Improbable Research

Almost always, news media race to report a press release that says:

_______ cuts tumor growth in common lung cancer in half and significantly reduces the ability of the cancer to spread, say researchers at _______

However, that didn’t happen with a press release issued on April 17, 2007 by the American Association for Cancer Research, which says:

The active ingredient in marijuana cuts tumor growth in common lung cancer in half and significantly reduces the ability of the cancer to spread, say researchers at Harvard University who tested the chemical in both lab and mouse studies….

This news has been reported by just a very media outlets. Presumably, it would be of little interest to the public.

(Thanks to investigator Stephen Black for bringing this to our attention.)

The puzzle of the pebble that ‘ploufs’ or ‘plops’

Ever wondered why, sometimes when you throw a stone in a lake you hear ?plouf?, and another time you?ll hear ?plop??

No, neither has this column?s writer. But the phenomenon has clearly troubled some: a group of French researchers has received funding to explain the plouf/plop puzzle.

Oh the naivety, I hear the team say. Understanding why a pebble makes a plouf or plop sound is only the starting point for the scientists, from the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the University of Lyon, and could lead to technical advances to improve maritime safety….

So begins an unnamed writer in the March 23, 2007 issue of Cordis Express. He or she refers to the work of stone-skipping physicist Lyd?ric Bocquet. Bocquet’s (and colleagues’) study, called “Making a splash with water repellency”, published in Nature Physics, vol. 3, March 2007, can be downloaded at your pleasure.

(Thanks to investigator Margaret Christie for bringing this to our attention.)

Here are some runners-up in the Tiller Vibration Competition, announced in mini-AIR 2007-02, to create a limerick based on this research report:

“Vibration Characteristics of Walking and Riding Type Power Tillers,” Bini Sam and K. Kathirvel, Biosystems Engineering, vol. 95, no. 4, December 2006, pp. 517-28.

Here are those runners-up.

Investigator DENNIS MCGRATH:
Vibrations encountered while tilling
When seated are borderline thrilling,
But walking behind
Merely jostles the mind
And the body, which may not be willing.

Investigator DAVID F. FANNING:
Bob?s wife went to five different malls
a tiller to buy, she recalls.
She happily guessed
that the one he?d like best
was the one that would vibrate his balls.

Investigator RICHARD CLAWSON and an unnamed colleague:
My tiller’s vibration is neat,
I don’t have to use hands or feet,
I just ride all around
While it tills up the ground
and excites me somewhere in my seat.

The winner was announced in mini-AIR 2007-03.

Soap dominates the news this week.

SOAP NEWS #1: The Los Angeles Times reports. on April 17, 2007::

Drug tests exonerate punk rocker

[Don] Bolles, 50, the legendary drummer for the Germs, spent three days in jail after Newport Beach police said they found GHB, the date-rape drug, inside a bottle of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap in Bolles’ 1968 Dodge van.

Police ran a field test on the yellowish goop after stopping Bolles for a broken taillight on April 4.

But a more sophisticated analysis by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department crime lab detected no GHB in the soap, officials said Monday. As a result, all charges against Bolles will be dismissed, a spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney’s office said.

SOAP NEWS #2: Reuters reports, on April 20, 2007:

Bar of soap gives caffeine kick in the shower

Inventors have created a soap infused with caffeine which helps users wake up in the morning.

The soap, called Shower Shock, supplies the caffeine equivalent of two cups of coffee per wash, with the stimulant absorbed naturally through the skin, manufacturers say. “Tired of waking up and having to wait for your morning (coffee) to brew?” ask the makers…

(Thanks to investigator Mary O’Grady for bringing the Dr. Bronner’s soap to our attention, and to investigator Tom Ulrich for alerting us to the caffeinated cleaner.)

Joe Nacchio, a former AT&T executive tapped to transform Qwest Communications into a major telecommunications competitor, was convicted Thursday of 19 of 42 insider trading charges…

So says an April 19, 2007 Associated Press report. Mr. Nachio shared the 2002 Ig Nobel Economics Prize with all the other

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, 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.