Censored Science Fair

Investigator Steve Auerweck, who is a science-fair enthusiast, writes: I’m reading a novel by T.C. Boyle based on the Kinsey sex research project, and googled a few terms, leading to this page: http://www.all-science-fair-projects.com/science_fair_projects_encyclopedia/Bartholin’s_gland It doesn’t exactly lead to all the info we’d need for our science fair projects.  Too bad.  We could probably really impress […]

Hello Dolly (Yo, Marlene)

"The study of Marlene Dietrich‘s relationship with her dolls has taken me into some new research territory." With these words Judith Mayne, the distinguished professor of French studies and Italian studies and women’s studies at Ohio State University, takes all of us into new territory…. So begins this week’s Improbable Research column in The Guardian.

Cruise Invitation for Hairy Scientists

There’s exciting news for the members of the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS). Carnival Cruise Lines seems to be inviting the members and their hair to embark on a group cruise. Here is the invitation: Hi, I want to introduce myself, I am Todd Satterlee, Business Development Manager for Carnival Cruise Lines. I […]

What’s In a Name?

We receive many unusual press releases. Here is one that came in recently: PRESS RELEASE Date: October 22, 2004 The Wade Research Foundation (W.R.F.), a non-profit corporation headquartered in Somerset, New Jersey, USA, has just released a report about the successful testing of new concept whereby a person’s name (or other word that can be […]

The Owney of Slough

In re our report on Owney, the Postal dog, investigator Chris Leadbeater writes: Here’s a British equivalent for Owney, not quite but this dog used to hang around the station, took trips on trains and collected money for charity." The British dog-in-a-box, in the fabled-yet-actual town of Slough, is called Station Jim. To some observers, […]

Clear-and-Pithy (Snyder)

Here are the winners, and some runners-up, in the Clear-and-Pithy contest that was announced in mini-AIR 2004-11. The contest was to translate this scholarly thought into a clear, accurate SEVEN-WORD summary that ANYONE can understand: "Specifically, I have been concerned with the processes by which individuals construct and enact motivational ‘agendas for action’ that draw […]

Self-Caught Fish

Self-caught fish. This term, long misunderstood (as is the “nonsmoking room”), finds and increased level of acceptance and use. So writes investigator Paul Price, who cites two examples that were presented to the Society for Risk Analysis. One is a research report titled “Rum and Fish: Using Recreational Models To Assess Exposure from Consuming Self-Caught […]

A look at the Ig Ceremony

The official report about the 2004 Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony includes some nice — and memorable — photos. It is published in the November-December issue of the magazine. The issue will be emerging from the printer any day now. You can get an advance look, because we’ve put part of the Ig report up on […]