Improbable Research

Chalk dust, which some people think of only as a minor nuisance and others think of not at all [see A measured look at schoolroom chalk dust], does have uses. A report from the bioengineering unit at the University of Strathclyde reveals one of them:

“Technical note: Static in situ calibration of force plates“, M.G. Hall, H.E. Fleming, M.J. Dolan, S.F.D. Millbank, J.P. Paul, Journal of Biomechanics, vol. 29, no. 5, May 1996, pp. 659-65. The authors describe “an in situ calibration protocol for ground-to-foot force measuring platforms” that “allows verification of the function of the force plate and allows accurate calibration for three force and moment channels”. One small but telling aspect:

“The  force  plates  have grid  positions  semi-permanently  marked  out  on  their  top  surface which  is  parallel  to  the  X-Z  plane.  The  lines  scored  on the  top  surface  are  normally  invisible  to  all  but  the  closest of inspections,  but  are  readily  seen when  chalk  dust  is  rubbed onto  the  surface.”

A new paper has been published regarding the significance of 2D:4D (the length ratios of the 2nd (index finger) and 4th (ring finger).

A joint research team from the Kochi Branch of NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation), the Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University and the Institute of Social and Economic Research, Japan, measured the finger lengths of 142 Japanese professional sumo wrestlers, finding that : “… sumo wrestlers with low 2D:4D had higher sumo ranks and better winning records.”

Their research paper : Second to fourth digit ratio and the sporting success of sumo wrestlers is in press at the journal Evolution and Human Behavior

Note:

The image above (via Wikipedia) is a photo of a woodcut print (circa 1850) depicting the famous Sumo wrestler Somagahana Fuchiemon. Improbable has digitally enhanced the wrestler’s left hand, clearly showing Fuchiemon’s 2D and 4D ratio – from which conclusions may be drawn.

This is what Evgeny Morozov wrote (we have merely added some links to pertinent parts of it, and some images):

The first paragraph of Matt Cartmill [pictured here]’s review of Donna Haraway’s Primate Visions book. It appeared in the International Journal of Primatology (Vol. 12, No. 1, 1991)

This is a book that contradicts itself a hundred times; but that is not a criticism of it, because its author thinks contradictions are a sign of intellectual ferment and vitality. This is a book that systematically distorts and selects historical evidence; but that is not a criticism, because its author thinks that all interpretations are biased, and she regards it as her duty to pick and choose her facts to favor her own brand of politics.

This is a book full of vaporous, French-intellectual prose that makes Teilhard de Chardin sound like Ernest Hemingway by comparison; but that is not a criticism, because the author likes that sort of prose and has taken lessons in how to write it, and she thinks that plain, homely speech is part of a conspiracy to oppress the poor.

This is a book that clatters around in a dark closet of irrelevancies for 450 pages before it bumps accidentally into its index and stops; but that is not a criticism, either, because its author finds it gratifying and refreshing to bang unrelated facts together as a rebuke to stuffy minds. This book infuriated me; but that is not a defect in it, because it is supposed to infuriate people like me, and the author would have been happier still if I had blown out an artery. In short, this book is flawless, because all its deficiencies are deliberate products of art. Given its assumptions, there is nothing here to criticize. The only course open to a reviewer who dislikes this book as much as I do is to question its author’s fundamental assumptions—which are big-ticket items involving the nature and relationships of language, knowledge, and science.

Full review can be read here (academic paywall!)

(HT Eric Roston)

BONUS: Donna Haraway’s web site says:

Donna Haraway’s influence is felt widely in cultural studies, women’s studies, political theory, primatology, literature and philosophy. Donna Haraway’s prolific publications are required reading across the humanities and social sciences. In Primate Visions: Race and Nature in the World of Modern Science (1990) she combines literary theory, political philosophy, primatology, and American history to explore the world of primatology, which has become a largely woman-dominated field.

DOUBLE BONUS: A big chunk (58 pages, more or less) of Primate Visions is online in the form of a downloadable PDF.

Eric Keeand Hany Farid created algorithms to detect which portions of a photograph have been monkeyed with, and how much monkeying was done to each portion. Their study is

“A Perceptual Metric for Photo Retouching,” Eric Kee [pictured here — we leave it to you to determine whether the image has been enhanced] and Hany Farid, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, epub November 28, 2011. (Thanks to investigator Gus Rancatore for bringing this to our attention.) The authors, at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, report:

“In recent years, advertisers and magazine editors have been widely criticized for taking digital photo retouching to an extreme. Impossibly thin, tall, and wrinkle- and blemish-free models are routinely splashed onto billboards, advertisements, and magazine covers. The ubiquity of these unrealistic and highly idealized images has been linked to eating disorders and body image dissatisfaction in men, women, and children. In response, several countries have considered legislating the labeling of retouched photos. We describe a quantitative and perceptually meaningful metric of photo retouching. Photographs are rated on the degree to which they have been digitally altered by explicitly modeling and estimating geometric and photometric changes. This metric correlates well with perceptual judgments of photo retouching and can be used to objectively judge by how much a retouched photo has strayed from reality.”

Here’s a detail from the study. It shows an original version of what was transformed into a glamorous image, then the enhanced version, then an indication of where specifically it’s been enhanced (red and yellow indicating the most enhancement, blue the least):

The study contains many other images, some of which you may find illusion-shattering if you are a till-now-happy consumer of popular culture. Key and Farid also have a nice gallery online of before and after images of glittery people.

Investigator Dany Adams writes:

The November 11 issue of Science has an article called “tRNAs Marked with CCACCA Are Targeted for Degradation.” The authors “conjecture that CCACCA…is a universal mechanism…” In discussing this fascinating finding with the Ethiopian and Japanese scientists in the room, I discovered that “CACA” like MA and PA, is a universal word, at least in human languages. A great alignment of the universe.