Improbable Research

A news report [you must be a subscriber of C&EN to read it, though] in the September 19, 2005 issue of Chemical & Engineering news says that:

The Swiss government has installed singing urinals in Switzerland’s public lavatories to help diagnose prostate problems. The urinals are powered by sensors that can tell if the stream of urine is satisfactorily strong. If so, the urinal starts to sing the European football cheer “Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole.” If not, a recorded message advises the user to go see a doctor.

(Thanks to Jeff Dougan for bringing this to our attention.)

Though it looks like an action multiple-exposure photo of a spitball nailing an especially good target  a photo by Peter den Hartog simply — well, maybe not so simply — shows an eclipse of the moon seen in Madrid.

Two of the most mathematically-adept Ig Prize winners — Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling — go on trial today in Houston, Texas. A CBS News report today says:

Lay and Skilling, almost literally, are the last men standing; the last Enron executives at the center of the scandal who have not pleaded guilty, had their own trials, or cut their own deals with the feds. They are both poster boys for what the company did for the City when times were flush, and then did to the City as it all unraveled.

The pair were honored in 2002, when that year’s Ig Nobel Economics Prize was awarded to:

The executives, corporate directors, and auditors of Enron, Lernaut & Hauspie, Adelphia, Bank of Commerce and Credit International, Cendant, CMS Energy, Duke Energy, Dynegy, Gazprom, Global Crossing, HIH Insurance [Australia], Informix, Kmart, Maxwell Communications, McKessonHBOC, Merrill Lynch, Merck, Peregrine Systems, Qwest Communications, Reliant Resources, Rent-Way, Rite Aid, Sunbeam, Tyco, Waste Management, WorldCom, Xerox, and Arthur Andersen, for adapting the mathematical concept of imaginary numbers for use in the business world.

We have just posted some photos from last year (2005)’s Ig Nobel Tour of the UK.

The schedule for this year’s tour — which will happen in March, for National Science Week — is taking shape, with shows in Oxford, St. Andrews, Warrington and London, and more to be announced. (If your institution would like to host an event — especially if you are in Edinburgh or London — please get in touch with us ASAP).

There is now a scholarly journal devoted to plagiarism, or at least to the study of plagiarism. Called Plagiary, it boasts an academically lurid tagline: "Cross-disciplinary studies in plagiarism, fabrication, and falsification."

One way or another, it makes for good copy. Scott McLemee’s fairly juicy Inside Higher Ed essay published January 25, 2006, mulls the background and place of this new publication.

(Thanks to investigator Kristine Danowski for bringing this to our attention.)

ABC News reports that:

Roo poo used to make paper
Anna Salleh
ABC Science Online

Friday, 18 February 2005
Paper made from kangaroo and wallaby dung has shot an Australian paper company into the global spotlight.

Joanna Gair, manager of handmade paper company Creative Paper Tasmania, says production of ‘roo poo paper’ only started in the past two weeks but she has been thinking about the idea for some time.

"I’ve been inspired by the African paper makers who’ve created an enormous industry out of elephant dung paper," she says. "I thought we needed an Australian version."