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.)