the plate trick, also known as Feynman’s plate trick, Dirac’s belt trick, Dirac’s string trick, Balinese cup trick, spinor spanner, Bredon high-five, or quaternionic handshake, is any of several particular physical demonstrations of the mathematical theorem that SU(2) double-covers SO(3). The usual demonstration, as indicated by the name, is to hold a plate on one’s flat palm, then perform two subsequent rotations of the arm holding the plate, which results in the original position. In the cup variant, supposedly inspired by a Balinese candle dance, an open cup of water or wine is held in ones hand and rotated 720 degrees, or any multiple thereof, without spilling the liquid or loosening ones grip on the cup.

the feature of nature that says experimental results are independent of the orientation or the boost velocity of the laboratory through space

A prime number p is a Sophie Germain prime if 2p 1 is also prime

more than 40 percent of all U.S. workers actually make less than what a full-time minimum wage worker made back in 1968.

don’t send routing information back to where you got it from

Turing came in fifth during a marathon used to qualify for the 1949 Olympics

Bacon’s cipher or the Baconian cipher is a method of steganography (a method of hiding a secret message as opposed to a true cipher) devised by Francis Bacon in 1605.

65 through 65 plus 25

The first of several addends, or “the one to which the others are added,” is sometimes called the augend.

The term is derived from the Middle English bellewether and refers to the practice of placing a bell around the neck of a castrated ram (a wether) leading his flock of sheep. The movements of the flock could be noted by hearing the bell before the flock was in sight.

openness, which measures cognitive flexibility and the willingness to entertain novel ideas, has emerged as a lifelong protective factor. The linchpin seems to be the creativity associated with the personality trait%u2014creative thinking reduces stress and keeps the brain healthy.

Quark, for example, was formerly a nonce word in English, appearing only in James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake. Murray Gell-Mann then adopted it to name a new class of subatomic particle.

test to see if a child has grasped basic pluralization

a short (pronounceable) pseudoword consisting most of the time of just one syllable which has no meaning of its own

Insects have air sacs and trachea

Danish statistics show that every 6 miles biked instead of driven saves 3 ¹⁄₂ pounds of carbon dioxide emissions and 9 cents in health care costs.

Type constructor plus lifting function (fmap)

If ignited, one expert likens the potential effect to setting off a nuclear bomb in Eastern Europe. Wind could carry radioactive smoke particles large distances, not just in Ukraine, but right across the continent.

Berries are highly efficient at soaking up and storing radionuclides