Thousands of songs, poems, novels and movies explore the link between obsession, compulsion and romantic love. So, too, does at least one published scientific study. Donatella Marazziti, Alessandra Rossi and Giovanni B Cassano of the University of Pisa, and Hagop S Akiskal, of the University of California San Diego, undertook the first thorough biochemical investigation […]
Month: November 2007
Gaap!
Wolter Seuntjens, the world’s best-known and perhaps most philosophically-dedicated scholar on yawning, has a new book out. It’s called Gaap! The title, like the book, is in Dutch. An interview with the author, on the Dutch television program De Wereld Draait Door, is also in Dutch. Click here to see and hear it (the interview […]
Group photo experiment at Imperial College
These five photographs (below) are the results from an experiment performed November 26 at Imperial College London. 2006 Ig Nobel Mathematics Prize co-winner Piers Barnes was a featured lecturer at the evening’s special Improbable Research event. Dr. Barnes described his Ig-winning research — the calculation of how many photos one must take of a group […]
The Revised Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale
If you know nothing else about the Revised Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale, you should know this: The Revised Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale includes a 13-item shyness scale and a 20-item shyness scale. The original, unrevised Shyness Scale includes a 9- item shyness scale. It, the original, was devised by J.M. Cheek and A.H. […]
Chicken and hamster, from afar
Here are two projects by investigator Adrian Cheok 1. How to make your pet chicken feel loved even when you are 2000 miles away. 2. How to enjoy quality time with your pet hamster in a virtual reality game (Thanks to investigators Elaine Chew and Alex Francois for bringing this to our attention.)
Professor Breedlove points the finger further
Professor C. Marc Breedlove has sent us another letter (click here to read about his first letter). Professor Breedlove measures the lengths of people’s fingers. His two letters refer to the graph at right, of which we originally wrote: In 2000, his study, Finger-length Ratios and Sexual Orientation, appeared in the journal Nature. It features […]
BABES is The Bay Area Bug Eating Society.
Simply put: BABES is The Bay Area Bug Eating Society.
Ig radio broadcast on NPR “Science Friday”
The annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony radio broadcast happens today ? Friday, November 23. This is the specially edited version of the ceremony. In most (but not all) places that have an NPR station, it begins at 3 pm eastern time. To check times ? or to listen over the web ? see the Science […]
Professor Breedlove points the finger
Professor C. Marc Breedlove, who measures the lengths of people’s fingers, and who was mentioned in one of our recent Guardian columns, sent us a letter. He says that: 1. We were probably wrong to call him “a giant” in that field. 2. We got the facts of one of his studies wrong: “Apparently you […]
The head of your turkey
If you are not consuming the head of your Thanksgiving Turkey, you may consider the ‘Freeze Dry Service’ offered by Hazel Creek Inc. of Green Castle, Missouri. Here is the procedure: Cut head off and freeze as quickly as possible. Freeze heads in a small amount of water in a Ziploc bag. Place heads in […]