POPULAR PARADOX

The science of what shouldn't work

Lab Test: The Tumble

We hit 88 so you don't have to
Nine browsers, one dial: a history you can fly
Inside the porthole: why bubbles are therapeutic
Test pilot report: “My hair has notes”

Made with AI Cover story: We Took the Tumble Time Machine for a Spin →

Science and inventions. A 1970s popular-science lab test: a spec sheet, a cutaway with callouts, a verdict. A made-up magazine; every story in it is one of Christian's Field Notes.

In this issue

01Lab Test · Time MachinesWe Took the Tumble Time Machine for a SpinA brass cockpit, nine browsers under glass, a porthole full of bubbles and a dial that goes to 88. Our test pilot took Christian Gehrke's web time machine for a spin, and came back with different hair.

Our test pilot, GlazyArray, at the moment the Tumble hit 88. She had been told it was a gentle ride.

Lab Test · Time MachinesWe Took the Tumble Time Machine for a SpinA brass cockpit, nine browsers under glass, a porthole full of bubbles and a dial that goes to 88. Our test pilot took Christian Gehrke's web time machine for a spin, and came back with different hair. Test flights and words by GlazyArray · Photographs made with AI · Friday, October 9, 2026Read the story →

Made with AI