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The mini-Annals of Improbable Research ("mini-AIR")

March 2010, issue number 2010-03. ISSN 1076-500X.

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Monthly mini update/alert from the Annals of Improbable Research

This issue is at

<http://www.improbable.com/airchives/miniair/2010/mini2010-03.htm>

Archive at <http://improbable.com/airchives/miniair/>

Twitter: ImprobResearch

Key words: improbable research, science humor, Ig Nobel, AIR, the

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2010-03-01 TABLE OF CONTENTS

2010-03-02 Imminent Events

2010-03-03 The Magazine: Geography & Teabagging

2010-03-04 New Project: People Who Oscillate

2010-03-05 Oscillating Humans Literature Review

2010-03-06 Ig Nobel UK Tour

2010-03-07 UK Pre-Tour Tweetup in London

2010-03-08 Borst: A Double-Head of His Time

2010-03-09 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Test-Takers Who Fly Too High

2010-03-10 Elephant Origin Poet

2010-03-11 Dental-Use-of-Coconut Competition

2010-03-12 Upcoming: Day of Ig Readings

2010-03-13 MORE IMPROBABLE: Dangerous Eyebrows, and Cursors

2010-03-14 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Train Seating, Demented Rats

2010-03-15 Improbable Research Events

2010-03-16 -- How to Subscribe to AIR (*)

2010-03-17 -- Our Address (*)

2010-03-18 -- Please Forward/Post This Issue! (*)

2010-03-19 -- How to Receive mini-AIR, etc. (*)

Items marked (*) are reprinted in every issue.

mini-AIR is

but a wee monthly *supplement*

to the bi-monthly magazine Annals of Improbable Research

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2010-03-02 Imminent Events

Ig Nobel UK Tour Mar 11-19, 2010

Edinburgh Apr 14 & 17, 2010

Ig Nobel Scandinavia Tour Apr 20-24, 2010

Complete events schedule: <http://bit.ly/6SGDcA>

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2010-03-03 The Magazine: Geography & Teabagging

The special Geography & Teabagging issue (vol 16, no 2) of the

magazine is going off soon to the printer.

Highlights include:

<> Panhandling Geography

<> Cartozoology

<> Teabagging Research

And much more.

Read many back issues (including the recent Ig Nobel special

issue) online at: <http://www.improbable.com/magazine/>.

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2010-03-04 New Project: People Who Oscillate

The Oscillating Humans Project, announced here, is searching for

a living specimen — an exemplar — of an oscillating human.

DEFINITION:

For purposes of the project, an Oscillating Human is someone who

consistently, repeatedly, over many years, expresses opinions

directly opposite to opinions he or she expressed earlier, always

ignoring and/or denying the existence of copious, easily found

clear documentation of the earlier opinions.

PURPOSE:

The exemplary person, once identified, will serve as an example

for teachers to use in logic classes. To minimize the chance of

lawsuits, the exemplar must be a "public person", with (as stated

above) for whom there is copious, easily found, clear

documentation of years and years of oscillation.

If you know of an outstanding specimen, please send:

1. The name and a 20-word biographical sketch of the person.

2. Several URLs pointing to clear, unarguable documentation.

Send to: OSCILLATING HUMANS PROJECT <marca AT improbable.com>

NOTE: This is an education project. It is NOT an exercise in

naming people you don't like. No screeds, please.

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2010-03-05 Oscillating Humans Literature Review

Published research about this form of human oscillation may be

scarce. One of the few apparently relevant items — judging it by

its title, if not by its contents, is this British study:

"Oscillation of Human Performance as a Personality Measure,"

Michael A. Tainsh, Perceptual and Motor Skills, vol. 35, no. 2,

October 1972, pp. 677-8.

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/5081299>

Truly pertinent citations will be welcomed.

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2010-03-06 Ig Nobel UK Tour

In the upcoming 8th annual Ig Nobel tour for National Science &

Engineering Week in the UK, there's something for or against

nearly everyone:

Chernobyl-inspired bra/facemask

How/why people swallow improbable things

cows named and anonymous

plutonium binge dieting; fruit bat fellatio

New Scientific feedback

Tycho Brahe's removable nose

the business meaning of "You Bastard!"

left-right confusion

courtship behaviour of ostriches towards British humans

the smell of old books

the, the, the and more about the

Et cetera.

And, in London and Bristol, most splendid singers and musicians

will perform arias from Ig Nobel mini-operas.

Shows in Oxford (Mar 11), Dundee (Mar 13), Portsmouth(Mar 15),

Liverpool (Mar 17), London (Mar 18), and Bristol (Mar 19).

Details: <http://improbable.com/improbable-research-shows/ig-uk-tour/>

twitter: #IGUKTOUR

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2010-03-07 UK Pre-Tour Tweetup in London

Please join us for a tweetup in London the night before the tour

starts.

WHEN: Wednesday, March 10, 7:30 pm

WHERE: The Royal Festival Hall bar

<http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/>

twitter: #IGUKTOUR

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2010-03-08 Borst: A Double-Head of His Time

Peter Borst became the first person to simultaneously join both

the Luxuriant Former Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS) and the

Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfSs).

See him and other recently initiated members at

<http://improbable.com/category/lfhcfs-hair-club/>

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2010-03-09 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Test-Takers Who Fly Too High

"Fakability of the Air Force Preference Inventory," H.G. Gough,

November 1959. (WADC-TN- 59-199, ASMIA Document AD-231 379)

(Project 7730, Task 77353; Contract AF 18(600)8, University of

California, Berkeley) (orS). <http://bit.ly/9FIyG3> Gough

reports:

"This study concerns (a) recognition of the possibility of faking

responses to the Air Force Preference Inventory in order to

present a better impression, (b) consideration of a possible

index for detecting faking, and (c) an analysis of the

psychological correlates of this index. Effect of faking was

revealed... Testing of additional samples would be needed to

establish precise cutting points for distinguishing between

authentic and faked test protocols."

