History
Did an Edo-period “hour” change length between summer and winter?
Six divisions for daylight, and six for night. How did Japanese clocks keep time when the units stretched and shrank with the seasons?
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31 articles · Showing 1–12
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Food & everyday life
Can light-colored soy sauce contain more salt?
What does “light” describe? Comparing the labels of three soy sauces per 15 mL shows why color and salt content need to be considered separately.
Technology
How much of a QR Code can be damaged before it stops working?
The “up to about 30%” quoted for error recovery does not refer to the area of the paper. Separate the information encoded in the black-and-white pattern from the markers that help a reader find it.
Language & culture
If you agree to meet “shiasatte,” will you arrive on the same day?
You hear the same Japanese word, yet mark different days on your calendars. Dialect records help reveal a misunderstanding hidden inside an apparently clear arrangement.
History
Month 12, day 2—then New Year’s Day. Where did the missing dates go?
In Meiji-era Japan, the day after the second of the twelfth month became January 1. Place the old and new calendars on the same timeline, and you can see what jumped ahead and what continued uninterrupted.
Language & culture
Books that open to the right or left: the difference goes beyond the letters
Why is a book’s spine sometimes on the right and sometimes on the left? Follow the direction of the characters, the next line, and the next page, and the book’s shape connects to the order in which you read it.
Ways of seeing
How much truth is there in "big" on a map?
Two regions have the same area on a sphere. Change only the projection to compare how they look on a flat surface.
Everyday science
The smell of rain, revisited: can tiny bubbles carry bacteria, too?
From the 2015 discovery of bursting bubbles to the 2017 experiments with living bacteria. A pleasant smell became a question about the movement of matter.
Space
Why does the Moon turn yet show us the same face?
The Moon does rotate. Its two motions are precisely in step.
Everyday science
Where does the sky's blue come from?
Our familiar sky is made by sunlight and the very small molecules in the air.
Living things
An octopus's three hearts work as a team.
There is more to the surprising number: each heart has a job.
Space
From the "sounds" of space to reading a map.
Is a black hole's rumble a recording? Follow the process that translates observations into an audible form, and the choices behind a representation come into view.
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