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The mini-Annals of Improbable Research
("mini-AIR")
Issue number 2008-01
January 2008
ISSN 1076-500X
Key words: improbable research, science humor, Ig Nobel,
AIR, the
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A free newsletter of tidbits too tiny to fit in
Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)
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2008-01-01 TABLE OF CONTENTS
2008-01-02 Imminent Events
2008-01-03 What's New in the Magazine
2008-01-04 Troy and the Military-Industrial Complex?
2008-01-05 Rising to the Rupz—iyat? B—ppum Challenge
2008-01-06 Burnt Food, Grails, Clocky, Molasses, P.D.Q.
Bach
2008-01-07 UK Tour Taking Form
2008-01-08 Bjork-Shiley Convexo-Concave Valves Poets
Selected
2008-01-09 Convexo-Concave (Supplemental)
2008-01-10 Dove-on-Plovers Competition
2008-01-11 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Dog Dandruff and Human
Semen
2008-01-12 BLOGLIGHTS: Chalk, Cuteness and Sleep-in-Parts
2008-01-13 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Cordial, Dream, Dentistry,
Dead
2008-01-14 Improbable Research Events
2008-01-15 -- How to Subscribe to AIR (*)
2008-01-16 -- Our Address (*)
2008-01-17 -- Please Forward/Post This Issue! (*)
2008-01-18 -- How to Receive mini-AIR, etc. (*)
Items
marked (*) are reprinted in every issue.
mini-AIR
is
a
free monthly *e-supplement* to the print magazine
Annals
of Improbable Research
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2008-01-02 Imminent Events
AAAS Improbable Session Friday,
Feb 15, 2008
Details:
see below, section 2008-01-06
2008 Ig Nobel Tour of the UK March 7-16,
2008
Details:
see below, section 2008-01-07
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2008-01-03 What's New in the Magazine
The entire magazine -- the Annals of Improbable Research
-- is
(we repeat) now online for free. In jargon terms: the
magazine is
now open access. Please help us spread the word!
The January/February 2008 issue (vol. 14, no. 1,) is a
special
Reclassification/Renaming issue. Read it online at
<http://tinyurl.com/yo5syo>.
Highlights include:
*
* *
"Artificae Plantae: The Taxonomy, Ecology, and
Ethnobotany of the
Simulacraceae," by Kurt Allerslev Reynertson, Julie
Velasquez
Runk and Nat Bletter. The authors usher plastic and other
artificial plants technically into the welcoming bosom of
botany.
"Constellation Reformation," by Ursula Majors.
The author writes:
"A constellation is a group of stars that form a
particular
pattern... all have Latin names. Examples include Aries,
Cygnus,
Pisces and Virgo. These archaic descriptors and their
associated
myths are usually lost on today's youth.... I have
devised a
comprehensive restructuring of constellation naming
conventions
as a means of attracting more students.... For example,
consider
Cassiopeia, which depicts the mythological queen sitting
in a
chair. I believe that this constellation would be much
more
palatable to today's youth if it were reoriented and
renamed
Handgun, as illustrated in Figure 1."
*
* *
Past issues are at
<http://www.improbable.com/magazine/>
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2008-01-04 Troy and the Military-Industrial Complex?
The mystery of Troy Hurtubise just deepened. Troy, you
will
recall, won an 1998 Ig Nobel Prize for developing and
personally
testing a suit of armor that is impervious to grizzly
bears, an
achievement documented in the film "Project
Grizzly." Troy has
subsequently claimed to invent several extremely
imaginative
pieces of technology -- fireproof guck, life-saving blast
cushions, super-powerful high-energy rays, and the like.
We often receive phone calls from people who want to
find,
converse with, or, who knows, maybe even marry a
particular Ig
winner. This week a woman phoned, said she works for
Lockheed
Martin, and that wants to talk with Troy Hurtubise.
