Improbable Research

If you read our recent column “The Mystery of the Yellow Cake” (in The Guardian) about a mathematics paper called “The Yellow Cake,” and were bemused or confused, here’s a remedy.

The phrase “yellow cake” is not explained or even mentioned anywhere in “The Yellow Cake.” That is the mystery.

We have just received a five-page letter from Andrzej Roslanowski, the co-author of “The Yellow Cake.” Professor Roslanowski appears to be bemusedly hopping mad about the column. In his letter, Professor Roslanowski says:

Everybody can easily answer this question: the yellow cake is a kind of
coffee cake, something small, sweet and yellow that goes nicely with your afternoon
coffee. It is yellow because of yolks, I believe. At least I would avoid those cakes with
artificial colouring.

Our column about the mystery of the yellow cake, he gently informs us, is:

mostly uninformed and empty (and in non-empty places incorrect) …

Read “The Yellow Cake” itself here.

See our column about the mystery of the yellow cake, here.

See a note from a friend of the math journal editor who handled “The Yellow Cake,” here.

Read Professor Roslanowski’s entire letter here.

Read Professor Roslanowski’s newly-added product warning label for the yellow cake, here.

See the point here.

The March issue of mini-AIR just went out. Read it here.

Contents include, among other things:

/ Teaching: A New Spin
/ Hotheads, Buckets, and a Book
/ Non-Cosy Sticky Poet
/ Beauty and Truth: The Correction
/ Zweibeck’s Death Challenge
/ Survey Results: Astronomers vs. Moons
/ Watch What You Eat Limerick Contest
/ RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Does Money Matter?
/ MAY WE RECOMMEND: Together/Apart, Fundulus

Many people, especially academics and taxi drivers, take pride in having arcane knowledge at their fingertips. Dr William B Bean bested them all. Dr Bean’s arcane knowledge was not only at his fingertips; it was about them. Dr Bean spent much of his adult life monitoring the growth of his fingernails….

So begins this week’s Improbable Research column in The Guardian. Read it here.

Long-suffering investigator Jon Cramer is, on balance, not pleased with our coverage of chocolate bunny protective packaging research. He writes:

While studying for the Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (at the University of Washington-Seattle, WA) I was forced to endure “Dynamic Systems” (2nd quarter) where we studied the nearly identical problem-How much packing material is required to prevent damage to candy? (we modeled candy canes) This was far from trivial, as your ‘Easter Bunny’ story seems to imply about the protection of delicate products. Would the study of this subject been materially different if we had been modeling high value circuit boards? While I enjoy reading about science gone astray, I am somewhat insulted in that ALL of this class of problem has both substantial opportunities for sharpening analytic skills and providing a base for the deeper understanding of the physics of shock and vibration, as well as statistics. I am unsure what your point is?

See the column of which he speaks, here.

See the point here.

For the public health, is bowing a better practice than shaking hands? Investigator Theda Turnbull, who lives in the United States, thinks maybe that is the case. Inspired by the recent suggestion by investigator Sakae Inouye (see that here), she writes:

I’ve been thinking for a while that the Japanese habit of bowing has it all over shaking hands, or God forbid kissing, from a public-health perspective. Perhaps that’s why they live longer and healthier than most people do: it’s not the sushi and seaweed after all.

We would be interested to hear of any published medical studies (please send the complete citations) that might shed light on this question.

We have posted photographs of the lovely scientist Eve and her beloved little oxygen atom, Atom, to accompany the words of the nano-opera “Atom and Eve.” There is also a link to streaming video of the premiere performance. See it all here.

A typical adult knows almost nothing about the psychology of repetitive reading. That is not surprising. Research psychologists, as a group, know little about the subject. Human beings can be induced to read repetitively. In one experiment, a scientist named Borgovsky…

So begins this week’s Improbable Research column in The Guardian. Read it here.

ITHACA, N.Y. — Heart attack victims who make it to the hospital in time to receive medical attention are four to five times more likely to survive compared with those who don’t make it to a hospital promptly, according to a new Cornell University study.

So begins a press release issued by Cornell University. Read it here.

(Thanks to investigator Charles Q. Choi for bringing this to our attention.)

Investigator Julie Rabine picks a nit. She writes:

In the interest of the accuracy so beloved of scientists everywhere (even if they don’t agree that truth is beautiful), this former English major feels the necessity of correcting a grammatical error in one of your prize-winning BOVINE INDECISION LIMERICKS [that was presented in mini-AIR 2004-02]:

INVESTIGATOR KEITH LEBER:
This paper convincingly proves
Some cows preferred slots, others grooves.
These findings lay bare,
That the cows didn’t care
What the hell they had under their hooves.

