Aesthetic surgeons in the business of facial wrinkle reduction have noted that if one weakens the glabella muscle with injections of AbobotulinumtoxinA without also weakening the frontalis muscle, unwanted side effects can occur. Known in the trade as ‘Spock,’ ‘Joker,’ or ‘Mephisto’ eyebrows. These side effects can be avoided by also injecting the fontalis muscle […]
Month: May 2016
Do a person’s genes predict how high they will go in school? — The 3.2% solution
Scholars have wondered whether (and in some cases, assumed that) success in schools comes largely from the good genes a person inherits. A new study of scholars and their genes provides evidence that YES, IT DOES, sort of, a little bit, maybe. The study is powerful — its authors tell us exactly how powerful. The study is “Genome-wide association study […]
The physics of skulking and falling cats [podcast 63]
The twists and turns of explaining how cats twist and turn when they fall from above or skulk about — that’s what fills this week’s Improbable Research podcast. SUBSCRIBE on Play.it, iTunes, or Spotify to get a new episode every week, free. This week, Marc Abrahams — with dramatic readings by Chris Cotsapis — tells about: The Falling Cat Phenomenon — Kane, T. R., and M. […]
Mooning the Ig
In the year 2000, the Ig Nobel Prize for economics was awarded to The Reverend Sun Myung Moon, for bringing efficiency and steady growth to the mass-marriage industry, with, according to his reports, a 36-couple wedding in 1960, a 430-couple wedding in 1968, an 1800-couple wedding in 1975, a 6000-couple wedding in 1982, a 30,000-couple wedding […]