For centuries, scholars believed that there was no inherent visual correlation between certain signifiers (letters and words) and the signified (what they conveyed). For example, this belief—helmed by Swiss linguist and philosopher Ferdinand de Saussure—suggests that there is no reason why the word tree corresponds to an actual tree, because there’s nothing particularly tree-like about the word tree. New research, however, is making scholars believe …
Researchers at Penn State determined pigs can play arcade games and simple video games with joystick controls, using their snouts. The swines—Yorkshire pigs named Hamlet and Omelette, and Panepinto micro-pigs Ebony and Ivory—were tasked with directing a small circular cursor into a color-coded wall. If they completed the challenge they were rewarded with food. But, even when the food dispenser broke during play, the pigs …
At the Biotherapy Development Research Center in Kanazawa, an accidental discovery has resulted in the invention of non-melting ice cream. The ingredient is a polyphenol liquid, extracted from strawberries, that “make[s] it difficult for water and oil to separate”—meaning, in this instance, that a popsicle keeps its shape. Kanazawa Ice first became available earlier this year, and now can be bought in Osaka and Tokyo. …
