Improbable Research

Pure mathematics often involves numbers. Pure mathematicians, unlike applied mathematicians, generally do not care where the numbers came from, or whether they correspond to anything that is (in the non-mathematics sense) real. A September 8, 2004 Newsweek report quotes a US government official about the use of pure math:

“It was meaningless when they said two thirds and it?s meaningless when they said three fourths,” said the official, who asked not to be identified. ?This sounds like it was pulled out of somebody?s orifice.?

A July 14, 2007 TPM report spotlights a (presumably different) government official who often uses pure math:

“That organization was smashed. Three-quarters of its leadership — or, I guess, two-thirds of its leadership has either been killed or captured.”

Robert Allgeyer’s “Pouring Ketchup — The full technical explanation” explains exactly that.

(Thanks to investigator Charles Manus for bringing this to our attention.)

Beth Snow has joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists. She says:

I currently coordinate a research training program in gender and addictions and am a Scientist in Residence with the Vancouver School Board in Vancouver.

Beth Snow, B.Sc.(Hons), MSc, PhD, LFHCfS
Program Coordinator
Integrated Mentor Program in Addictions Research Training
BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Scientist in Residence
Vancouver School Board
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
(Click on the photo to see more detail.)

Progress comes slowly on the question “Why does the chicken cross the road?” But come it does. The answers (for there seem to be many) strut in jerkily from different directions. A new study explains that magnetic fields play some sort of role, at least sometimes, in chickens’ decisions to navigate hither or yon.

The study has a title that seems swiped from a children’s book: The Magnetic Compass of Domestic Chickens, Gallus gallus. Published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, a publication that generally does not cater to youngsters, it adds flesh and feathers to the sketchy picture revealed in an earlier report called Chickens Orient Using a Magnetic Compass….

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

The question for psychologists is: How does one identify a liar? The following psychology text appears in a July 10, 2007 Associated Press report:

“In 32 years of service in courtrooms, as a prosecutor, as a defense attorney and now as a judge, I have quite frankly never confronted such a brazen situation of an individual attempting to avoid juror service,” Barnstable Superior Court Judge Gary Nickerson told Daniel Ellis, according to a preliminary court transcript of the exchange….

“You say on your form that you’re not a fan of homosexuals,” Nickerson said.

“That I’m a racist,” Ellis interrupted.

“I’m frequently found to be a liar, too. I can’t really help it,” Ellis added.

“I’m sorry?” Nickerson said.

“I said I’m frequently found to be a liar,” Ellis replied.

“So, are you lying to me now?” Nickerson asked.

“Well, I don’t know. I might be,” was the response.

Ellis then admitted he really didn’t want to serve on a jury.

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