Misfire
A decade or so ago, researchers at the University of Michigan conducted memory tests on a group of cats and dogs. They reported that the cats remembered the location of a hidden treat for up to 16 hours, and the dogs remembered it for about five minutes.
Well, I call BS on the study. Unless the dogs being tested were brain-damaged, the process was flawed somehow. Dogs are not airheads, especially compared to cats.
Let me tell you about the memory of my dog Jake. On Feb. 12, 2022 (the date of the photo below), he and I went walking in Jefferson. It was Saturday, Jake was off-leash. As soon as we got out of the car, he surprised a cat hiding under a bush. After brief pandemonium, the cat escaped up a tree, and our walk proceeded.
Since then, Jake and I have walked at that same location eight or 10 times. And every time we arrive, he checks under the bush in question, and he peers up into the branches of the tree. He still remembers the incident well over a year later.
I have no idea how the UM memory study messed up. Maybe the dogs were distracted somehow and lost interest. Or maybe the UM people need to go back to research school.
The Solar System
Most people know basic facts about the sun, the planets, the asteroid belt, and maybe the dwarf planets, such as Pluto and Ceres. However, the solar system is home to other objects, too — less well known, but still fascinating.
There is, for example, the Kuiper Belt, a huge region beyond Neptune composed of small chunks of frozen water, methane, and ammonia left over from the formation of the solar system.
Then there is the Oort cloud, which at present is a theoretical concept. Even larger than the Kuiper Belt, it is a region of rocky and icy bits located far outside the solar system, but connected to it by gravity. The Oort cloud is thought to be the region where comets originate and reside.
The Kuiper Belt is a proven thing, and the Oort cloud is a theory. This is how you science.
Mark Twain, Inventor
In addition to being an author and humorist, Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910) was an inventor who held three patents.
His first patent, awarded in 1871, was for a cloth strap designed to tighten garments at the waist, replacing suspenders. The device didn't catch on for shirts and vests as Clemens intended, but the clasp on the strap proved ideal for brassieres. His design is still used on elastic bra straps today.
Clemens received a second patent in 1873 for a scrapbook with self-adhesive pages and a third patent in 1885 for a history trivia game. Both were relatively successful.
But a string of flops followed, and eventually, Clemens declared bankruptcy. Even though repaying his debts was not legally required, he went on a speaking tour in 1895 and raised enough money to settle them all.
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