A team led by fertility expert Dr. Shevah Friedler at the Assaf Harofeh Medical Center studied 186 women aged 25 to 40 over 10 months, all of whom were undergoing embryo transfer treatment. While half were simply given the treatment and nothing else, the other group was entertained by a clown for up to 15 […]
Month: June 2006
Old advice updated
The medical advice “Don’t stand in an open field during a lightning storm” may be too old-fashioned. A letter in the June 24, 2006 issue of BMJ brings it up to date: Injury from lightning strike while using mobile phone Editor?We report the case of a 15 year old girl who was witnessed being struck […]
Further on flags (with baboons)
Added fuel expense (due to drag) turns out to but one of who-knows-how-many hazards incurred by flag-flying, auto-owning fans of England’s World Cup team. Here is another, reported by the BBC on June 21, 2006: Monkey gangs steal England flags A safari park in Merseyside is urging patriotic football fans to remove England flags from […]
Alcohol and handwriting
A research project in Turkey examined whether and how drinking affects the quality of one’s writing. This was “hard”, rather then “soft” science – it ignored anything fuzzy and hard-to-measure, such as the literary quality of the writing, or its emotional content. The experiment focused, with great discipline, on something that can be more objectively […]
Stochastic analysis of V. Martinez
Is it totally nerdy/creepy/loser-ish of me to say that I feel strangely compelled to send this guy an email and say hi? I also wonder if other people are looking at this entry and thinking the same thing. So writes the blogger known as Stochasticgirl, referring to recent Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists inductee […]
Greek virginity
Scholars of Greek virginity are, almost to a man or woman, conversant with the book: Greek Virginity, Giulia Sissa, translated by Arthur Goldhammer, Harvard University Press, 1990.
Thick heads and Ivan
However I still get frequent thick heads. This is but one of many persuasive testimonies to the work of Ivan Gellner, who offers healing at a distance. Ivan Gellner also has a hobby: he either paints or collects paintings (his information-filled web site is vague as to which). Perhaps best of all, he has a […]
Scenes from the Netherlands tour
We’ve posted some photos from the recent Improbable Research tour of The Netherlands.
Kachina Allen joins LFHCfS
Kachina Allen has joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists. She says: I am currently completing a PhD in pyschophysics (this obviously categorises me as a mad scientist) looking at “the cocktail party effect”. Sadly this involves no research alcohol, merely the study of hearing in noisy situations. I currently live in New York. […]
Manslaughter needs met
“I am a Butterworths Tolley man,” writes investigator Derek L. Palmenter, “and for most of my corporate manslaugher service needs I will have none except Butterworths Tolley’s 2003 effort.” Investigator Palmenter refers to the surprisingly readable volume: Butterworths Corporate Manslaughter Service, Gerard Forlin, Butterworths Tolley, 2002.