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2010-03-10 Elephant Origin Poet

The judges have chosen a winner in the Elephant Origin Limerick

Competition, which asked for a limerick to honor the study "A

Simple and Inexpensive Molecular Method for Sexing and

Identification of the Forensic Samples of Elephant Origin,"

Sandeep K. Gupta, Kumarasamy Thangaraj, Lalji Singh, Journal of

Forensic Sciences, vol. 51, no. 4, July 2006, pp. 805-7.

<http://bit.ly/9oMIiO>

The winner is INVESTIGATOR DON DAVIS, who wrote:

The elephant rots on the ground.

Its gender's not easily found.

But finding its sex

Is now less complex —

Molecular markers abound.

Here's the offering from LIMERICK LAUREATE MARTIN EIGER:

I see a large carcass ahead.

A male elephant? Could be. It's dead.

Should I look at its size?

No, I'd best scrutinize

Its molecular markers instead.

See some good runner-up limericks in the blog, at

<http://bit.ly/9J7ury>

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2010-03-11 Dental-Use-of-Coconut Competition

Teeth and coconuts inspire this month's limerick competition. To

enter, compose an original limerick that illuminates the nature

of this report:

"A Quantitative Analysis of Coconut Water: A New Storage Media

for Avulsed Teeth," Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology,

Oral Radiology, and Endodontology, V. Gopikrishna, T. Thomas, D.

Kandaswamy, vol. 105, no. 2, Pages e61-e65.

<http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tripleo.2007.08.003>

"The purpose of this study was to use a Collagenase-Dispase assay

to investigate the potential of a new storage media, coconut

water, in maintaining viable periodontal ligament (PDL) cells on

simulated avulsed teeth.... Within the parameters of this study,

it appears that coconut water may be better alternative to HBSS

[Hank's balanced salt solution] or milk in terms of maintaining

PDL cell viability after avulsion and storage."

RULES: Please make sure that: (1) your rhymes actually do; and

(2) your poem is in classic, trills-off-the-tongue limerick form.

PRIZE: The winning poet will receive (if we manage to send it to

the correct address) a free, perhaps coconutty, high-res PDF

issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. Send entries (one

entry per entrant) to:

TOOTH-COCONUT LIMERICK COMPETITION

c/o <marca AT improbable.com>

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2010-03-12 Upcoming: Day of Ig Readings

On May 1, we will inaugurate a new kind of Improbable Research

event: a series of public readings of extracts from studies and

books that won Ig Nobel Prizes.

This will be at the Cambridge Public Library, as part of the

Cambridge (Massachusetts) Science Festival. Details will be

announced in April.

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2010-03-13 MORE IMPROBABLE: Dangerous Eyebrows, and Cursors

BLOG <http://improbable.com/>

<> Eyebrows – the dangers

<> 2 sets of cursors for researchers

<> Mathematical Embarrassments

<> The all-in-one machine

And many more...

NEWSPAPER <http://improbable.com/category/newspaper-column>

<> The Science of Batman in Turkey

<> 21st Century Perversion, Psychoanalitically

<> Slot Machine Gamblers: Hard to Study?

twitter: ImprobResearch

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2010-03-14 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Train Seating, Demented Rats

CROWDED TRAINS NOT ALWAYS COMFORTABLE

"Crowding and Personal Space Invasion on the Train: Please Don't

Make Me Sit in the Middle," Gary W. Evans and Richard E. Wener,

Journal of Environmental Psychology, vol. 27, no. 1, March 2007,

pp. 90-4. <http://bit.ly/bzFCQw> The authors conclude that: "Mass

transit users frequently experience crowding during their

commutes. In this study of 139 urban passenger train commuters

during rush hour, we found that... when people had to sit close

to other passengers, they experienced adverse reactions."

DEMENTED: ACUPUNCTURE IN RATS

"Acupuncture Improved Cognitive Impairment Caused by Multi-

Infarct Dementia in Rats," Jianchun Yu, Cunzhi Liu, Xuezhu Zhang

and Jingxian Han, Physiology and Behavior, vol. 86, 2005, pp.

434–41. <http://bit.ly/9eQPdv> (Thanks to Ig Nobel Prize winner

Richard Wassersug for bringing this to our attention.)

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2010-03-15 Improbable Research Events

For details and additional events, see

<http://improbable.com/improbable-research-shows/complete-schedule>

UK Tour — Mar 11-19, 2010

UKSG, Edinburgh — Apr 14, 2010

Edinburgh Science Festival — Apr 17, 2010

Ig Nobel Scandinavia Tour — Apr 20-24, 2010

Cambridge (MA) Science Festival — May 1, 2010

Ig Nobel Prize ceremony — Sep 30, 2010

Ig Informal Lectures — Oct 2, 2010

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2010-03-16 -- 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).

To subscribe to the paper-and-ink version, go to

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617-491-4437 FAX:617-661-0927 <air AT improbable.com>

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2010-03-17 -- 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: subscriptions AT improbable.com

Web Site: <http://www.improbable.com>

Blog: www.improbable.com

Twitter: ImprobResearch

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2010-03-18 -- 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.

------------- mini-AIRheads -------------

EDITOR: Marc Abrahams

MINI-PROOFREADER AND PICKER OF NITS (before we introduce the last

few at the last moment): Wendy Mattson

CO-CONSPIRATORS: Kees Moeliker, 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

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2010-03-19 -- 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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