Improbable Research

In 1998 David M. Schultz [pictured here], then at the National Severe Storms Laboratory, Norman, Oklahoma, USA (and now at the University of Manchester, UK)  published an article called ”Does It Rain More Often on Weekends?” (Annals of Improbable Research, vol. 4, no. 2) . Schultz concluded that:

there is perhaps some validity to the hypothesis that certain locations favor weekday over weekend precipitation, and vice versa. We have been asked if our findings are statistically significant. That question is beyond the scope of this investigation, and far beyond the scope of interest of the reader.

Now, thirteen years later, comes a study about the weekend occurrence (and non-occurrence) of other types of storms:

“Why Do Tornados and Hailstorms Rest on Weekends?” Daniel Rosenfeld and Thomas L. Bell, Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 116, 2011 D20211, 14 PP.  The authors, respectively at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel and at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA, report:

This study shows for the first time statistical evidence that when anthropogenic aerosols over the eastern United States during summertime are at their weekly mid-week peak, tornado and hailstorm activity there is also near its weekly maximum. The weekly cycle in summertime storm activity for 1995–2009 was found to be statistically significant and unlikely to be due to natural variability. It correlates well with previously observed weekly cycles of other measures of storm activity. The pattern of variability supports the hypothesis that air pollution aerosols invigorate deep convective clouds in a moist, unstable atmosphere, to the extent of inducing production of large hailstones and tornados.

(Thanks to investigator Toni Alvarez for bringing this to our attention.)

“… everyday, spontaneous sexual behavior is a quintessentially private activity not open to public scrutiny “ But not always. As evidenced by the work of an investigatory team from the Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain, where Jose-Miguel Fernández-Dols, Pilar Carrera and Carlos Crivelli “… analyzed the facial behavior of 100 volunteers who video-recorded their own expressions while experiencing an episode of sexual excitement that concluded in an orgasm, and then posted their video clip on an Internet site.”
Using the standardised Facial Action Coding System (FACS) the team identified ten ‘Action Units,’ (or ‘AUs’ in the FACS terminology) which were consistently prevalent in the 100 videos which were analysed.
• AU42 (slit eyes)
• AU43 (closed eyes)
• AU4 (frown/brow lower)
• AU6 (cheek raise)
• AU10 (upper lip raise)
• AU12 (lip corner pull)
• AU25 (lips part)
• AU26 (jaw drop)
• AU27 (mouth stretch)
• AU 29 or 30 (jaw thrust, or jaw sideways)

NOTE: We suggest you invite a deep-voiced man to real this aloud to you, in a public place.

“Low Pitched Voices Are Perceived as Masculine and Attractive but Do They Predict Semen Quality in Men?” Leigh W. Simmons [pictured here], Marianne Peters [shown here, below, evaluating a male], Gillian Rhodes, PLoS ONE 6(12): e29271. The authors, at the University of Western Australia in Crawley, begin with a nice summary of the project:

we examined women’s preferences for men’s voice pitch, and its relationship with men’s semen quality. Consistent with previous voice research, women judged lower pitched voices as more masculine and more attractive. However men with lower pitched voices did not have better semen quality….

Here are some of their notes about how the experiment was prepared and conducted:

This year, 2011, is ending—unexpectedly—in December. To celebrate, we pay tribute to the winners of this year’s Ig Nobel Prize in mathematics. The prize was awarded to:

Dorothy Martin of the USA (who predicted the world would end in 1954), Pat Robertson of the USA (who predicted the world would end in 1982 [and whose book is pictured here]), Elizabeth Clare Prophet of the USA (who predicted the world would end in 1990), Lee Jang Rim of KOREA (who predicted the world would end in 1992), Credonia Mwerinde of UGANDA (who predicted the world would end in 1999), and Harold Camping of the USA (who predicted the world would end on September 6, 1994 and later predicted that the world will end on October 21, 2011), for teaching the world to be careful when making mathematical assumptions and calculations.

BONUSES: Camping schedule for October: The Halting Problem; and Let’s go, Camping! How Harold does his math; and Congratulations to Ig Nobel winner Harold Camping!! [October 21, 2011, the day the world was predicted to end]

BONUS: Video of the 2011 Ig Nobel Prize ceremony:

BONUS: Claire McConnell, writing in the Irish Times, looks back at some of this year’s other Ig Nobel Prize winners.

How to deliberately remember lots of info? Here are two immodest masters of the game, telling how they do it. Both use variations on the time-honored method: associate each thing to be remembered with something colorful.

Shannon Schunicht’s web site explains:

While in the Army, Mr. Schunicht was involved in a mid-air collision rendering him unconscious for three weeks, everything had to be relearned as nursing actions are reported as having been displayed upon awakening from the extended unconsciousness (19 days). Studies in recovery brought about some pragmatic discoveries to compensate for the residual memory deficits. The most valuable discovery was having each vowel  represent a mathematical sign… [his handy reference guide is reproduced here]

Here’s a video of Mr. Schunicht explaining in more detail:

Joshua Foer encountered some competitive rememberists, and then tried to learn their techniques well enough that he could win the next year’s USA Memory Championshiop. He succeeded, then wrote a book —called Moonwalking With Einstein— about it. Here’s video of Mr. Foer at the championships, and then explaining his story:

You can also see him explaining it to Stephen Colbert. Here’s the book [which we recommend, having read it and still remembering much of it]: