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The mini-Annals of Improbable Research ("mini-AIR")

Issue number 2007-03

March 2007

ISSN 1076-500X

Key words: improbable research, science humor, Ig Nobel, AIR, the

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A free newsletter of tidbits too tiny to fit in

Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)

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2007-03-01 TABLE OF CONTENTS

2007-03-02 Imminent Event

2007-03-03 What's New in the Magazine

2007-03-04 Project Cork Rot

2007-03-05 Foot-Smell Registry

2007-03-06 UK Ig Tour Video Online

2007-03-07 Prof-Prof Quality Quality Control

2007-03-08 Tiller Vibration Poet

2007-03-09 New Head Hypothesis Competition

2007-03-10 New Hair Club Member Profusion

2007-03-11 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Orifice Demarcation

2007-03-12 BLOGLIGHTS: Deer Mystery, Monk Breath, Decrepitude

2007-03-13 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Python, Playmates, Chinchilla

2007-03-14 Improbable Research Events

2007-03-15 How to Subscribe to AIR (*)

2007-03-16 Our Address (*)

2007-03-17 Please Forward/Post This Issue! (*)

2007-03-18 How to Receive mini-AIR, etc. (*)

Items marked (*) are reprinted in every issue.

mini-AIR is

a free monthly *e-supplement* to the print magazine

Annals of Improbable Research

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2007-03-02 Imminent Event

Joint meeting of the American Physical Society and the American

Association of Physics Teachers, University of Maine, Orono

April 20, 2007. Marc Abrahams will discuss improbable research.

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2007-03-03 What's New in the Magazine

The Mar/Apr issue (vol. 13, no. 2) of the Annals of Improbable

Research will be the special Theoretical Figures issue. It will

emerge from the printers soon. Highlights include:

<> "Stress Analysis of a Strapless Evening Gown," by Charles

Seim.

<> "The Birth of 'Strapless Evening Gown,'" by Charles Seim.

<> "Forrester's Third Symmetric Figure," by Stephen Drew.

The table of contents is at <http://tinyurl.com/2bmflt>

To subscribe (6 paper issues per year) go to

<http://improbable.com/subscribe/>

or see info at bottom of this newsletter.

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2007-03-04 Project Cork Rot

Cork rot, also known as "cork taint," is the foul-tasting, foul-

smelling condition of a bottle of wine gone bad. It is,

indirectly, the cause of some snobby behavior in restaurants.

We have all observed someone making a huge ritual of sampling a

newly-opened bottle of wine. The implication is: "My highly-

trained senses can distinguish between the excellent and the

merely good."

In fact, the ritual has a simple purpose. Some fairly high

percentage of wine bottles suffer from cork rot. Cork rot dismays

the winemakers, the restaurateurs, and the drinkers. If a bottle

has cork rot, pretty much anyone -- anyone -- who tastes the wine

will know something is wrong.

Project Cork Rot aims to educate the snobs, or at least amuse

everyone else. If you see someone at the table next to you making

a snobbo ritual out of a simple good/bad test, clear your throat.

Then say, in the friendliest way possible:

"Ah, you are testing for cork rot! Is that bottle okay?"

TECHNICAL NOTE: Yes, there are snooty cork rot devotees. Some

lisp, in a stage whisper, "2,4,6-trichloroanisole" or "2,3,4,6-

tetrachloroanisole." Others carry with them -- always -- a copy

of Silva Pereira, et al.'s "Cork Taint in Wine: Scientific

Knowledge and Public Perception: A Critical Review" (Critical

Reviews in Microbiology, vol. 26, no. 3, 2000, pp. 147-62).

Ignore them.

FURTHER NOTE: Also see "Mousy Off-Flavor: A Review":

<http://improbable.com/2007/01/11/guardian-column-47/>

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2007-03-05 Foot-Smell Registry

We are compiling a registry of foot-smell correspondences.

It is known that many human feet smell like Limburger cheese.

(See the Ig-Nobel Prize-winning work of Bart Knols and Ruurd de

Jong, especially: "On Human Odour, Malaria Mosquitoes, and

Limburger Cheese," Bart. G.J. Knols, The Lancet, vol. 348,

November 9, 1996, p. 1322.

It is also known that many dogs' feet smell like Fritos corn

chips [see http://tinyurl.com/y4ecyx].

What other such correspondences have been documented

scientifically?

Please send, if possible, a PDF, or a URL that points to

documentary evidence (do not send the smelly evidence itself).

