Improbable Research

We encourage everyone to pack gel-filled bras in their checked baggage.

So says the U.S. Transportation Security Agency, in its advisory for airplane passengers.

Mexico was the site of an historic meeting between two Ig Nobel Prize winners.

2000 Ig Nobel Prize Literature Prize winner Jasmuheen (honored for her book “Living on Light,” which explains that although some people do eat food, they don’t ever really need to) recently met 1998 Ig Nobel Prize winner Deepak Chopra (honored for his unique interpretation of quantum physics as it applies to life, liberty, and the pursuit of economic happiness.), according to a report in the August 2006 issue of Jasmuheen’s newsletter:

I enjoyed catching up with Deepak Chopra over a cup of coffee in Mexico this May where his focus was on a global Peace Alliance. With 35 wars currently happening on our planet he has formulated a simple program to tune us all into a more peaceful state of co-existence.

Despite that mention (perhaps a typographical error?) of a cup of coffee, Jasmuheen is reportedly still consuming only light meals — that is, meals consisting only of sunlight — without partaking of any other kind of nourishment.

Jasmuheen also reports that she remains affiliated with the CIA (the Cosmic Internet Academy).

Why do Bedouins wear black robes in hot deserts? The question so intrigued four scientists - all non-Bedouins - that they did an experiment. Their study, called Why Do Bedouins Wear Black Robes in Hot Deserts?, was published in the journal Nature a quarter of a century ago.

“It seems likely,” the scientists wrote, “that the present inhabitants of the Sinai, the Bedouins, would have optimised their solutions for desert survival during their long tenure in this desert….

So begins this week’s Improbable Research column in The Guardian.

WOMEN eat more unhealthy foods and tend to put on weight when they move in with a male partner, according to a new report by the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. On the other hand, a man’s diet tends to become healthier when he starts cohabiting with a female partner - and her influence has a long-term positive impact.

So says an April 5, 2006 press release issued by the university. It pertains to a study done by Dr. Amelia Lake. Dr. Lake’s home page includes a section headlined:

Esteem Indicators

To persons outside the UK, esteem indicators may seem a strange category to include on a CV, but esteemed persons inside the UK would likely explain, if asked, that these indicators are intended to be non-self esteem indicators rather than the self-esteem indicators that are so popular in the USA and in the Slovak Republic.

(Thanks to Investigator Kristine Danowski for bringing Dr. Lake’s relationship work to our attention.)

Alaska, the large yet little-populated, northenmost state in the USA, fascinates political scientists. This campaign poster (for the current governor’s re-election campaign) shows that politics is not just a science — it’s a sweet science.

Visit the campaign’s web site to see a larger version of the poster, and to hear the accompanying fight song.

(Thanks to a former Alaska resident for bringing this to our attention.)

Murray Gingras has joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists. Mike Caldwell, who nominated him, says:

In August 2006 an extraordinary project will bind France, Canada and a single man for an historic supersonic free fall. Michel Fournier will drop out of the stratosphere from an altitude from about 130,000 feet (40 kilometers, nearly 25 miles) above the plains of Saskatchewan, Canada.

So says Michel Fournier or his representative.

Reports do not indicate whether he plans to use safety equipment developed by Ig Nobel Prize winning grizzly bear adventurer Troy Hurtubise.

What breed of dog is most popular with scientists? The answer should be: Lab Rat Terriers. A lab rat terrier is the result of mating (a) a labrador retriever with (b) a rat terrier. However, few — if any — scientists own lab rat terriers.

If you own a lab rat terrier, we invite you to join the Association of Lab Rat Terrier Fanciers (ALRTF).

To join, send us a photograph of your lab rat terrier, with pithy-yet-informative accompanying background info. We will post the most lab-rat-terrierific of them here on the ALRTF web site. [Email to: "LAB RAT TERRIERS - ALRTF" c/o "marca AT chem2.harvard.edu"]

The ALRTF web site, like its quasi-companion, the LFHCfS (Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists) web site, is part of the Improbable Research web site.

King Tut’s Penis Rediscovered

is the headline on a May 3, 2006 report by Discovery News.

(Thanks to investigator Corine Daws for bringing this to our attention.)

Aaron Santos has joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists. He says:

They tell you that the learning curve is steep, but they can’t do it justice. It’s fucking vertical.

So says Dr. Noah Raizman about about his first week as a surgical intern.

In the lofty world of mental health professionals, how can one professional group maneuver itself to gain a lucrative mega-hunk of business? An August 10 Associated Press report suggests one possibility. The report begins with the ostensible real subject:

The American Psychological Association took a stand against torture Thursday but kept an existing policy saying that it’s ethical for psychologists to assist in military interrogations.

But the real story is compressed entirely into the final paragraph:

The American Medical Association has adopted what many view as a stronger stand against physician involvement in prisoner interrogation, echoing a position held by the American Psychiatric Association, whose members are medical doctors. The U.S. military has indicated it will therefore favor using psychologists, who are not medical doctors and are not bound by the other groups’ policies.

Of all the romance books ever written, which has the most surprising depths?

The Romance of Tristan and Iseult? No. The Romance of Isabel, Lady Burton? No.

The Romance of Pepperell, Being a Brief Account of the Career of Sir William Pepperell, Soldier, Pioneer, American Merchant and Developer of New England Industry, for Whom the Pepperell Manufacturing Company was Named, and the Towns of Saco and Biddeford in the State of Maine, Wherein the First Manufacturing Unit of the Pepperell Company was Established? No.

None of those books approaches the depths of Charles Elton Blanchard’s 1938 classic, The Romance of Proctology….

So begins this week’s Improbable Research column in The Guardian.

Kiju Lee has joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists. She says:

A classic parable, perhaps from France:

In the jungle of research, a small white rabbit stumbles upon a wolf.

“What’s a bunny doing here? ” says the famishus famishus wolf.
“I am doing an important piece of research work for my thesis, ” says the rabbit.
“And what is that?”
“It’s all about the superiority of rabbits on wolves.”
“Hin hin.”
“Dont you believe me? Come in my place.”

And no one ever heard about the wolf anymore.

Sometimes after that the rabbit meets a Tiger in the jungle of research. Asked what he is doing in such a perilous place, the rabbit says: “A thesis work on the superiority of rabbits on tigers. And if you don’t believe me, come to my place.”

And no one ever heard about the Tiger anymore.

And then just before his sabbatical year, the rabbit met with a fox in the jungle. He invites the fox, who do not believe in the superiority of rabbits on foxes, to come to his place. And inside the rabbit’s home, the fox sees a small amount of wolf bones, and next to them a not so small mount of tiger’s bones. And next to them, there is a table. Behind it, in an armchair, there is a lion. On the desk a small sign says “Director of Research.”
La morale: it does not matter what the subject of your thesis is, it’s what power you boss really has.

(Thanks to investigators Jean-Michel Bader and Jean-Luc Nothias for reminding us about this classic fairy tale.)