"The Mpemba effect is the observation that, in some specific circumstances, hotter water freezes faster than colder water." I remember hearing about this on an old episode of Newton's Apple, but I think they never really got to the bottom of it on that show, which was highly disappointing to me at the time.
...is a weblog about the liberal arts 2.0 edited by Jason Kottke since March 1998 (archives). You can read about me and kottke.org here. If you've got questions, concerns, or interesting links, send them along.