Improbable Research

Discoveries continue to pour in about the significance of people’s finger lengths. Recently we wrote about studies concerning finger ratios and number of sex partners, finger ratios and the prediction of who will become a good doctor, finger ratios and the success of financial traders, and many other wonderous things. A new Swiss/French/British study reveals that the relative length of one’s fingers does not necessarily predict one’s body odor or the quality of one’s voice. The study is:

“Digit ratio (2D:4D) predicts facial, but not voice or body odour, attractiveness in men,” Camille Ferdenzi, Jean-François Lemaître, Juan David Leongómez and S. Craig Roberts, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, published online April 20, 2011. The authors, at University of Geneva, Switzerland, Université Lyon, France, and University of Stirling, UK, explain:

“There is growing evidence that human second-to-fourth digit ratio (or 2D:4D) is related to facial features involved in attractiveness… The present study extends the investigation to… voice and body odour. Pictures of faces with a neutral expression, recordings of voices pronouncing vowels and axillary odour samples captured on cotton pads worn for 24 h were provided by 49 adult male donors…. [Our results indicate that the digit ratio] did not predict voice and body odour masculinity or attractiveness.“

BONUS: The Sept/Oct 2007 issue of the Annals of Improbable Research was a special issue about The Meaning of the Finger.

What is the relationship between the colour of socks and their ability to generate static electricity? Those interested will find no better place to start their enquiries than the article: New Experiments and Obſervations Concerning Electricity, written by Robert Symmer, Eſq; F.R.S., back in 1759.
Symmer was an independent amateur Scottish investigator – or what was at the time called a ‘Natural Philosopher‘ – since the word ‘Scientist’ hadn’t been coined yet. Here is an extract from his notes: (see: Royal Society Phil Trans, Vol LI 340)

I took a pair of white ſilk ſtockings, and having warmed them at the fire put them both upon the ſame leg. After I had worn them for about ten minutes I took them off, and pulled them aſunder, but diſcovered no ſigns of electricity in either. I did the ſame with a pair of black ſilk, but to no other effect.

I then proceeded to the deciſive trial.

I put a black and a white ſtocking upon my leg, and wore them likewiſe ten minutes. I waited with ſome impatience to ſee the ſucceſs of my experiment, and in return had the ſatisfaction of obvſerving, upon their being pulled aſunder, that each of them had acquired a ſtronger degree of electricity than I had before ſeen :

No, not polytheism. Polyethism. See the study:

“Polyethism in a colony of artificial ants“, Chris Marriott, Carlos Gershenson, arXiv:1104.3152v1, April 15, 2011. The authors are at IIMAS, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico.

(Thanks to investigator Ralph Egan for bringing this to our attention.)

The Deccan Chronicle reports about the latest experiment by 2002 Ig Nobel mathematics prize winner K.P. Sreekumar:

Forest dept to use bees to stop jumbos

Honeybees may look humble but can drive away a marauding pack of wild elephants.

This is no Aesop fable but a new strategy being mooted by the desperate forest department to protect fringe populations and their assets from crop-raiding tuskers.

After having experimented with many ideas – ranging from electric fencing to playing recorded tiger growls — the new method aims at building a fence of bee-hives along the habitats, especially where elephant corridors lie close to farms and colonies.

The possibility of scaring elephants with buzzing bees was mooted by Dr K.P. Sreekumar, professor (veterinary physiology) and Head Research Co-ordination, Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University.

Dr Sreekumar is the winner of the ‘Ig Nobel’ prize for developing a formula to calculate the weight of an elephant using the circumference of its front leg.

“My recommendation is based on its success in Kenya and Sri Lanka,” he said. “In both places, farmers attested to the fact that bee-hive fences did deter elephants. This is a safe and economical strategy.

Evolutionary biologist Michael Eisen tries to solve the mystery of the $23,698,655.93 book about flies:

A few weeks ago a postdoc in my lab logged on to Amazon to buy the lab an extra copy of Peter Lawrence’s The Making of a Fly – a classic work in developmental biology that we – and most other Drosophila developmental biologists – consult regularly. The book, published in 1992, is out of print. But Amazon listed 17 copies for sale: 15 used from $35.54, and 2 new from $1,730,045.91 (+$3.99 shipping). I sent a screen capture to the author  - who was appropriate amused and intrigued. But I doubt even he would argue the book is worth THAT much.

At first I thought it was a joke…

(HT Rick McCourt, Earle Spamer, and @BobOHara)

NOTE: The price fluctuates. At the moment these words are being written, Amazon.com lists the price as $196.93, and Amazon.co.uk prices the book at £29.99.