Caller ID
indicated only that she is located in Alexandria,
Virginia. Her
manner was, in our estimation, businesslike and mildly
mysterious, with low undercurrents of high security and
international intrigue. We asked why she wants to talk to
Troy.
She changed the subject. We asked a second time. She hung
up.
Is this a harbinger for Troy of imminent, lucrative
technological
collaboration? Or of something dire? Or is it simply an
addition
to the long series of admirers attracted to the
charismatic,
semi-swashbuckling inventor/adventuresman from North Bay,
Ontario?
In any case, we wish Troy protection both from his
occasional
too-risky technological experiments and -- more to the
point here
-- from self-unidentifying secretive agents.
For background on Troy's works over the past decade:
<http://tinyurl.com/2ksyt3>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Hurtubise>
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2008-01-05 Rising to the Rupz—iyat? B—ppum Challenge
Many persons, humble and great, rose to the Rupz—iyat?
B—ppum
Challenge. Their collective efforts prove that, in one
case at
least, reality preceded fiction.
As told here last month, a researcher named G. English
conducted
an experiment in 1916 to find out what people would
assume about
a person with a strange name. G. English concocted a list
of what
she considered to be 50 strange, nonsense names. We posed
you a
challenge: How many of those names are not just
inventions -- how
many of those names belong to real, live (or even real,
dead)
persons?
The answer: lots of them.
The names are, taken as a whole, unusual: Cherin;
Poisher; Kilom;
Koikert; Vazal; Dawfisp; Zoque; Spren; Dawtho; Rupzoiyat;
and 40
more.
Improbable researchers loosed themselves upon archives,
databases
and directories. Their hastily scribbled and typed
reports
temporarily overwhelmed our ability to analyze, collate
and
summarize. In the very near future, we hope, you will see
here
some details about some of the real-life Cherins, Zoques,
Blags,
Gribs, Bunoys and others. In the meantime, please try to
remain
calm.
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2008-01-06 Burnt Food, Grails, Clocky, Molasses, P.D.Q.
Bach
The annual Improbable Research session will happen on
Friday Night,
February 15, at 8:00 pm at the AAAS Annual Meeting. This
year it's in
Boston, Massachusetts, at the Sheraton Boston Hotel.
Speakers (each of whom will be brief!) include: Ig Nobel
Prize winner
Gauri Nanda (inventor of Clocky, the alarm clock that
runs away and
hides repeatedly); Museum of Burnt Food curator Deborah
Henson-Conant;
Steve Nadis ("Just How Many Holy Grails of Science
Are There?");
Toscanini's Ice Cream Proprietor Gus Rancatore (Ig Nobel
Chemistry
Prize winner Mayu Yamamoto's discovery of how to extract
vanillin from
cow dung—and applications of this for making
delicious ice cream); Gus
Rancatore again (The 89th Anniversary of the Great Boston
Molasses
Flood); Elaine Chew (A technical analysis of the music of
P.D.Q. Bach).
It's open to the public, for free.
For details see <http://tinyurl.com/k87xs>.
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2008-01-07 2008 UK Tour Taking Form
The sixth annual Ig Nobel Tour of the UK (for National
Science &
Engineering Week) will happen in early March 2008.
Action-packed
content includes (to name but three of many): The medical
effects
or sword-swallowing; the effect of country music on
suicide; and
the The problem (yes, the The problem).
For the almost-full lineup and a partial schedule (and/or
to
reserve tickets), see:
<http://improbable.com/improbable-research-shows/ig-uk-tour/
If your institution would like to host an event, please
get in
touch with us ASAP.
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2008-01-08 Bjork-Shiley Convexo-Concave Valves Poets
Selected
The judges have declared a pair of winners for last
month's
Convexo-Concave Competition, which asked for a limerick
to honor
the study "Discrimination in Vitro Between the
Acoustic Emissions
from Bjork-Shiley Convexo-Concave Valves With and Without
a
Broken Minor Strut," Medical and Biological
Engineering and
Computing, D.K. Walker and L.N. Scotten, vol. 29, no. 5,
September 1991, pp. 457-64.
