Introducing the Improbable Research weekly podcast: Podcast #1

Marc Abrahams

improbableresearchToday is the premiere of the weekly Improbable Research podcast. It’s all about research that makes people LAUGH, then THINK — research about anything and everything, from everywhere —research that’s good or bad, important or trivial, valuable or worthless.

CBS is distributing the Improbable Research podcast, both on the new CBS Play.it web site, and on iTunes. (Improbable Research is one of the new, original podcasts CBS is distributing. CBS also has a number of  podcasts of popular CBS radio programs and other longstanding CBS sources.)

Podcast #1: Homosexual necrophilia in the mallard duck

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This week, Marc Abrahams tells about:

  1. Homosexual necrophilia in the mallard duck. (“The First Case of Homosexual Necrophilia in the Mallard Anas platyrhynchos (Aves: Anatidae),” C.W. (Kees) Moeliker, Deinsea, vol. 8, 2001, pp.  243-7. / Kees Moeliker’s TED Talk. / De eendenman’ (The Duck Guy), 2009. / Dead Duck Day.)
  2. The karaoke pandemic. (” Effect of Hydration and Vocal Rest on the Vocal Fatigue in Amateur Karaoke Singers,” E.M. Yiu and R.M. Chan, Journal of Voice, vol. 17, no. 2, June 2003, pp. 216-27.)
  3. Artists’ suicides as economic boons. (Kurt  Cobain / Cameron, Samuel, Bijou Yang, and David Lester (2005). ‘Artists’ Suicides as a Public Good,’ Archives of Suicide Research 9 (4): 389–96. / Lester, David (2003). ‘Suicide by Jumping From a Bridge,’ Perceptual and Motor Skills 97 (1): 338.)
  4. Wascally wabbit wrapping. (Greenway, G. W., and R. E. Garcia Via (1977). ‘Designing and Testing an Improved Packaging for Large Hollow Chocolate Bunnies,’ TAPPI Journal, 80 (8): 133. / Vilela, P. M., and D .Thompson (1999). ‘Viscoelasticity: Why Plastic Bags Give Way When You Are Halfway Home,’ European Journal of Physics, vol. 20, no. 1, January 1999, pp. 15-20. )
  5. Dr. Alias, the hair man. (Alias, A. G. (1996) ‘A Statistical Association Between Liberal Body Hair Growth and Intelligence.’ Presented at the Eighth Congress of the Association of European Psychiatrists, London, UK,12 July. (1995) /. ‘Top Ranked Boxers Are Less Hirsute Than Lower Level Boxers: An Example For the Importance of 5-Alpha-Reductase?’ Biological Psychiatry, 37 (9): 612–13. (1995). /  ‘Non-Pathological Associational Loosening of Marlon Brando: A Sign of Hypoarousal?’ Biological Psychiatry, 37 (9): 613.)
  6. The mind of the waiter. (Bekinschtein, Tristan A., Julian Cardozo, and Facundo F. Manes. ‘Strategies of Buenos Aires Waiters to Enhance Memory Capacity in a Real-Life Setting.’ Behavioural Neurology, 20: 65–70.)
  7. Combing through the hair data. (Disney World /Robbins, Clarence, and Marjorie Gene Robbins (2003). ‘Scalp Hair Length. I. Hair Length in Florida Theme Parks: An Approximation of Hair Length in the United States of America,’ Journal of Cosmetic Science, 54 (1): 53–62.)