Unless Investigator Leber means to imply that the findings themselves were in fact stretched out naked on the floor, the third and fourth lines should read “These findings laid bare / That the cows didn’t care.” (He should also lose the comma after “bare.”) However, I must complement him on how well his verse scans!

I concur with the judges that the superfluity of “ooves” rhymes is regrettable, but perhaps it was inevitable given the subject matter.

Here’s the best I can do without them…

Barn floor scholars made reference
To the question of cows’ flooring preference.
But it seems Elsie thought
That a groove or a slot
Was a matter of udder indifference.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The contest judges lament the inevitable appearance and reappearance, in almost any discussion involving the subject of cows, of puns involving the words “udder” and “utter.”

His colleagues and friends call him “Maggot Man.” He is one of the world’s foremost forensic entomologists, and even in that darkly cheery profession, he stands out for his sense of humor and encyclopedic curiosity. He is of course an editorial board member of the Annals of Improbable Research. He is a much-published author. He is the subject of a remarkable play. He is Mark Benecke. If you’ve got a crime scene with insects, call him. Or for now, explore his home page, which is here.

A Mrs. Hodges of Sylacauga, Alabama, is reported to be the first human being directly struck by a falling meteorite. Her story, is told in part here.

Mrs. Hodges’s first name has been variously reported to be either “Hulitt” or “Ann.” Thanks to investigator Benjy Berglas for bringing this to our attention. Investigator Berglas also sent us a copy of the newsletter Wooster Sauce, describing the short story that P.G. Wodehouse wrote in honor of Mrs. Hodges and especially of the legal battle that was triggered by her meteoric collision.

The perfect Valentine’s Day gift for a scientist? A juicy problem to solve. We recommend:

“Love’s Problem,” Janet M. Becker and Michael Bevis, Geophysical Journal International, vol. 156, no. 2, February 2004, p. 171. The authors, who are at the University of Hawaii, explain that:

“Explicit expressions for the displacements generated in a non-gravitating, homogeneous, semi-infinite half-space by uniform surface pressure applied over a rectangular region are presented. These complement expressions for the associated stress field given by Love in 1929.”

The article is online (for subscribers of Geophysical Journal International, anyway) here. And if you can’t access the online version of that earthiest of journals? Head to the nearest research library, and grab the paper version.

(Thanks to Investigator Tom Gill for bringing this to our attention.)

If you’re in or near Seattle tomorrow night, Feb 13, come to the free Improbable Research show. Here are details:

AAAS ANNUAL MEETING, SEATTLE – FRI, FEBRUARY 13, 2004
SHERATON HOTEL, METROPOLITAN BALLROOM

The annual Improbable Research show, at the annual meeting
of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

FREE — OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

Performers include:

AIR editor MARC ABRAHAMS — “A Look at the New Ig Nobel Prize Winners”

KAREN HOPKIN - “The Studmuffins of Science Project”

GREG CROWTHER - “Jelly Electrophoresis: The truth about jelly molecules”

YORAM BAUMAN - “Mankiw’s Ten Principles of Economics, Translated”

EUGENIE SCOTT and the STEVES - “The Latest on Project Steve”

KRISTEN ROSENFELD and IAN SWEENEY, she the legendary chanteuse, he the legendary chanteur, both from the Second Story Repertory Theater, will perform songs from Ig Nobel mini-operas

…and MORE.

Bring family and friends. A map showing the location of the hotel is here.

Scientists often forget to carry their credentials with them. Investigator Earle Spamer, of Philadelphia, sends this first-hand account, which shows the value of carrying proper credentials:

On a recent visit to the airport, I was asked to show identification. Upon producing a photographic driver’s license and my official Improbable Research Investigator card, I was immediately set upon by anxious hooligans in the execution of their official duties. I protest. I am an official, card-carrying Investigator. Also, I believe that my beard gives me a respectable (and admirable) profile. To add insult to injury, they would not validate my parking stub.

What is the yellow cake, and what makes it yellow rather than merely cake?
“The Yellow Cake” is the title of an article by Andrzej Roslanowski
and Saharon Shelah, published in the Proceedings of the American
Mathematical Society…

So begins this week’s Improbable Research column in The Guardian. Read it here.