PLEASE FORWARD/POST AS APPROPRIATE ================================================================ The mini-Annals of Improbable Research ("mini-AIR") Issue number 2005-01 January 2005 ISSN 1076-500X Key words: improbable research, science humor, Ig Nobel, AIR, the ---------------------------------------------------------------- A free newsletter of tidbits too tiny to fit in the Annals of Improbable Research (AIR), the journal of inflated research and personalities ================================================================ ----------------------------- 2005-01-01 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2005-01-01 Table of Contents 2005-01-02 What's New in the Magazine 2005-01-03 Project Cuppa 2005-01-04 Cuppa Onstage in the U.K. 2005-01-05 Undersung Taco Monster 2005-01-06 LFHCfS Heads of the Year 2005-01-07 Hiccup/Heartbeat Limerick Poets 2005-01-08 Troy and the Un-Blinding Light 2005-01-09 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Pictures of Gastric Unpleasantness 2005-01-10 Improbable Research in DC 2005-01-11 Quadruple Lebofsky 2005-01-12 Electrochemical Zucchini Limerick Contest 2005-01-13 On the Blog 2005-01-14 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Schmutz and the Crossover Maiden 2005-01-15 Improbable Research Events 2005-01-16 How to Subscribe to AIR (*) 2005-01-17 Our Address (*) 2005-01-18 Please Forward/Post This Issue! (*) 2005-01-19 How to Receive mini-AIR, etc. (*) Items marked (*) are reprinted in every issue. mini-AIR is a free monthly *e-supplement* to AIR, the print magazine ---------------------------------------------------------- 2005-01-02 What's New in the Magazine The Jan/Feb issue (vol. 11, no. 1) is the special YAWNING Issue, It will be emerge from the printer in mid-to-late February. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2005-01-03 Project Cuppa We proudly announce the start of Project Cuppa. Project Cuppa is our attempt to collect and analyze the best scientists' best rituals for preparing tea or coffee. If you are a good scientist and you have a tried-and-true ritual for preparing your cup of tea or coffee, please share it with us. We will share the best of them with the world. Please describe your tea or coffee preparation ritual (brew it down to a description of fewer than 100 words, please!), and email it to either: PROJECT CUPPA (tea) c/o or PROJECT CUPPA (coffee) c/o ---------------------------------------------------------- 2005-01-04 Cuppa Onstage in the U.K. The best of the best Project Cuppa tea or coffee ritualists in the U.K. may be invited to describe (and perhaps also demonstrate) their rituals in March, on the Ig Nobel Tour of the U.K. The tour will be part of National Science Week, March 11-20, with shows in Glasgow, Oxford, London, and Nottingham. It is sponsored by the British Association for the Advancement of Science, the Guardian newspaper, and NESTA. Details will be announced soon. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2005-01-05 Undersung Taco Monster This month's undersung scientist is Dr. Taco B.M. Monster of Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus and Aalborg, Denmark. Doctor Monster experiments with, among other things, antidepressants and antipsychotics. (Thanks to Paul Hees for bringing Doctor Monster to our attention.) ---------------------------------------------------------- 2005-01-06 LFHCfS Heads of the Year The Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS) has announced its Women and Men of the Year -- three of each. Their identities and photos, and downloadable commemorative mini-posters of them, are at MORE HAIR: The Canadian public was treated to a photo-spread showing members of LFHCfS. It appeared in the January 13, 2005 issue of the National Post. See STILL MORE HAIR: The LFHCfS has several new members. Their locks wave proudly at MORE STILL: If you are a member of LFHCfS and will be at the AAAS Annual Meeting in February, please come and take part in the Improbable Research show there on Feb 18. