Category: Science

Barbie Doll Illusion

May 29, 2011 By arne hendriks 3

A group of neuroscientists of the Group Ehrsson at the Swedish Karolinska Institutet investigated how body size influences the way we visually perceive the world, and if there is truth in the idea that it is our body that serves as a fundamental reference in visual perception…

Of Snell Mice and Men

April 17, 2011 By arne hendriks 1

Mice and men display striking genetic similarities in hormone dependent growth disturbances. If a mouse responds in a certain way to a genetic mutation, chances are that a human will respond in similar fashion. The first dwarf mouse was discovered by Nobel Prize winner George Snell in…

Bantam Astronauts

March 24, 2011 By arne hendriks 1

Perhaps it’s our desire to go to Mars that in the end will lead to smaller human beings. NASA is obsessed by the immense costs of putting things into space. Every extra pound sets them back thousands of dollars. That’s why it is perhaps not surprising…

GHRHR

February 11, 2011 By arne hendriks 0

It seems as if nature itself is already investigating ways to counter hypergrowth, overpopulation and overconsumption. It’s creating perfectly proportioned, but small, human beings. Pituitary dwarfism, also known as Dwarfism of Sindh, is a form of growth absense where all parts of the body grow equally slow. At…

Small & Smart

January 29, 2011 By arne hendriks 1

There is an understandable fear that in shrinking the human body we might lose part of our brain capacity. With a projected head size of about 6 x 4,5cm it’s an obvious concern. One of the possible solutions we’ve reported on in a previous post,…

Dwarfism of Sindh

January 18, 2011 By arne hendriks 0

Donald Platt points out an interesting case of dwarfism in Pakistan. In 1994, an article appeared in a Pakistan newspaper, describing the existence of a cluster of familial dwarfism in two remote villages in the lower Indus valley.  The subjects were perfectly proportioned and in…

Penny Shrinkers

December 9, 2010 By arne hendriks 0

Even if shrinking the human body is the focus of The Incredible Shrinking Man we do have a keen interest in other theories and practices of shrinking. We came across electromagnetic forming through the curious tech subculture of penny shrinking. By running a very high…

Gravitational Time Dilation

September 25, 2010 By arne hendriks 0

Einstein’s theory, that short people grow old slower then tall people, has finally been proven scientifically. In an experiment using the most accurate atomic clocks ever invented, researchers of the National Institute of Standards and Technology showed that clocks run faster if they are raised…