Does the left armpit smell like the right armpit? A research study explores that very question, and we explore that study, in 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 discusses a published armpitty study, with dramatic readings from biologist Christina Agapakis, who has smelled more armpits, mostly for scientific reasons, than most […]
Year: 2016
Lives of the great scientists: Professor Carrier meets the semicolon
From the SIAM obituary of applied mathematician George Carrier: Not one to polish text, or to pursue a subject beyond the essence of what he wanted to know, he was nevertheless pleased when the late Sydney Goldstein (who, he said, introduced him to the use of the semicolon) praised his writing as concise and precise.
Human Zombie Brain Activity, Measured and Documented
In real life, so to speak, does the brain keep on keeping on for a while after death? A newly published study, written by notably adventurous academics, says that yes, the brain can and does, kinda sorta: “When Is the Brain Dead? Living-Like Electrophysiological Responses and Photon Emissions from Applications of Neurotransmitters in Fixed Post-Mortem Human Brains,” […]
Earworms, Daydreams and Cognitive Capitalism (new study)
Although the cognitive neurosciences are currently conducting research to determine the brain networks that might be implicated in the production of ‘earworms’ – what about their role in contemporary capitalism’s encroachment on human cognitive capacities? For a discussion on this subject see the work of Eldritch Priest who is Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at […]