Improbable Research

A report in the February 13, 2005 issue of India Daily brings startling news:

Invisible tiny UFO caught on chemical-imaging camera

Staff Reporter
Feb. 13, 2005

In India?s one of the premiere research and development laboratories… According to sources, while analyzing data the scientists came across something very strange and bizarre. A set of photos showed a tiny miniature Unidentified Flying Object. The IR camera failed to capture the same because apparently the UFO was using frictionless traction with anti-gravity lifting mechanisms. But the chemical-imaging camera picked it up.

According to some of these scientists, the group is now investigating if invisible UFOs are all around us.

The news is startling because it carries the modern hallmark of authenticity. The premiere research and development lab is not identified and neither is the reporter.

In recent years, this has become a way in which certain government officials (in several countries) disseminate information that they decide is of great public importance. The reasoning behind this is quite solidified. Releasing such details might (1) put key government personnel at risk in some way; and (2) confuse the public understanding by introducing more facts than people are able to digest in an appropriate way.

(Thanks to Tim Spellman for bringing this to our attention.)

Beaver snails can be delightful.

Today, Valentine’s Day, is as good a time as any to consider the merits of William Cane, the self-confessed kissing expert, and his multimedia presentation on ocsculation.

Here is another student essay suggestion from our Improbable Social Science Project. The short film "Queen of the House" encapsulates, one way and another, everything a student needs to begin understanding the world’s most proudly peculiar country, the United States of America. A teacher would do well to ask students virtually any question about how this film elucidates American culture, politics, and history then (the year 1965, when it was made) and now.

(We are grateful to the Scopitones web site for making this film available for study. Students may also want to read the words to "Queen of the House." They were written by Roger Miller and Mary Taylor. The main performer is Jody Miller.)

A report in the February 11, 2005 issue of The Guardian tells of the agonizing delemma of smart trash:

Residents of Croydon, south London, have been told that the microchips being inserted into their new wheely bins may well be adapted so that the council can judge whether they are producing too much rubbish.

If the technology suggests that they are, errant residents may be visited by officials bearing advice on how they might "manage their rubbish more effectively".