MEDICINE / HEALTH The ‘Barbie Peptide’ [caricatured in the above graphic] is just one of dozens of peptides being promoted as cures and enhancements, but in most cases totally lacking in vetting through … Read more
WHY NOT? 7 September 2026 Hello again, fans of science, Kia ora anō, e ngā kaiwhaiwhai pūtaiao,[About 210,000 New Zealanders can speak Maori.] GOOD NEWS For the first time in 75 years, the population of the flightless New Zealand Kakapo (Maori: parrot of the night) is up to 325 birds thanks to huge conservation efforts … Read more
30 August 2026 Hello again, fans of science, फेरि नमस्कार, विज्ञानका प्रशंसकहरू,[In Nepal, 90% of the population speak Nepali as a first or second language. It is also spoken by many in India and Bhutan.] SPACE A hand-me-down went to space Sunday morning. The Nancy Grace Roman Telescope with a decades-old mirror donated by The … Read more
3 August 2026 Hello again appreciator of science,Ahoj znova, milovník vedy,[Over 300 million people speak a slavic language] BIOLOGY / ETHOLOGY Let me share what i recently learned about some extremes of human perception. One to two percent of people are ‘super-recognizers’. They easily recognize people years after a brief encounter. [Definitely NOT me.] People with prosopagnosia have … Read more
6 July 2026 Greetings, science aficionados,Salutojn, sciencamantoj,[Esperanto is spoken today by over 2 million people, usually as a second language.L.L. Zamenhof published this ‘created language’ in 1887] Let’s open a fascinating chapter of Public Health at a time we were confronted by an earlier deadly pandemic: Polio Poliomyelitis – Infantile Paralysis – Polio – has … Read more
The SciSchmooze8 June 2026 Absurd: ridiculously unreasonable, unsound, or incongruous (Merriam-Webster Dictionary) MEDICINE / HEALTH Several individual States [California, Colorado, Illinois, New York, & Washington] and the City of New York joined the World Health Organization’s Global Outbreak Alert & Response Network, GOARN. Wisconsin announced its intention to do the same. ¿Why? Because the United States … Read more
The SciSchmooze1 June 2026 Hello again science fans,Salam sejahtera sekali lagi kepada peminat sains,About 300 million people speak Malay in Malaysia and Indonesia. This SciSchmooze focuses on fun. The explosion of ping pong balls pictured above is one of hundreds of fun stunts – science stunts – Mark Rober has created over the years. He … Read more
The SciSchmooze4 May 2026 Greetings again, friends of science,Sempa xitlajpaloca, nohuampoyohua tlen ciencia,Nearly 2 million people speak Nahuatl (Eastern Huasteca) in Mexico Every year with the coming of the month of May, the catchy tune of the Lusty Month of May becomes an earworm. The song is from Lerner & Loewe’s Broadway musical “Camelot” starring Richard Burton, … Read more
The SciSchmooze27 April 2026 Greetings again, friends of scienceMwapoleni nakabili, ifibusa fya sayansi[About 6 million people in Zambia, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo speak Bemba.] ENVIRONMENT Last Wednesday – Earth Day – a bill was scheduled for approval in the U.S. House of Representatives: The Endangered Species Amendments Act. The bill called for fast-tracking … Read more