Improbable Research

What makes adult human males attractive (to adult human females) ? Of the many possible factors, at least three have been scientifically investigated, measured, and described by ‘Honest Signals’ researcher Dr. Nick Neave, of the School of Life Sciences, Department of Psychology, at Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

Factor one: Facial hair (of the right length)

“A within-subjects design employed one condition (facial hair) incorporating five levels (clean-shaven, light stubble, heavy stubble, light beard and full beard).”

“Males with light stubble were considered to be the most attractive, light stubble was also preferred for both short- and long-term relationships.”

See: The effects of facial hair manipulation on female perceptions of attractiveness, masculinity, and dominance in male faces, Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 45, Issue 5, October 2008, Pages 373-377

Factor two : Dance moves (of the right style)

Marc Abrahams will discuss the Ig Nobel Prizes as they pertain to chemistry, at a President’s Session panel discussion called “Empowering Tomorrow’s Science Super Heroes“, at the American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting, Denver, Colorado.

WHERE: Colorado Convention Center’s Four Seasons Ballroom 4.

WHEN: 9:00 am – 11:30

Food generally passes through a rabbit twice, A Blog Around the Clock reminds you, and provides citations to several studies that, should you read them, will expand your knowledge of the phenomenon:

[R]abbits are small. They have a single small stomach, and as much intestines as they can pack into their small bodies, and as large a cecum as they can get. But that is not enough – the food, half digested, passes through them too fast…. Food goes through the rabbit twice. Not once, not three or four times, just twice…. The droppings that passed through the rabbit only once – caecotrophs – are small and soft and clumped up like grapes. They are apparently yummy to rabbits and get eaten. Droppings that made the passage through the rabbit twice are larger, separate from each other, and dry….

References

1. Bellier R, Gidenne T, Vernay M, & Colin M (1995). In vivo study of circadian variations of the cecal fermentation pattern in postweaned and adult rabbits. Journal of animal science, 73 (1), 128-35 PMID: 7601725

2. Kenagy, G., & Hoyt, D. (1979). Reingestion of feces in rodents and its daily rhythmicity Oecologia, 44 (3), 403-409 DOI: 10.1007/BF00545245

Behold yet another music video about salami-picking robots. (Thanks to investigator Rhoda Idelle for bringing it to our attention.)

Russian science has a tradition of observing naked swimmers. Several years ago we documented Yuri Glebovich Aleyev’s project (which he documented in a book called Nekton). He used an electric winch to tow naked women under water at speeds of two to four metres per second, to better understand how dolphins interact with water. (His logic may not be fully apparent to you from the skimpy description here, Read the article.)

More recently, the Daily Mail newspaper (which has a curiously mixed history when covering science) published photos and descriptions of another Russian project:

Braving sub-zero temperatures, she has thrown caution — and her clothes — to the wind to tame two beluga whales in a unique and controversial experiment. Natalia Avseenko, 36, was persuaded to strip naked as marine experts believe belugas do not like to be touched by artificial materials such as diving suits. The skilled Russian diver took the plunge as the water temperature hit minus 1.5 degrees Centigrade.

(Thanks to investigator and Ig Nobel Prize winner Magnus Wahlberg for alerting us to the recent project, and investigator Frank Fish for the earlier one.)