<http://tinyurl.com/2cyoqk>
The winners and their poeticalistications are:
INVESTIGATOR JOANNE LEARY:
When struts in a valve appear rusted,
Your Bjork-Shiley jig can't be trusted.
So
check its condition:
Acoustic
emission
Will tell you if something is busted.
INVESTIGATOR THOMAS MICHEL:
Convexo-concave, fractured strut,
This heart-broken valve did not shut.
And
both Bjork and Shiley
Suggested, quite wryly:
"Acoustical pain in the butt."
AND HERE IS THE ASSESSMENT FROM LIMERICK LAUREATE MARTIN
EIGER:
If your valves go lub-dub when they shut,
Then your health could be excellent, but
Lub-squish or lub-splat
Could
be evidence that
It's time for replacing a strut.
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2008-01-09 Convexo-Concave (Supplemental)
Many other attempts evoked emotions or other lack of
non-response
in the judges. Here are three of those tiny, trying
tales.
INVESTIGATOR SHAYNA B. KRAVETZ:
Said Shiley to Bjork, "Let's invent
A valve that will be heaven-sent.
Whether curved in or out,
Its
echo --no doubt--
Will
show if its strut has been bent."
INVESTIGATOR DEBORAH HECHT:
"The sound of these valves is not right!"
Exclaimed Doctor Walker one night.
"Why, no," said Doc Scotten,
"A minor strut's gotten
Broke; That, sir, is Bjork-Shiley's plight."
INVESTIGATOR PETER KAPLAN:
When a Bjork-Shiley valve is convex-
O-concave, a good doctor detects
Whether one strut is broken
Not
merely by pokin'
But with sound-discriminant checks.
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2008-01-10 Dove-on-Plovers Competition
Dove's view of plovers is the subject of this month's
limerick
competition. To enter, compose an original limerick that
illuminates the nature of this report:
*
* *
"Quantification of Microscopic Feather Characters
Used in the
Identification of North American Plovers," Carla J.
Dove, Condor,
vol. 99, 1997, pp. 47-57.
*
* *
RULES: Please make sure your rhymes actually do, and that
your
poem is in classic, trips-off-the-tongue limerick form.
PRIZE: The winning poet will receive a (if we manage to
send it
to the correct address) a free, possibly microscopically
feathered issue of the Annals of Improbable Research.
Send
entries (one entry per entrant) to:
DOVE-ON-PLOVERS
LIMERICK COMPETITION
c/o
<marca AT chem2.harvard.edu>
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2008-01-11 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Dog Dandruff and Human
Semen
Each month we select for your special attention a
research report
that seems particularly worth a close read. This month's
pick:
"Allergy to Human Seminal Fluid: Cross-Reactivity
with Dog
Dander," Maria Basaga–a, Borja BartolomŽ, Carlos
Pastor, Ferran
Torres, Rosario Alonso, Fernando Vivanco, and Anna
Cister—-
Bah’ma, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, vol.
121, no.
1, January 2008, pp. 233-9.
<http://tinyurl.com/2ypayc> (Thanks
to Dan Heck for bringing this to our attention.) The
authors, at
Universitat Aut˜noma de Barcelona, Spain, and elsewhere,
explain:
"Human seminal plasma (HSP) allergy is uncommon...
We sought to
assess the presence of IgE cross-reactivity among
proteins from
dog epithelium and HSP and to attempt to identify the
allergens
involved....
"Conclusions: IgE cross-reactivity among proteins
from dog dander
and human PSA is demonstrated."
