When Maurice Ward began tinkering with chemicals in a ladies’ hairdressing salon he never dreamed he was on the way to revolutionizing the American space program. All the Middlesbrough hairdresser was trying to achieve was a flame retardant wig but it eventually led to the discovery of a plastic that can stop a nuclear blast. […]
Month: May 2005
Spanking and mice
Sergei Speransky Institute of Hygiene in Novosibirsk is in the news again. A March 26, 2005 article in Pravda reports that: Doctor of Biological Sciences, Sergei Speransky, is a very well known figure in Novosibirsk. The doctor became one of the authors of the shocking whipping therapy. The professor used the self-flagellation method to cure […]
Security guard research review
A special "Security Guard Research Review" — which can (and is) described as "a look at some looks at those who stand guard" — appears in the special Security Issue of the Annals of Improbable Research.
Colonic investigations
It is now 10 years since Sue Ziebland and Catherine Pope published their landmark report “The Use of the Colon in Titles of British Medical Sociology Conference Papers, 1970 to 1993” …. So begins this week’s Improbable Research column in The Guardian
Gluteal hardness in security guards
Peter Freundlich’s how-to study "Assessing Gluteal Hardness in Security Guards," appears in the special Security Issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. It begins: Here is something that will almost certainly happen to you at some point in your life, if it hasn?t happened repeatedly already: You will be engaged in what seems to you […]
Another take on another take on chemistry
The re-Discovery Institute says that its " primary focus is to extend and promote Design Theories, which have been so successful in Biology, to the fields of Chemistry, Astronomy, Physics and Geology." Its greatest triumph, so far, is the revised periodic table of the elements: The re-Discovery Institute is inspired partly by the supercharged discoveries […]
May mini-AIR
The May issue of mini-AIR just went out. It includes news about the until-now-unreported Hawking Briefs scandal.
Zen of likelihood in a nutshell
Peter Foster (of London’s Natural History Museum) is the author of "The idiot’s guide to the zen of likelihood in a nutshell in seven days for dummies, unleashed — A gentle introduction, for those of us who are small of brain, to the calculation of the likelihood of molecular sequences." (Thanks to Kristine Danowski and […]
Most double-edged name in medical devices?
What is the most double-edged name in the medical device industry? Maybe this: http://www.gotyournumber.com. The web site is all about "The patented Pharmanex? BioPhotonic Scanner." The scanner scans the palm of your hand, and then produces a number. The manufacturer has a nifty rock video on which a man says: "I guarantee that your number […]
Finnish troll treatise
It’s old news to some, but as the headline says: "Finland receives first PhD in trolls." The degree was conferred at and by ?bo Akademi University.