Researchers from Brazil's Universidade Estadual de Campinas used a computer simulation to confirm paleontologist Stephen J. Gould's prediction that it is evolutionarily advantageous for cicadas to emerge at intervals lasting a prime number of years.

<- PREV               INDEXBack in the gamma recording studio, Slope interjects with an important dialogue about DIVIDING FRACTIONS."Alternatively, 1/3 divided by 1/2... you're giving to a "whole", and doing it in "halves". 1/3 + 1/3 = 2/3, which is the answer."Slope: Click to read, come back to comment!

Having just done Dudney, it's only fair that we give equal time to America's turn of the century puzzle master, Sam Loyd.If the name is new to you, here's a quick introduction from Wikipedia:Loyd is widely acknowledged as one of America's great puzzle-writers and popularizers, often mentioned as the greatest—Martin Gardner called him "America's greatest puzzler", and The Strand in 1898 dubbed him "the prince of puzzlers". As a chess problemist, his composing style is distinguished by wit and […]

The other day I had the following warm-up on the board:It takes 8 elephants 8 minutes to drink 8 pints of water. If they drink at the same rate, how many elephants would you need to drink 16 pints of water in 16 minutes?(What is it with me and elephants?)This isn't a difficult problem if you take the time to think about it. But as I walked around the room, I saw quite a few students had it wrong. Some students were thinking proportions and assumed that the number of elephants would also double. […]

5 + 1 = (9 * 1) - 3 Also: 5 * 1 = 9 - 1 - 3 Also: 5 - 1 = |9 - 13|