In the ten-years-on spirit of our looks back at AIRhead Project 2000, here’s a predictive research study: “An Assessment of Where People Will Witness the First Sunrise of the New Millennium,” Peter D. Lechtner, Philip A. Blain, Norris D. McWhirter, and Ingrid S. Kristament, Geographical Journal, vol. 163, no.3, July 1997, pp. 251-8.
Year: 2009
Little train info and a little train info
Here are this month’s Railroads for Physicists links (thanks to investigator David Kessler for bringing them to our attention): 1. Info about train travel to the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. 2. Info about: (A) the toy train inside the National Spherical Torus Experiment at the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab; and (B) the NY Times account […]
The hair of Father Time
John Ptak points out that Father Time, though often portrayed during his end-of-year bald phase, was once seen as an unruly-haired fellow: This image proves that even Time itself can have a bad hair day, from time to time. The woodcut image appears as the printer’s mark (of Simonem Colineum, or Simon de Colines) in […]
“Diarrhoea vaccine guinea pigs wanted”
“Diarrhoea vaccine guinea pigs wanted for free holidays” is the headline on a BBC report that begins: A US company is offering free holidays in Mexico and Guatemala for volunteers on a diarrhoea drug programme…. The trial is in a part of the world where travellers’ diarrhoea is rife. A total of 1,800 volunteers are […]
Swiss researchers hold their faces
In this photo, three out of four Swiss physicists hold their faces.
Potheads: Teapot-head hunting
Please join is in the sport of commemorative head-of-real-person teapot hunting. Several are pictured below. Click on each image to get to the web site where it originates. Here are Kim Jong Il, Winston Churchill, Hitler, and Lady Diana (it is not immediately clear to us where the tea emerges from Lady Diana — her […]
Sorta-seems-scientifical: shoe memories
The Telegraph reported on a kinda-sorta-seems-scientifical research project, complete with cryptic explanation by experts. (Thanks to investigator Scott Langill for bringing it to our attention): more than 92 per cent of women could remember the first shoes they bought with their own money. Less than two, however, in three recalled the name of the person […]
So simple that only a child can do it…
A new study reaffirms the Tom Lehrer song that mathematics, as presented by professionals, is “so very simple that only a child can do it.” The study is “What Do Transitive Inference and Class Inclusion Have in Common? Categorical (Co)Products and Cognitive Development,” published in the December 2009 issue of PLoS Computational Biology. The authors […]
Digital clock (for those who wood)
Investigator Roberto Lopez alerts us to this wooden digital clock, which is manually operated by many men working together. Click on the image to see it in operation.
Petting pets, inviting immunity
Ig-Nobel-winning work, in some cases, is just one step in pursuing an idea down a long path. “Effect of Petting a Dog on Immune System Function,” C.J. Charnetski, S. Riggers, and F.X. Brennan, Psychological Reports, vol. 95, no. 3, part 2, December 2004, pp. 1087–91 [AIR 15:4]. Charnetski and Brennan, who shared the 1997 Ig […]