There is an Improbable Event coming at Erasmus University Rotterdam (the Netherlands): on Tuesday, April 1 (16.00-17.30h), Ig Nobel prize winner and European Bureau Chief of Improbable Research Kees Moeliker will give the 2008 ‘Lof der Zotheid-lecture’ titled ‘Is there life after a dead duck?’. In fluent Dutch, Moeliker will speak about ?Onwaarschijnlijk Onderzoek en […]
Month: March 2008
Dawn Parker joins LFHCfS
Dawn Parker has joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists. She says: I interviewed for my current highly interdisciplinary position at George Mason on a 95 degree day in April, on which my luxuriant flowing tresses were nothing short of Medusa-like, meeting with the Provost and deans of three colleges as part of the […]
Bar glass insights celebrated
Research on the effects of thick versus thin bar glasses on injuries incurred in bar fights has paid off big for Professor Jonathan Shepherd of Cardiff University. The university notes: Professor Jonathan Shepherd, Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Director of the University?s Violence and Society Research Group, has been appointed Commander of the […]
David H. North joins LFHCfS
David H. North has joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists. Carol Lucier, who nominated him, says: In addition to having luxuriant flowing long hair, David is an analytical chemist for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, working in the Dartmouth Laboratory in Nova Scotia on the analysis of antibiotic drug residues in fish. The […]
Siegfried Peer joins LFHCfS
Siegfried Peer has joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists. He says: I have got luxurious flowing hair in general, but I have luxuriously flowing hair only once or twice a week. I am Professor of Radiology at the Innsbruck Medical University Department of Radiology, where I am the section head of the sections […]
Wassersuggiana (part 1 of 2)
Why would a scientist talk 11 other scientists into eating tadpoles? To answer a scientific mystery, of course; and also because he could. The incident resulted in a 1971 study called On the Comparative Palatability of Some Dry-Season Tadpoles from Costa Rica. Tadpoles come in a wild variety of patterns and colours. Most blend in […]
Cowboy production of flatulence
How much flatulence does a cowboy produce? A brief Spanish-language video shows, measures, and tells. The video is derived from a BBC production, which says: Which one of our cowboys expelled the most gas after 24 hours? Well, both Laura and Kyle expelled over 3 litres of gas, above average for human gas production. (Thanks […]
Some further works by an under-publicized researcher
In early 2004, we glanced at Professor Lester‘s then-approximately 1500 published studies (see “Way to Go, David Lester,” AIR 10:2). Later, we looked at a few of his several hundred publications from the years 2005 and 2006 (see “Lester’s Latest: 2005 & 2006,” “The Economic Art of Suicide,” “Tips from a Master,” and “A Rivalry […]
Martin Schiavenato joins LFHCfS
Martin Schiavenato has joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists. He says: I do pediatric pain research, particularly facial expressions and their role in the communication of pain. This partially explains my inability to form a decent smile; too self-conscious. Also, I have a rather inborn inability to form a decent smile. Alas, I […]
Puzzling Solutions
Solution to Last Month?s Puzzler Once you have completed the instructions given in the puzzler, it is a simple matter to complete the transformation of Robert Hooke?s drawing of a flea into a working replica of James Watt?s steam engine. (That?s an excerpt from the article ?Puzzling Solutions,? published in AIR 14:1.)