Here’s video of the premier performance of “The Incompetence Opera”: “The Incompetence Opera” is a musical encounter with the Peter Principle and the Dunning-Kruger Effect. And with the word “so.” This opera premiere was part of the 27th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, September 14, 2017, at Sanders Theatre, Harvard University. The opera is composed of three […]
Year: 2017
Further findings from rectums: A look back at what was in behinds
Barry Petchevsky performed his annual data-gathering exercise “What Did We Get Stuck In Our Rectums Last Year?” in Deadspin: All reports are taken from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s database of emergency room visits, and they are occasionally not for the faint of spirit…. GOLF BALL PEANUT BUTTER JAR SPRAY BOTTLE CURTAIN ROD “STUCK A TOY UP […]
Caroline’s Christmas, forgotten again
This Christmas we forgot, as we do every year, to publish Stephen Leacock’s “Caroline’s Christmas, or the Inexplicable Infant.” Here, three days late, is a snippet: “…The Old Homestead was mortgaged! Ten years ago, reckless with debt, crazed with remorse, mad with despair and persecuted with rheumatism, John Enderby had mortgaged his farmstead for twenty-four dollars […]
Audio-Based Caricature Exaggerations (new patent)
‘Caricaturization’ (the act of making a caricature of someone/something) can now be performed automatically – and not only that, it can be set to music. Matan Sela and colleagues at Prof. Ron Kimmel’s Geometric Image Processing Lab, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, have developed ‘A novel caricature generation framework for surfaces’. Computer Vision […]
A switch, in the brain, to control impulsive behavior! [Medical study]
Impulsive beliefs that someone has discovered a switch, in the brain, to control impulsive behavior! Such beliefs have impelled many scientists (professional, amateur, and imagined) to report that they have maybe, perhaps, almost-certainly, nearly-without-doubt discovered a switch, in the brain, to control impulsive behavior. A newly published study suggests that a team of scientists has […]
Deceptive-like behaviour in dogs (Canis familiaris)
Dogs are usually considered to be trustworthy pets, but a research (or perhaps research-like) study sheds light on dogs’ ability to use deceptive-like (ore perhaps deceptive) behaviour to get their way. The article “Deceptive-like behaviour in dogs” explains an experiment where …dogs had the chance to choose, in the presence of either a cooperative or […]
Boyband-induced breathing difficulties (new study)
“A 16-year-old female with a history of type 1 diabetes presented to the Emergency Department (ED) with shortness of breath. She denied chest pain or sore throat. She reported a sudden onset of symptoms after forceful screaming at the ‘‘One Direction’’ concert the night prior. She denied any preceding emesis, odynophagia, or cough. Her physical […]
The Case of the Neighbor’s Cat Causing Complications
Medical detectives must keep in mind, always, the possibility that a cat entered into the chain of events that brought a human patient to seek treatment. This newly published case hints strongly at that principle: “The Case of the Neighbour’s Cat Causing a Symptomatic (Mycotic) Aortic Aneurysm and an Infected Endograft,” Ahmed Shalan, Nicky Wilson, […]
Caution regarding shouting “HOOAH” (study)
“A previously healthy 20-year-old male trainee developed chest pain, shortness of breath, and neck pain after repeatedly shouting “Hooah!” during a motivational squad competition. He was found to have developed a pneumomediastinum with soft tissue crepitus of the neck. He had an uneventful recovery. Unique to the military training environment, vigorous shouting, including “Hooah!” as […]
Pet Dogs Synchronize Walking Pace With Owners [research study]
Further progress in the study of whether and how pet dogs synchronize their walking pace with that of their owners: “Pet Dogs Synchronize Their Walking Pace With That of Their Owners In Open Outdoor Areas,” Charlotte Duranton, Thierry Bedossa, and Florence Gaunet, Animal Cognition, epub 2017. The authors, at Aix-Marseille University, AVA Association [Cuy-Saint-Fiacre], and […]