Investigator Gary Hallock was inpired by our recent report about the report about the relative jumping abilities of dog and cat fleas. He produced an epic poem. Here it is: FLEA’S A CROWD The Lord, hard at work on "creation" Distracted by itching sensation Discovered that fleas Were biting his knees What’s this? […]
Month: January 2005
Murphy’s Law and Saturn
Murphy’s Law covers all of time and space. It is newly demonstrated in this report from the Associated Press: David Atkinson spent 18 years designing an experiment for the unmanned space mission to Saturn. Now some pieces of it are lost in space. Someone forgot to turn on the instrument Atkinson needed to measure the […]
Curiosities of Bio Nomencalture
There are depths and shoals to explore in Mark Isaak’s Curiosities of Biological Nomenclature. Investigator Isaak writes: I would like to call your attention to two scientists whose contributions, perhaps, are worthy of recognition. Leigh Van Valen has expanded the horizons of paleontology into Middle Earth by naming at least 21 paleocene mammals after characters […]
January mini-AIR
The January issue of mini-AIR just went out.
Furnham the productive
Who is the most productive academic in the world? Adrian Furnham, maybe, a professor of psychology at University College London. He has seven nominal appendages, specifically: BA, MA, MSc, MSc (Econ), DPhil, DSc and DLitt. His CV is 55 pages long. This is perhaps worth repeating: Professor Furnham’s CV is 55 pages long… So begins […]
Hair for Canada
Canadian newspaper readers were treated to a luxuriant flowing photospread showing members of the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS). It appeared in the January 13, 2005 issue of the National Post.
Nano-Lectures at U Tasmania
Not so very long after the Ig Nobel event at the University of Tasmania, students there engaged in a nano-lecture competition. Wayne Goninon reports that "The idea was that students would describe their school in 7 words." Each of the winners received a copy of the book The Ig Nobel Prizes. Here are the winning […]
Troy: I see through walls
Here is further news about technologist/inventor/adventurer/real-life-action-hero Troy Hurtubise and his newest invention — a device that Troy says can see through walls . This is another thrilling new chapter in our continuing series of reports about the inventively adventurous exploits of the man who was awarded the 1998 Ig Nobel Prize in the field […]
Reading for pleasure: Mimesis
This week’s selection in our READING FOR PLEASURE series is "Mimesis as a phenomenon of semiotic communication."
Beating the dealer
Investigator David H. Grosof writes: A team of three successfully have used computation and communication devices to improve their odds at the roulette wheel, made 2.5 million bucks and did it legally. Reason: you can bet after the wheel has been spun, and they got enough data from imaging to improve their odds. I wonder […]