"Could dandruff be altering the world?s climate?" That is the provocatively-worded question used to begin a news report that is almost as interesting as its beginning, The article, in New Scientist magazine, is about new research on what’s floating around in the atmosphere.
Month: March 2005
April mini-AIR
The April issue of mini-AIR just went out. It includes news about a sea monster discovery (a study to be published this month reveals something unexpected about the history of sea monster sightings.)
Reefer madness
Lock three men in a room, make them smoke cannabis, and then try to provoke them into being hostile. Thirty years ago a team of American doctors actually conducted this daring experiment…. So begins this week’s Improbable Research column in The Guardian
To want and want not
Investigator Jim Cowdery writes: Just in case you don’t already know about this: Komar & Melamid’s questionnaire project about desirable art was well-publicized, but I just discovered their similar project about desireable music, which resulted in a CD. "The most wanted song" is five minutes long and comprises a medium-sized group (guitar, piano, saxophone, bass, […]
History of the universe in 60 seconds
A video of Eric Schulman’s brilliant 60-second-long History of the Universe is now up on the National Science Foundation’s web site. It shows Dr. Schulman performing what was originally a 200-word written piece that appeared in the Jan/Feb 1997 issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. Dr. Schulman first performed it at the 1997 Ig […]
Hair of Pavlovic, hair of Dean
Mato Pavlovic of the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) in Berlin and Michael Dean of the University of Delaware have joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS).
Pepper’s yawning mistake
Relationships expert Dr.Pepper Schwartz, encountering the question "Last night I actually yawned in the middle of sex with my husband," replied with sub-optimal advice. Perhaps someone will point her to the definitive source of info on the subject: Wolter Seuntjens’s Ph.D thesis On Yawning or the hidden sexuality of the human yawn.
Thinking big and Earthy
In some circles, most of them fictional, people talk about how easy it would be to destroy the Earth. Sam Hughes, a mathematics student at Cambridge University, has done more than talk about it. In the noblest tradition of his profession, he has thought about it.
Beatle Wing Music
Musicologists have a delicious new stew of data to devour. A singer named Wing has moved from Hong Kong to New Zealand, where she has been laboring to adapt a traditional form of song called "Beatles music." One song — "I Want to Hold Your Hand" — may be of special interest to analysts. (Thanks […]
Bird upon bird…
Kees Moeliker‘s Ig Nobel Prize-winning report about a case of homosexual necrophilia in a Dutch mallard duck has had ramifications. Moeliker took part in the recent Ig Nobel Tour of the UK, which inspired the indefatigable journalist Donald MacLeod to (1) write a newspaper article that drew so much reader response that it crashed his […]