Improbable Research

Kathryn Devaney has joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS). Yakov Kronrod, who nominated her, says:

Whether studying long-haired monkeys in Belgium or putting long-haired people in fMRI scanners in Massachusetts, Kathryn’s devotion to luxurious hair studies has been extraordinary. Recent publications include “Scene-selective cortical areas in human and non-human primates” and “Lower-level stimulus features strongly influence response in the Fusiform Face Area.”

Kathryn Devaney, LFHCfS
Research Assistant
Martinos Center at MGH
Harvard Medical School
Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA

Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS) member Arunachalam Kumar sent us a New Year’s greeting in the form of this YouTube video:

The video comes with the caption “Ambidextrous anatomist Prof. Arunachalam Kumar of Nitte University, Mangalore India, lecturing to medical students.”

Dr. Kumar is a colorful character. Among his many innovations: the “Black Toe” for cricket bats won a prize in the Intel Sports Inventor contest, Dr. Kumar says it “has the potential to completely change the face of the sport” of cricket. This video shows details of the competition, and then of the Black Toe:

BONUS: Dr. Kumar also made a video of the twelve foot Indian Python that he found slithering in his house garden in mid-afternoon on 27th Nov 2011:

The Pharyngula blog discusses genetics and its relation to LFHCfS member Steven Pinker:

Steve Pinker examined his own genome, and discovered that his genes said he was predisposed to be red-haired and at high risk for baldness. If you’ve seen Steve Pinker [and if you haven't you can remedy that by watching the video here], you know he’s neither.

How can this be? As any geneticist will tell you, the background — the other alleles present in the organism — are important in defining the pattern of expression of a specific gene of interest. One simple possibility is that the genome contains redundancy: that a trait such as adhesion of axons in the nervous system or the amount of hair on the head can be the product of multiple genes, each doing pretty much the same thing, so knocking out one doesn’t have a strong effect, because there is a backup present…. [and so on]

George Wm. Kissil has joined the Luxuriant Former Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS). Shelley Kissil, who nominated him, says:

My husband, like my son, qualifies on all levels. Both are BRILLIANT scientists and both… possessors of magnificent heads of former hair.

George Wm. Kissil, PhD, LFHCfS
Senior Scientist, Emeritus
National Center for Mariculture
Israel Oceanographic & Limnological Research

Joseph Kissil has joined the Luxuriant Former Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS). Shelley Kissil, who nominated him, says:

My son, like my husband, qualifies on all levels. Both are BRILLIANT scientists and both… possessors of magnificent heads of former hair.

Joseph Kissil, PhD, LFHCfS
Associate Professor, Molecular and Cellular Oncogenesis Program
The Wistar Instigute
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA