Improbable Research

He who prays fervently courts danger - neurological danger. [Click on the image to see video.]
This stark fact has only recently been reported to the public, in a study published by five neurologists at Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel in Germany. But fear not - the risk for any particular individual is low. In the recorded history of the world, the physicians try to assure us, this is probably the very first case….

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

The November issue of mini-AIR just went out. It touches on Heckman’s Panache and each of the following topics: Hole, Cork, Fork, Spider, Gals, Enema, Bird, Head, and Thought that Impedes.

(If you would like to have mini-AIR automatically sent to your email box every month, please subscribe to it. It’s free.)

These are some of the runners-up in the Sausage Illumination Limerick Competition. The goal was to write a limerick that elucidates this study:

“The Relationship of Illumination to the Color and Acceptability of Fermented Sausage,” S. Barbut, Journal of Muscle Foods, vol. 13, no. 1, March 2002, pp. 13–23. (Thanks to Earle Spamer for bringing this to our attention.)

The winner was announced in mini-AIR 2006-10. Here are some secondary sausages:

INVESTIGATOR JONATHAN ROSS:
Some salamis exposed to a spectrum
Of light make us want to reject ‘em
For their discolored look
Makes them often mistook
For the product of somebody’s rectum

INVESTIGATOR Peter Bush:
When building up muscle at night
Incandescence is needed for sight
Selecting pastrami
Or pinkish salami
Requires an acceptable light.

INVESTIGATOR FREDERICK RENNERT :
Its colors all gaudy and gay
Any sausage will flaunt all the day.
But all night it laments,
As it slowly ferments,
“In the dark every sausage is gray!”

INVESTIGATOR LESLIE ROSENBLOOD:
The way that a sausage is made
Is rarely if ever, displayed.
But when placed in full sight
Under some kinds of light
One can see just how much it’s decayed.

INVESTIGATOR DEBBIE HECHT:
Green salami isn’t appealing?
The color leaves customers reeling?
There’s no need for shame -
The lighting’s to blame.
So just change the bulb in the ceiling.

I would not know which drug could possibly help a chess player to improve his game. But, yes, there will be official monitors who may demand that players undergo a drugs test after the rounds.

So says chess competition manager Yousuf Ahmad Ali, in a November 28, 2006 Reuters report headlined:

“Chess players to face anti-doping measures.”

According to the report, it’s all being done as a matter of prestige.

(Thanks to investigator Tatiana Divens for bringing this to our attention.)

Maribelis Santiago has joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists. Peter VanZandt, who nominated her, says:

In addition to her chem lab bench work Maribelis also handles all our recycling activities.

Maribelis Santiago, BS, LFHCfS
Chemist
USDA Forest Service
International Institute of Tropical Forestry
Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico

(Click on the photo to see more detail.)

Richard Monvoisin has joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists. He says:

I’d be proud to be a member. And I swear I’ll spread my proudness through my country.

Richard holds a MSc in physics and has specialized in the study of processes that transfer knowledge and the biases involved as well as in the philosophical problems posed by pseudo-scientific or pseudo-medical belief systems. He is a PhD student in didactics of experimental sciences and is teaching zetetics, critical thinking and scientific investigation of extraordinary claims at the University of Grenoble.

Richard Monvoisin, MSc, LFHCfS
Teacher of Critical Thinking
University of Grenoble 1, France
Laboratoire Zététique, Nice, France

(Click on the photo to see more detail.)

2002 Ig Nobel Chemistry Prize winner Theo Gray has produced a poster of his famous periodic table table.

Researchers have determined that airbags and antilock braking systems do not reduce the likelihood of accidents or injuries because they may encourage more aggressive driving, thwarting the potential benefits of such safety features.The behavior responsible for this seeming paradox is called the offset hypothesis, which predicts that consumers adapt to innovations meant to improve safety by becoming less vigilant about safety, said Fred Mannering, a professor of civil engineering at Purdue University.

So says a September 27, 2006 press release issued by Purdue University. The study to which it refers will be published in The Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, or so they (its authors) say.(Thanks to investigator Steve Nadis for bringing this to our attention.)

Adults take note: Pony comes unassembled in box with head detatched [sic]. You may wish to not open the box around your children if they may be frightened by a box with a decapitated horse inside.

So reads an advertisement for the Hasbro FurReal Friends Butterscotch Pony. The pony can be purchased for $399.99

The annual special Ig Nobel broadcast happens this Friday, November 24 — the day after (American) Thanksgiving — on National Public Radio’s Science Friday program. Continuing a 13 or 14 year-old tradition, the SciFri producers have boiled down a recording of the entire Ig Nobel ceremony, yielding up an hour-long highlights show, introduced by Ira Flatow.

The Science Friday program is two hours long. HOUR TWO will be the Ig Nobel broadcast. Listen on your local NPR station (if you have one, and if it carries both hours of the program), or listen on the web.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN AT 3pm EST (OR FIND ANOTHER LIVE ONLINE AUDIO WEBCAST.)

(NOTE to Boston/Cambridge radio listeners: Alas, you will NOT be able to hear it on station WBUR, because WBUR no longer broadcasts both hours of the Science Friday program. Who knows why.)

Can a machine identify what you’re chewing, merely from the sound? Yes, if you are at a laboratory in Zurich, Switzerland, or Hall-in-Tirol, Austria, and if you are chewing potato chips, apples, mixed lettuce, pasta or boiled rice.

Oliver Amft, Mathias Stäger and Gerhard Tröster, of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and Paul Lukowicz, of Austria’s University for the Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, describe their work succinctly: “Using wearable microphones to detect and classify chewing sounds (called mastication sounds) from the user’s mouth.” But, they explain, this is just stage one of their dream…

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

While attending trade shows for various organic conferences and health shows, I was surprised by the number of people inquiring about organic coffee for enema use.

So says the supplier of S.A. Wilson’s Therapy Blend Enema Coffee. The enema itself requires the expected set of equipment.

(Thanks to G.G. Norquist for bringing this to our attention.)

The “just-in-time” concept trumpeted by business gurus has arrived in the medical publishing world. Now, published just in time for (American) Thanksgiving, comes a rush of research articles about turkeys, fat, bloat, and related topics. The most marketably-titled study, perhaps, is this one:

“The Effect of the Thanksgiving Holiday on Weight Gain,” Holly R. Hull, Duncan Radley , Mary K. Dinger and David A. Fields, Nutrition Journal, vol. 5, no. 29, 2006, http://www.nutritionj.com/content/pdf/1475-2891-5-29.pdf. The authors, who are variously at the University of Oklahoma, at Leeds Metropolitan University, and at the Children’s Medical Research Institute, report:

We found over the Thanksgiving holiday an increase of 0.5 kg in body weight. Although this may seem like a trivial amount of weight, considering the short time frame, this is troublesome since previous research suggests weight gained during holiday periods is retained (Yanovski 2000). Therefore, we found in our sample, the Thanksgiving holiday represented a critical period for weight gain and obesity development. Additionally, it seems as though graduate students or those who are already overweight/obese are at increased risk of greater weight gain.

(Thanks to investigator Albert Trajstman for bringing this to our attention.)

“The Physics of Something Awful” is a short (about ten minutes) video chock full of simulations of quick, nasty physical interactions of line drawings of people and other objects.

(Thanks to investigators Elaine and Robert Pement for bringing this to our attention.)

The Victoria & Albert Museum in London is showing animated versions of some of Leonardo da Vinci’s notebook drawings.

(Thanks to investigator Delia Frome for bringing this to our attention.)