The February issue of mini-AIR just went out. Read it here. Contents include, among other things: / Baby in a Box / Beauty and Truth: The Results / Filth Question / Hellish Mathematician Wanted / The Flow of Knowledge / Bovine Indecision Poets / Ig Nobel Tour of Britain / Survey: Astronomers vs. Moons / […]
Month: February 2004
Sex Apology
We apologize to Dr. Sakae Inouye for changing his sex. The week-before-last-week’s Improbable Research column in The Guardian described Dr. Inouye’s well-articulated theory about how the SARS virus might be spread by people speaking one, rather than another, language. (See that column here.) Dr. Inouye subsequently sent us this note: Thank you for your introducing […]
Man of Letter
An errant letter has transformed an eminent scientist into a loaf of bread. Investigator Alain Le Faou of the Laboratoire Central de Virologie at the Centre hospitalier et Universitaire de Nancy writes: I feel honored to have received my official Improbable Researcher Card, but I would have been far more honored if I were not […]
Bovine Runners-Up
The Bovine Indecision Limerick Contest has produced a vast herd of runners-up. Here is a tiny selection. (The contest was announced in mini-AIR 2004-01. The winners will be announced in mini-AIR 2004-02) INVESTIGATOR B. ROBSON: Cows are not easily moved By questions of “slotted or grooved?” They’ll think you a bore If you ponder the […]
Groundhog Research
What is the scientific significance of Groundhog Day? Andrew J. Gerrard and his colleagues at Penn State University answered that question, and published a report in the Annals of Improbable Research. Read it here.