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2005-01-07 Hiccup/Heartbeat Limerick Poets The judges in the first and last annual HICCUP/HEARTBEAT LIMERICK COMPETITION have chosen the winner, who in some sense explored the research report: "Linkage of Hiccup With Heartbeat," B.Y. Chen, K. Vasilakos, D. Boisteanu, L. Garma, J.P.H. Derenne, and W.A. Whitelaw, Journal of Applied Physiology, vol. 88, pp. 6, June 2000, pp. 2159-65. The winner will receive a free, hiccup-inducing issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. Here is the triumphant poet and her limerick: INVESTIGATOR BARBARA ROBSON (expressing her speculation based on the article's conclusion that hiccups may cause cardiac arrhythmia): If your hic is in phase with the tic Of your heart, and if each little trick Aimed at sending hics packing You've tried and found lacking, It may be your life that you kick. And here is the view expressed by this year's IMPROBABLE LIMERICK LAUREATE, MARTIN I. EIGER: The hiccups and heartbeat are tested. Their timing is linked, it's suggested. Thus hiccups, it follows, Aren't cured when one swallows. They're cured when the heart rate's arrested. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2005-01-08 Troy and the Un-Blinding Light Troy Hurtubise, winner of a 1998 Ig Nobel Prize for building and personally testing a suit of armor meant to be impervious to grizzly bears, has announced another new technical triumph: a device that (he explains) lets him see through walls. For details see ----------------------------------------------------------- 2005-01-09 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Pictures of Gastric Unpleasantness Each month we select for your special attention a research report that seems especially worth a close read. This month's pick: "Effects of Viewing Pleasant and Unpleasant Photographs on Gastric Motility Indexed by Electrogastrographic (EGG) Activities," R. Zhou, Y. Luo and S. Hu, Perceptual and Motor Skills, vol. 99, no. 3, part 1, December 2004, pp. 785-9. The authors, who are at Beijing Normal University, China, conclude that: [V]iewing unpleasant photographs significantly inhibited gastric motility indexed by decreased power of EGG activities at 3 cpm. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2005-01-10 Improbable Research in DC Friday night, February 18, Washington, DC. is the time and place for this year's Improbable Research show at the annual meeting of the AAAS. You, and your family and friends, are invited. For details see section 2005-01--15 below. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2005-01-11 Quadruple Lebofsky After years of searching, our Multiplicity-of-Monikers project has acquired a four-Lebofsky publication. It is: "The Search for Life in the Universe: The Past Through the Future," L.A. Lebofsky, A. Lebofsky, M. Lebofsky, and N.A. Lebofsky, American Astronomical Society Meeting 202, no. 10.04, May 2003. (Thanks to Alan W. Harris for bringing this to our attention.) ---------------------------------------------------------- 2005-01-12 Electrochemical Zucchini Limerick Contest We invite you to enter the first and last annual ELECTROCHEMICAL ZUCCHINI LIMERICK COMPETITION, for the best (NEWLY composed!) limerick that elucidates this research report, which was brought to our attention by investigator Tom Hawkins: "Zucchini Crude Extract-Palladium Modified Carbon-Paste Electrode for the Determination of Hydroquinone in Photographic Developers," I. Da Cruz Vieira and O. Fatibello-Filho, Analytica Chimica Acta, vol. 398, nos. 2-3, November 2, 1999, pp 145-51. RULES: Please make sure your rhymes actually do, and that your limerick at least pretends to adhere to classic limerick form. PRIZE: The winning poet will receive a free, crudely-extracted issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. Send entries (one entry per entrant) to: ELECTROCHEMICAL ZUCCHINI LIMERICK CONTEST c/o ---------------------------------------------------------- 2005-01-13 On the Blog Here are some recent topics (a new one appears every weekday) in our blog: Testing a Language-Using Parrot for Telepathy READING FOR PLEASURE: Rothschild's Ouroborus April Trees, herself Fast Food, Swell Ambiance Ig Nobel