Leonie Mercedes
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leoniemercedes.bsky.social
Leonie Mercedes
@leoniemercedes.bsky.social
Science writer, doodler, nerd. she/her.

Get a weekly drop of science and silliness, every Friday: https://kicksfromscience.beehiiv.com
Your regular reminder to rinse and give your cavolo nero a little shake before you cook it, in case it’s harbouring one of these

@royentsoc.bsky.social, what is this guy?
October 29, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Was delighted to discover this titbit about Tom Lehrer, the mathematician who put the chemical elements to music:

(Original article here: www.economist.com/prospero/201...)
October 13, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Asian elephants work out we’re paying attention to them by observing how our face and body are oriented: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#scicomm 🧪
October 5, 2025 at 8:02 AM
This week's newsletter lands in about 5 minutes! This week's edition features:

✂️ A couple of Galileo's severed fingers
📐 That time trigonometry saved farmers' bacon
🌿 The scientific reason why those who like coriander are wrong

Subscribe here: kicksfromscience.beehiiv.com/subscribe

#science 🧪
September 19, 2025 at 2:57 PM
#Onthisday in 1888, Bertha Benz took the first ever long-distance car journey.

She solved snags as they arose, using a hat pin to clear a blockage, and replacing the brake blocks with leather, effectively inventing brake pads.

More here: kicksfromscience.beehiiv.com/p/live-from-...

#histsci
August 5, 2025 at 9:27 AM
The teaser from last week's newsletter.

Get the answer here: kicksfromscience.beehiiv.com/p/neurotic-r...
August 1, 2025 at 9:54 AM
In this week's newsletter, why some astronomers thought there were canals on Mars as late as the 1950s: kicksfromscience.beehiiv.com/p/neurotic-r... #histsci #mars
July 30, 2025 at 4:01 PM
In 1955, a researcher flew bees from a lab in Paris to an identical lab in New York to test their sense of time.

Find out what happened when they arrived: kicksfromscience.beehiiv.com/p/space-rice...

#histsci #bees #scienceexperiments
July 25, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Here’s the brainteaser from last week’s newsletter. It was teamed with the 1930 Times #crossword clue:

Sounds like a curious song (6)

Answer here: kicksfromscience.beehiiv.com/p/dog-tv-dri...
July 24, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Here's a little brainteaser from the newsletter archive.

Find the answer here: kicksfromscience.beehiiv.com/p/cosplaying...
July 2, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Discover…

🦄 how a “unicorn” was made on a farm in 1936
✈️ the 10-month, 15,000-mile journey of a swift compressed into 48 seconds
🍫 the median survival time of a chocolate on a hospital ward...

…in this week’s newsletter, now live! Find it here: kicksfromscience.beehiiv.com/p/unicorns-q...
May 12, 2025 at 2:33 PM
One line stuck out in @theguardian.com's write-up of John Prescott's funeral
January 30, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Here is this week's brainteaser (first clue incoming):
November 25, 2024 at 4:20 PM
That felt good
November 20, 2024 at 9:17 PM