No Such Thing As A Fish Little Fish: The Rat Ticklers Need Me
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Mar 22, 2026 Short tales of a Swedish snow sculpture rivalry and Galileo’s clues about Jupiter’s insides. A bizarre parade tactic uses boneless chicken to deter birds. A golf ball once got classified as a fungus to poke fun at taxonomy. Certified rat ticklers and a Victorian coat that turns into a boat also get a mention.
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Negative Guidance Helped France Build Its Bomb
- The French acquired nuclear weapons partly through 'negative guidance' from American scientists who, constrained by law, answered French questions indirectly to steer their program.
- The approach let France develop a bomb while the US legally avoided sharing explicit designs.
Rat Tickling Is A Trained Scientific Skill
- Online courses exist to certify 'rat ticklers' because rat tickling is used in neuroscience: rat tickle responses mirror human brain tickle pathways.
- Rats visibly enjoy tickling, making trained ticklers useful for behavioral experiments.
Kentucky Once Experienced Raining Mutton Tasting Meat
- In March 1876 Kentucky experienced raining 'mutton-tasting meat' with uncertain origin; locals speculated frogs sucked up by a waterspout or other explanations.
- The event remains unexplained and is preserved as an odd historical weather anomaly.