winner agrees to stop invading The Poet Ramel Loves Insects ... and many others Read the blog via ----------------------------------------------------------- 2005-01-14 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Schmutz and the Crossover Maiden SCHMUTZ ON FURUNCLES "Furuncles. Etiology, Clinical Aspects, Development, Diagnosis, Treatment" [article in French], J.L. Schmutz, Revue du Praticien, vol. 41, no. 25, December 1, 1991, pp. 2623-5. SNOW DRIFT "Was Snow White a Transsexual?" [article in French], A. Michel and C. Mormont, Encephale, vol. 28, no. 1, January-February 2002, pp. 59-64. (Thanks to Alexander Biondo and Helio Autran de Morais for bringing this to our attention.) ------------------------------------------------------------ 2005-01-15 Improbable Research Events ==> For details and updates see ==> Want to host an event? 617-491-4437. ==> AAAS ANNUAL MEETING, WASHINGTON, DC -- FRI, FEB 18, 2005 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, Wardman Room Annual Improbable Research show as part of the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Featuring: AIR editor MARC ABRAHAMS Ig Nobel Prize winner JILLIAN CLARKE Ig Nobel Prize winner JOHN TRINKAUS Howard University's AFRO BLUE performing "The Atkins Diet Opera" SALLY SHELTON - topic TBA ERIC SCHULMAN - topic TBA ROBERT FRIEDEL - Pizza and Progress and others to be announced OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. FREE. IG NOBEL TOUR OF THE UK for NATIONAL SCIENCE WEEK -- MAR 11-20, 2005 Details to be announced soon. MUSEUM OF SCIENCE, BOSTON, MA -- APR 1, 2005 I-CON 24, STONY BROOK, NY -- APR 8-10, 2005 NATIONAL WRITERS' WORKSHOP, HARTFORD, CT -- APR 16/17, 2005 IG NOBEL TOUR OF AUSTRALIA for NATIONAL SCIENCE WEEK -- AUGUST, 2005 CASCADIACON, SEATTLE -- THURS, SEPT 1 - MON, SEPT. 5, 2005 FIFTEENTH 1ST ANNUAL IG NOBEL PRIZE CEREMONY -- OCT 6, 2005 Sanders Theatre, Harvard University. Tickets will go on sale in August. IG INFORMAL LECTURES -- OCT 8, 2005 MIT. Room and time to be announced. -------------------------------------------------------------- 2005-01-16 How to Subscribe to AIR (*) Here's how to subscribe to the magnificent bi-monthly print journal The Annals of Improbable Research (the real thing, not just the little bits of overflow material you've been reading in this newsletter). ................................................................ 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Send payment (US bank check, or international money order, or Visa, Mastercard or Discover info) to: Annals of Improbable Research (AIR) PO Box 380853, Cambridge, MA 02238 USA 617-491-4437 FAX:617-661-0927 ----------------------------------------------------- 2005-01-17 Our Address (*) Annals of Improbable Research (AIR) PO Box 380853, Cambridge, MA 02238 USA 617-491-4437 FAX:617-661-0927 EDITORIAL: marca@chem2.harvard.edu SUBSCRIPTIONS: air@improbable.com WEB SITE: --------------------------- 2005-01-18 Please Forward/Post This Issue! (*) Please distribute copies of mini-AIR (or excerpts!) wherever appropriate. The only limitations are: A) Please indicate that the material comes from mini-AIR. B) You may NOT distribute mini-AIR for commercial purposes. ------------- mini-AIRheads ------------- EDITOR: Marc Abrahams (marca@chem2.harvard.edu) MINI-PROOFREADER AND PICKER OF NITS (before we introduce the last few at the last moment): Wendy Mattson WWW EDITOR/GLOBAL VILLAGE IDIOT: Amy Gorin (airmaster@improbable.com) COMMUTATIVE EDITOR: Stanley Eigen (eigen@neu.edu) ASSOCIATIVE EDITOR: Mark Dionne PSYCHOLOGY EDITOR: Robin Abrahams CO-CONSPIRATORS: Alice Shirrell Kaswell, Gary Dryfoos, Ernest Ersatz, S. Drew MAITRE DE COMPUTATION: Jerry Lotto AUTHORITY FIGURES: Nobel Laureates Dudley Herschbach, Sheldon Glashow, William Lipscomb, Richard Roberts (c) copyright 2005, Annals of Improbable Research ----------------------------------------------------- 2005-01-19 How to Receive mini-AIR, etc. (*) What you are reading right now is mini-AIR. Mini-AIR is a (free!) tiny monthly *supplement* to the bi-monthly print magazine. 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