Mini-AIR

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

December 2019, issue number 2019-12. ISSN 1076-500X.

<https://www.improbable.com/airchives/miniair/>

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Research that makes people LAUGH, then THINK.

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01 TABLE OF CONTENTS

02 Imminent Events

03 IN THE MAGAZINE ITSELF: Ig Nobel Issue

04 Self-Wedging of a Sewing Needle Interdentally

05 The Triumphant Return of the Podcast

06 Limerick Challenge: Needle Not in a Haystack

07 Baboon Swell Color Winner

08 MORE IMPROBABLE: Vibra-Worm, Ugly Voice, Pols Vs. the Dead

09 Search for a Needle in an X-Ray

10 IMPROBABLE EVENTS

20 — Subscribe to the Actual Magazine! (*)

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

22 — Contact Info (*)

23 — Standard Gobbledegook (*)

Items marked (*) are reprinted in every issue.

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02 Imminent Events

Beijing, China

Arisia, Boston, MA, USA

AAAS, Seattle, WA, USA

Ig Nobel EuroTour

FULL IMPROBABLE EVENTS SCHEDULE: <http://www.improbable.com/improbable-research-shows/complete-schedule/>

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03 IN THE MAGAZINE ITSELF: Ig Nobel Issue

WHAT YOU ARE READING AT THIS MOMENT

is just our monthly newsletter, (mini-AIR).

Our best stuff goes into the actual magazine:

Annals of Improbable Research (AIR).

The special Ig Nobel issue (vol. 25, no. 6), chock full o' detail about the 2019 Ig Nobel Prize winners and the ceremony, the will be going out any day now to subscribers.

SUBSCRIBE to the MAGAZINE, or get SINGLE ISSUES:

<https://gumroad.com/improbable>

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

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04 Self-Wedging of a Sewing Needle Interdentally

This month's quasi-randomly selected dip into our vast collection of Improbable Research:

"Double Fracture and Wedging of a Sewing Needle Interdentally in an Attempt at Self-Treatment: A Case Report," KA. Harper, Dental Update, vol. 29, no. 2, March 2002, pp. 78-9. <https://tinyurl.com/yx5nz7ea> (Thanks to Phil Trelawney for bringing this to our attention.) The author, at Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospital Trust, London, reports:

"Dental pain occurring whilst abroad may present the patient with a difficult decision: to try and bear it with self-medication until he/she returns home or to seek professional help. This case report outlines a Korean girl's attempt at self-treatment, which resulted in not one but two fragments of a sewing needle wedging between her teeth, the second fracturing as she tried to dislodge the first. Her self-treatment exacerbated her problem and resulted in the need for surgical access to the site to retrieve the broken fragments. The case also illustrates the use of parallax radiography in determining the position of the fragments."

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05 The Triumphant Return of the Podcast

As predicted here last month, we now have the triumphant return of the Improbable Research podcast, with Jean Berko Gleason, Richard Baguley, Nicole Sharp, Robin Abrahams, Chris Cotsapas, and Melissa Franklin! Please spread the word.

<https://www.improbable.com/2019/12/25/podcast-episode-200-disgusting-sounds/>

You can subscribe to it, free, in most of the usual places (Spotify, etc.) podcasts make themselves available.

* * *

To fund new episodes (and more), we have indeed started a Patreon.

A big thank you to those of you who have signed up.

We are grateful for your support!

<www.patreon.com/ImprobableResearch>

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06 Limerick Challenge: Needle Not in a Haystack

This month's RESEARCH LIMERICK challenge — Devise a pleasing limerick that encapsulates this study:

"Loss of a Sewing Needle in the Tongue During Attempted Tongue Piercing: Report of a Case," Terrence R. Nedbalski, Daniel M. Laskin, Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, vol. 64, no. 1, January 2006, pp. 135-7. (Thanks to Betty and Chuck Heldren for bringing this to our attention.) The authors are at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry, Richmond, Virginia.

<https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joms.2005.09.020>

Submit your perfectly formed, delightfully enlightening limerick to:

NEEDLE NOT LIMERICK COMPETITION

c/o <MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM>

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07 Baboon Swell Color Winner

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

"Baboon Sexual Swellings: Information Content of Size and Color," J.P. Higham, A.M. MacLarnon, C. Ross, M. Heistermann, and S. Semple, Hormones and Behavior, vol. 53, 2008, pp. 452-462. <https://tinyurl.com/tqvgng9>

INVESTIGATOR JOHN RICHARDS writes:

For baboons in search of First Prize,

We offer a word to the wise.

Since the color means nought,

To decide if he ought,

He must know that what matters is size.

This month's take from our LIMERICK LAUREATE, MARTIN EIGER:

Observable features are dual.

For achieving success, here's the rule.

The size is what counts.

The color amounts

To nothing. Now kiss me, you fool.

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08 MORE IMPROBABLE: Vibra-Worm, Ugly Voice, Pols Vs. the Dead

Recent improbable research bits you may have missed...

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

* The shape of a vibrated earthworm?

* Secrets of an ugly voice

* The dead are rising up against their national leaders

NEWEST MEMBER of the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS) and its sibling clubs:

* Ashley Edwards

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

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

TWITTER: @ImprobResearch, @MarcAbrahams, #IgNobel

PATREON: www.patreon.com/ImprobableResearch

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09 Search for a Needle in an X-Ray

This month's quasi-randomly selected other dip into our vast collection of Improbable Research:

"The Small Lost Suture Needle—Is an X-Ray Worthwhile? A.M. Westenberg and R. Parkinson, BJU International, vol. 87, no. 3, 2001, p. 277. (Thanks to Peter Melvoin for bringing this to our attention.) The authors explain that:

"The role of the X-ray is to determine whether the needle is in the wound or not; unfortunately, it is often not particularly useful in locating the exact position of the needle. Although suture needles are made of stainless steel and are thus able to be seen on X-ray, some of the very fine sutures have correspondingly fine needles and it is possible that these may be difficult to locate radiographically. Thus we determined the smallest suture needle that could be detected radiographically."

NOTE: This pate on which this article appears appears to be missing from the online version of that issue of BJU International: <https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/1464410x/2001/87/3>

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10 IMPROBABLE EVENTS

Beijing, China —Jan 13, 2020

Arisia, Boston, MA, USA —Jan 17, 020

AAAS Annual Meeting, Seattle —Feb 2020

Ig Nobel EuroTour —Mar/Apr 2020

Ig Nobel ceremony TICKETS go on sale —Jul, 2020

30th First Annual Ig Nobel ceremony —Sep 17, 2020

Ig Informal Lectures —Sep 19, 2020

Osaka, Japan —Fall, 2020

For details and additional events, see

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

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20 — 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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21 — 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:

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22 — CONTACT INFO (*)

Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)