Improbable Research

We had somehow not been aware that transparent duct tape is now a reality. Details are here.

(Thanks to Investigator Eric Workman for bringing this to our attention.)

This provides a transparent excuse to mention out Duct Tape Opera, which premiered at the 1998 Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony. See the mini-opera’s libretto here.

The mystery of the existence of Mikhailov (see “On the Existence of Mikhailov” and “Notes on the Existence of Mikhailov,” both of which appeared in AIR 10:2) has a parallel.

To glimpse it, see The Riddle of the Self.

The inception of PROJECT “INSECT MUNCH KABOOM” (announced in mini-AIR 2004-04) roused Investigator Gary Dryfoos:

Okay, first of all, I don’t think you can get most insects to blow at all, never mind in a specified direction. For a lot of them, it would seem their necks wouldn’t bend back enough for them to blow up — so would they have to lie on their backs, or what? And with those little spiracles, I’m not sure they could take such a deep breath to blow anything with.

Now we’re not gonna call it “blowing” if it’s passing insect gas in some other direction, right? Your bombardier beetle could do that of course, so if you got him to stand on his head, there’s one insect that could blow up, if you count that as “blowing”, or “up.”

You know, come to think of it, maybe if you could stop up the back-end of a bombardier beetle, you could get it to explode. So there’s blowing up your insect if that’s what you want. But I’m not sure what you’d have to feed it to get it stopped up and gassy. Maybe a lot of grilled jalapeno-cheese sandwiches?

For ants though, I don’t believe there’s anything to feed them if you want them to blow up. Except eating Pop Rocks and drinking Fizzies, of course, just like the rest of us.

Finally, do you think that “Insect Munch Kaboom” would be a good name for a snack food? I’m thinking something between Chex Party Mix and Screaming Yellow Zonkers, you know?

Curiosity is generally a good thing, but perhaps it is possible to have too much of it. Investogator Ron Josephson alerted us to a news report about too-brainy curiosity. The report appeared on television station KUSA, channel 9, Denver Colorado, on February 23, 2004. See it here.

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

Contents include, among other things:

/ The Sniffing of Efficient Clerks
/ Historic Bear Suit
/ Project Nano
/ Nano Nota Bene
/ Science of Cooking: Sponges
/ Walked Knots Poet
/ Posthumous Politics Proliferates
/ Sorgenfrey-Line Limerick Contest
/ Hernia, Grizzly Bear, and Espresso