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2008-01-12 BLOGLIGHTS: Chalk, Cuteness and Sleep-in-Parts
Here are some recent topics in our blog:
<> Unhappiness with chalk
<> Sleep in parts
<> Barf-o-Meter Development
<> Stalin World adds beatings
<> The Lie Guy
<> A technical call for cuteness
and some from the newspaper column in The Guardian:
<> Eats, reads and leaves (library fruit)
<> Hatching a plan to prevent cockpit intruders
<> How anti-bank-robbing inspired anti-hijacking
...
and others
Read
the blog
every
day at <http://www.improbable.com>
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2008-01-13 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Cordial, Dream, Dentistry,
Dead
RASPBERRY CORDIAL OVER GLASS
"Antibacterial Activity of Raspberry Cordial In
Vitro," T. Ryan,
J.M. Wilkinson, and H.M.A. Cavanagh, Research in
Veterinary
Science, vol. 71, no. 3, 2001, pp. 155-9. (Thanks to Wendy
Cooper for bringing this to our attention.)
INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH: DREAM, DENTISTRY, GRATEFUL
DEAD
"An Experiment in Dream Telepathy with 'The Grateful
Dead'," Stan
Krippner, Monte Ullman and Bob Van de Castle, Journal of
the
American Society of Psychosomatic Dentistry and Medicine,
vol.
20, no. 1, 1973, pp. 9-17. (Thanks to Bill Saidel for
bringing
this to our attention.)
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2008-01-14 Improbable Research Events
For details and additional events, see
<http://improbable.com/improbable-research-shows/complete-schedule>
AAAS ANNUAL MEETING, BOSTON --
FEB 15, 2008
IG NOBEL UK TOUR --
MAR, 2008
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR MASS SPECTROMETRY (ASMS) ANNUAL
CONFERENCE,
DENVER --
JUN 1, 2008
CHELTENHAM SCIENCE FESTIVAL, UK -- JUN 7, 2008
DFG ANNUAL ASSEMBLY, BERLIN, GERMANY -- JUL 1, 2008
IG NOBEL PRIZE CEREMONY --
OCT 2, 2008
IG INFORMAL LECTURES --
OCT 4, 2008
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2008-01-15 -- How to Subscribe to AIR (*)
The Annals of Improbable Research is a 6-issues-per-year
magazine. (It's bigger and better than the little bits of
overflow material you've been reading in this
newsletter). The
online version is at
<http://www.improbable.com/magazine/>.
To subscribe to the paper-and-ink version, go to
<http://improbable.com/subscribe/> or send in this
form:
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BACK ISSUES are available, too:
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.........................................................
Send payment (US bank check, or international money
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PO
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617-491-4437
FAX:617-661-0927 <air AT improbable.com>
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2008-01-16 -- Our Address (*)
Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)
PO Box 380853, Cambridge, MA 02238 USA
617-491-4437 FAX:617-661-0927
EDITORIAL: marca AT chem2.harvard.edu
SUBSCRIPTIONS: air AT improbable.com
WEB SITE: <http://www.improbable.com>
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2008-01-17 -- Please Forward/Post This Issue! (*)
Please distribute copies of mini-AIR (or excerpts!)
wherever
appropriate. The only limitations are: A) Please indicate
that
the material comes from mini-AIR. B) You may NOT
distribute mini-
AIR for commercial purposes.
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mini-AIRheads -------------
EDITOR: Marc Abrahams
MINI-PROOFREADER AND PICKER OF NITS (before we introduce
the last
few at the last moment): Wendy Mattson
COMMUTATIVE EDITOR: Stanley Eigen
ASSOCIATIVE EDITOR: Mark Dionne
PSYCHOLOGY EDITOR: Robin Abrahams
CO-CONSPIRATORS: Alice Shirrell Kaswell, Gary Dryfoos,
Ernest
Ersatz, S. Drew
MAITRE DE COMPUTATION: Jerry Lotto
AUTHORITY FIGURES: Nobel Laureates Dudley Herschbach,
Sheldon
Glashow, William Lipscomb, Richard Roberts
(c) copyright 2008, Annals of Improbable Research
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2008-01-18 -- How to Receive mini-AIR, etc. (*)
What you are reading right now is mini-AIR. Mini-AIR is a
(free!)
tiny monthly *supplement* to the bi-monthly print
magazine.
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