Author Archives: John Pullen

Many countries today have a tomb which is dedicated to the Unknown Warrior or the Unknown Soldier. The British tomb is just inside the grand West Entrance of Westminster Abbey in London. It is set into the floor of the Abbey and is usually surrounded by poppies. Such monuments are there to remember and honourContinue reading “Tomb of the Unknown Warrior”

Let’s start this article with a warning. It is probably a good idea not to be eating while reading this. It is not because it is horrible and gruesome, it is what people were prepared to take as medicine centuries ago. This is also a story of when a wrong assumption is made, it canContinue reading “Take a Mummy Twice a Day!”

Back in 1937, a mathematician by the name of Lothar Collatz came up with a problem or a conjecture depending on your view. However, since his discovery, it has become one of the most famous unsolved problems in mathematics. In essence, it appears to be a simple procedure. Honestly, follow me on this one. But,Continue reading “Can You Solve the Collatz Problem?”

Many of us have heard of placebos and the Placebo Effect. But how many know how it should work and whether it is effective? The placebo dates back to the 1700s when doctors began noticing some ailments, and patients improved even when the medication given was known to have no real power to heal. Today,Continue reading “Do Placebos Really Work?”

Dolphins have for a long time been considered as being intelligent creatures. Some have said they are next to humans in the pecking order of intelligence. Of course, there are some who might say it should be the other way around. In the book, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” by Douglas Adams, only oneContinue reading “How Intelligent are Dolphins?”

In ancient Greece, such famous figures as Aristotle and Pliny the Elder first wrote about the existence of giant squid. Over the millennia there were seafaring stories of giant squid or giant octopuses rising out of the depths and snatching sailors overboard. There were even tales of large sailing vessels being overturned by the same.Continue reading “Beware of the Giant Squid!”

The question of whether fish feel pain was first asked by the philosopher Rene Descartes back in the seventeenth century. His opinion was that they did not. The reason he gave for this was that he said all animals are not conscious and therefore, could not feel pain. Since then, there have been and stillContinue reading “Do Fish Feel Pain?”

The Earth has a magnetic field and if we didn’t or if it failed, then life on this planet would not have started or would finish very quickly. It is that important. The reason for this is that it protects the surface of the Earth from the solar wind. These deadly particles would reach usContinue reading “Flipping Magnets!”

I will begin this article by saying this is not an easy question to answer. For a start, the idea that the language we use has an influence on what we think sounds a little strange. It can get even weirder if we believe that different languages have a different effect on what we think.Continue reading “Does Language Influence our Thoughts?”

Millions of people have seen the series of Indiana Jones movies starring Harrison Ford. And perhaps, many of them consider the first of the films, “Raiders of the Lost Ark” to be the best. Of course, this is a very subjective thing. But it is this first movie that revolves around an object which weContinue reading “Did Indiana Jones get it Wrong?”