“A New Understanding of the Way Enzymes Work” says the headline on a press release published by Science Daily. Jerry Lettvin [pictured here] heralded this breakthrough long before it happened. Jerry said: “Enzymes are things invented by biologists that explain things which otherwise require harder thinking.”
Month: May 2011
Tongue-Strengthening Exercises for Rats
Investigator Ben Broughton writes: “I came across this paper while looking to settle an argument about whether muscles need hinges to produce significant power. The researchers fabricated an apparatus to measure the force of a rat’s tongue. The paper explains that with training, a young rat can increase the force its tongue can produce by 250%, […]
Improbable TV: Tay Bridge Disaster recited on a train on the bridge
Here’s a new episode of the Improbable Research TV series. It’s the 4th of many episodes featuring the bad poetry of William Topaz McGonagall. (For no good reason at all, we are releasing this 4th episode before we release the 3rd episode.) William Topaz McGonagall, who died in 1902, is widely regarded as the worst poet […]
The value of love, according to Bob Dylan
In honor of Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday, here is a Dylan-derived mathematical study about the value of love. We originally published it in vol 1, no. 5 of the Annals of Improbable Research (thanks to investigator Lynne Cohen for suggesting it re-appear today). Click on the link to download the entire study, which begins: The […]