SuppleMentally Blog

A multimedia supplement to the Mensa Bulletin’s SuppleMentally science column

By John Blinke

February 28, 2025

A land bridge across the Bering Strait once connected Asia to the Americas. It was the way some peoples arrived there. In our mind’s eye, a land bridge seems like a narrow ridge or isthmus, but it was not that. The Bering land bridge was as wide as the state of Alaska—an expanse of wooded land full of game where migrating people may have lived for generations.

February 24, 2025

BLOOD SUGAR: NOW VS. THEN

Your doctor might poke your finger to check blood glucose and also draw blood for an A1C blood sugar test. Two sugar tests! What’s going on? The finger-poke is a check of your blood glucose at the moment. The A1C measures the average over three months based on sugar molecules that stick to red blood cells.

John Blinke has been the Mensa Bulletin’s science editor since 1984 and is a two-time recipient of American Mensa’s National Service Award. He lives in the wilderness of Michigan and keeps busy with a wide range of hobbies, including astronomy, RC models, drones, photography, model rockets, and fooling around with microscopes and other scientific gear. John spent 50 years as an electrician with Ford Motor Company. He holds a BA in English from Wayne State University, completed the UAW-Ford electrical apprenticeship, is a certified Level II Thermographer, and has an Extra Class amateur radio license. Email him at BulletinSupplementally@us.mensa.org.