Improbable Research

Scientist tests DNA on husband’s underwear to check for signs of cheating

LANSING, Mich. – A state forensics scientist who said she tested DNA in her husband’s underwear to find out whether he was cheating could be disciplined if investigators determine she violated the use of state equipment.

Ann Chamberlain-Gordon of Okemos testified in a March 7 divorce hearing that she ran the test in September on the underwear of Charles Gordon Jr. Asked by his attorney what she found, she answered: “Another female. It wasn’t me.”

She also said during a May 25 hearing in Ingham County Family Court that she ran the test on her own time with chemicals that were set to be thrown away.

So says a July 3, 2007 Associated Press report.

(Thanks to investigator Richard Wassersug for bringing this to our attention.)

Landmark Study Investigates Arrogance

Arrogance is not just an unpleasant personality trait, it can also affect an organization’s morale and bottom line. There also appears to be a strong relationship between arrogance and job performance, according to Stan Silverman, dean of The University of Akron’s Summit College and co-author of the study, Arrogance: A Formula for Failure?

So says a June 17, 2007 Physorg report.

(Thanks to investigator Kristine Danowski for bringing this to our attention.)

In the September 19, 2007 episode of his weekly broadcast, Dr. Jack Van Impe explains the technological history of the automobile: the basic engineering design, he reveals, was published in the Bible.

In 2001, Dr. Van Impe and his wife, Rexella, were awarded the Ig Nobel Astrophysics prize, for their discovery that black holes fulfill all the technical requirements to be the location of Hell.

The Van Impes could not or would not attend that year’s Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony. And so, MIT astrophysicist Walter Lewin accepted custody of the Prize on behalf of the Van Impes. Lewin hailed the Van Impes’ “breakthrough contributions to astrophysics.” He then remarked that, to astrophysicists, “Black holes go beyond our wildest expectations, fantasies and dreams,” that “black holes are heaven to us.”

Click here to see video of Lewin’s acceptance speech (along with a few other bits of that year’s ceremony).

Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists Joshua Holden writes:

Due to a haircut, I am writing to regretfully resign my membership in the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists as I have made the difficult decision to resign my Luxuriant Flowing Hair.

Joshua Brandon Holden
Assoc. Professor, RHIT Math Department

For the record: The LFHCfS has no set policy pertaining to this. Like the hair of its members, the club’s ways are luxuriant and flowing.

The scene from the movie “2001 ? A Space Odyssey“, in which the astronaut Dave Bowman switches the HAL9000 computer off is a landmark in popular culture….

This study analyses if a robot?s intelligence and its agreeableness influences its perceived animacy. The robot?s animacy was measured, amongst other measurements, by the users? hesitation to switch it off. The results show that participants hesitated three times as long to switch off an agreeable and intelligent robot as compared to a non agreeable and unintelligent robot.

So write Christoph Bartneck, Michel van der Hoek, Omar Mubin and Abdullah Al Mahmud in their study “‘Daisy, Daisy, Give Me Your Answer Do!’ — Switching Off a Robot” [Proceedings of the 2nd ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, Washington DC pp. 217-22 (2007), http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1228716.1228746.

They produced a short video of the moment of truth.

In a related study called “To Kill a Mockingbird Robot“, they write:

We attempted to see if users perceive ‘smart’ robots more alive than ‘stupid.’ We used a new method of measuring the users’ destructive behavior, since the ultimate test of determining if something is alive is to kill it. We encountered several problems…

(Thanks to Investigator Missy Cummings for bringing this to our attention.)