Mini-AIR

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

February 2018, issue number 2018-02. ISSN 1076-500X.

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Research that makes people LAUGH, then THINK.

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01 TABLE OF CONTENTS

02 02 Coming Events: AAAS in Austin

03 IN THE MAGAZINE ITSELF: Ig Nobel, Then Pizza & Popcorn

04 Self Colonoscopy: Lessons Learned

05 The Colonoscopy Robot Challenge

06 Nano Cobalt Ferrite Doped Dung Triumph

07 MORE IMPROBABLE: Automotive Monkeys, Anger, Tea Strainer

08 Colonoscopy and the Earthworm

09 IMPROBABLE EVENTS

10 — Subscribe to the Actual Magazine! (*)

11 — How to start or stop receiving this newsletter (*)

12 — Contact Info (*)

13 — Standard Gobbledegook (*)

Items marked (*) are reprinted in every issue.

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02 Coming Events: AAAS in Austin

Improbable events in the near future:

Austin, Texas — Saturday, Feb 17, 8:00 pm.

AAAS ANNUAL MEETING — Hilton Austin Hotel.

Improbable Research session, open free to the public

with:

MARC ABRAHAMS, founder of the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony

Ig Nobel Prize winner ALEX SUAREZ — Using a

didgeridoo to treat sleep apnea and snoring

ROBERT KIRSHNER — The Universe

Ig Nobel Prize winner LIZA SHAPIRO — Why pregnant

women don’t tip over

BILL PRESS and JOHN HAWKINS — Comparative genomics of

rubber chicken

ED THERIOT — The taxonomy of Barney

Announcement: Oustanding Press Release of the Year

IG NOBEL SPRING EUROTOUR — March 9 - April 13

in the UK, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Sweden,

Switzerland, Poland

Details and additional events:

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

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03 IN THE MAGAZINE ITSELF: Ig Nobel, Then Pizza & Popcorn

The special IG NOBEL issue of the magazine (vol 23, no. 6) is here: <https://is.gd/Fzrc6l>

The special PIZZA & POPCORN issue is in prep.

Gorge yourself on improbable research:

MAGAZINE SINGLE ISSUES & SUBSCRIPTIONS:

<https://gumroad.com/improbable>

Tables of Contents: <http://www.improbable.com/magazine/>

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04 Self Colonoscopy: Lessons Learned

This month's research spotlight shines on self-learning:

"Colonoscopy in the Sitting Position: Lessons Learned From Self-Colonoscopy by Using a Small-Caliber, Variable-Stiffness Colonoscope," Akira Horiuchi and Yoshiko Nakayama, Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, vol. 63, no. 1, 2006, pp. 119-120.

<https://is.gd/zi3qQH>

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05 The Colonoscopy Robot Challenge

This month's RESEARCH LIMERICK challenge —

Devise a pleasing limerick that encapsulates this study:

"Design and Preliminary Evaluation of a Self-Steering, Pneumatically Driven Colonoscopy Robot," Hossein Dehghani, C. Ross Welch, Abolfazl Pourghodrat, Carl A. Nelson, Dmitry Oleynikov, Prithviraj Dasgupta, and Benjamin S. Terry, Journal of Medical Engineering & Technology, vol. 41, no. 3, 2017, pp. 223-236.

<https://is.gd/TPTeGW>

Submit your perfectly formed, delightfully enlightening limerick to:

COLONOSCOPY ROBOT LIMERICK COMPETITION

c/o <MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM>

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06 Nano Cobalt Ferrite Doped Dung Triumph

The judges have chosen a winner in last month's Competition, which asked for a limerick to explain this study:

"Utilization of Magnetic Nano Cobalt Ferrite Doped Capra Aegagrus Hircus Dung Activated Carbon Composite for the Adsorption of Anionic Dyes," K.S. Thangamani, N. Muthulakshmi Andal, E. Ranjith Kumar, M. Saravanabhavan, Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, epub 2017. <https://is.gd/K16fNW>

The winner is INVESTIGATOR SAM PETUCHOWSKI, who writes:

Winter, for even a fit soul—

Is long, and, in Norway, a bit col'.

What gladdens the eye

Is a blend of bright dye

Made of cobalt and stuff from a shithole.

The word from our LIMERICK LAUREATE, MARTIN EIGER:

I've decided that I've got to try.

There's a negative charge on the dye.

It's a good thing I've brung,

From a goat, lots of dung.

I'll adsorb it, for sure, and that's why.

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07 MORE IMPROBABLE: Automotive Monkeys, Anger, Tea Strainer

Recent improbable research bits you may have missed...

The blog <http://www.improbable.com/>:

<> Volkswagen's Ig Nobel Prize-Winning Research Also Used Cartoon-Watching Monkeys

<> Effects of Various Music on Angry Automobile Drivers

<> 'Lament of the Lowly Rusty Tea Strainer'

Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS) and its sibling clubs:

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

<> New Member: Brendon W. Smith

FACEBOOK: <http://www.facebook.com/improbableresearch>

TWITTER: @ImprobResearch, @MarcAbrahams, #IgNobel

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08 Colonoscopy and the Earthworm

"A Micro Creeping Robot for Colonoscopy Based on the Earthworm," J. Zuo, G. Yan, and Z. Gao, Journal of Medical Engineering and Technology, vol. 29, no. 1, 2005, pp. 1-7. <https://is.gd/tSruWX> The authors report:

"a new novel miniature robot for intestinal inspection based on the earthworm is described; its diameter and length are 7.5 mm and 120 mm respectively.... The experimental results are in accord with simulation results, and show that this kind of robot can move reliably in horizontal and certain declining tubes."

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09 IMPROBABLE EVENTS

For details and additional events, see

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

SLAS Conference, San Diego — Feb 7, 2018

Salk Institute, La Jolla — Feb 9, 2018

AAAS Annual Meeting, Austin, TX — Feb 17, 2018

Atlanta, GA — Feb 28, 2018

Ig Nobel Spring EuroTour — Mar-Apr 2018

Northwest Rheumatism Society,

Portland, OR — Apr 26, 2018

Ig Nobel tickets go on sale — July, 2018

28th First Annual Ig Nobel Ceremony — Sep 13, 2018

Ig Informal Lectures — Sep 15, 2018

Japan — Oct, 2018

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10 — Subscribe to the Actual Magazine! (*)

The Annals of Improbable Research is a 6-issues-per-year magazine, published in PDF form. It's packed with research that makes people laugh, then think. (mini-AIR, the thing you are reading at this moment, is but a tiny, free-floating appendix to the actual magazine.)

<www.improbable.com/magazine/>

SUBSCRIPTIONS ($25, for six issues)

SINGLE ISSUES ($5 each)

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11 — How to start or stop receiving this newsletter (*)

This newsletter, Mini-AIR, is just a (free!) tiny monthly *supplement* to the big, bold six-times-a-year magazine Annals of Improbable Research.

To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE to mini-AIR:

<http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/mini-air>

ARCHIVES: <http://improbable.com/airchives/miniair>

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12 — CONTACT INFO (*)

Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)