Send to:

FOOT-SMELL REGISTRY

c/o <marca AT chem2.harvard.edu>

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2007-03-06 UK Ig Tour Video Online

The co-discoverer of the mosquito / Limburger cheese / foot link was

part of the Imperial College London event on this year's Ig Nobel Tour

of the UK.

You can see video of him and of the entire show, at

<http://improbable.com/2007/03/18/video-of-the-2006-ig-uk-tour/>

This particular show also featured:

Ig Nobel winners Chris McManus, Kees Moeliker, Pek Van Andel, and

Howard Stapleton; Nature editor-in-chief Philip Campbell, New Scientist

columnist John Hoyland; chemist Fiona Barclay, trumpeter Laura Garwin;

the Great Inertia Debate; and a performance of the mini-opera "Inertia

Makes the World Go Around" starring Sarah Redmond & Dan Gillingwater &

Jacqui Charlesworth.

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2007-03-07 Prof-Prof Quality Quality Control

Investigator Ben Stulp writes:

"May I bring to your attention that Prof Theoharis C.

Theoharides (miniAIR II-2007) does not fit in the professor-

professor registry."

Investigator Stulp is correct. Our quality control suffered a

breakdown. Professor Theoharides has been removed from the

registry of professor-professors.

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2007-03-08 Tiller Vibration Poet

The judges have chosen a winner for last month's Tiller Vibration

Limerick Competition, which asked for a limerick to honor the

following study:

"Vibration Characteristics of Walking and

Riding Type Power Tillers," Bini Sam and

K. Kathirvel, Biosystems Engineering,

vol. 95, no. 4, December 2006, pp. 517-28.

The winner is investigator David Shapiro, who wrote:

Shake, rattle, and roll,

Its virtues we've come to extol.

We push it or ride it,

Above or bestride it,

Massage is covertly our goal.

And here is the latest from Limerick Laureate Martin Eiger:

I've been feeling the oddest sensations

When doing my soil cultivations.

When I walk alongside,

And again, when I ride

On a tiller, I feel strange vibrations.

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2007-03-09 New Head Hypothesis Competition

New Head Hypothesis re-visitation is the subject of this month's

limerick competition. To enter, compose an original limerick that

illuminates the nature of this report:

"The New Head Hypothesis Revisited," R. Glenn Northcutt,

Journal of Experimental Zoology B,

2005, vol. 304B, no. 4, pp. 274–97.

[For details, see <http://tinyurl.com/2m47o9>]

RULES: Please make sure your rhymes actually do, and that your

poem adheres to classic limerick form.

PRIZE: The winning poet will receive a (if we manage to send it

to the correct address) a free, newly heady issue of the Annals

of Improbable Research. Send entries (one entry per entrant) to:

NEW HEAD HYPOTHESIS COMPETITION

c/o <marca AT chem2.harvard.edu>

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2007-03-10 New Hair Club Member Profusion

The Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS) has a

bumper crop of new members. View them and their hair at

<http://improbable.com/category/lfhcfs-hair-club/>

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2007-03-11 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Orifice Demarcation

Each month we select for your special attention a research report

that seems particularly worth a close read. This month's pick:

"On the Definition of a Small Orifice,"

K.K. Murthy, N.S.L. Rao and R. Prasad,

Acta Technica, 1975, vol. 80, nos. 3–4, p. 419–26.

The authors explain that:

"An attempt is made to draw a line of demarcation

between small orifices and large orifices."

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2007-03-12 BLOGLIGHTS: Deer Mystery, Monk Breath, Decrepitude

Here are some recent topics in our blog:

<> Dead deer sex expert mystery

<> Celebrity check (partial)

<> The Prof. Touyz clinical charts

<> The physics of squirrels

<> Howard Stapleton and his Ig Nobel Prize

and some from the newspaper column in The Guardian:

<> Stale Monk Breath

<> Calculating the value of prostitution

<> His tiny aspirations

<> Behavior in laundromats

<> Benchly Decrepitude

... and many others

Read the blog

every day at <http://www.improbable.com>

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2007-03-13 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Python, Playmates, Chinchilla

PYTHONIC FLICKING

"A Three-Dimensional Kinematic Analysis of Tongue Flicking in

Python molurus," Jurriaan H. de Groot, Inke van der Sluijs, Peter

Ch. Snelderwaard and Johan L. van Leeuwen, Journal of

Experimental Biology, vol. 207, no. 5, February 15, 2004, pp.

827-39. The authors are, variously, at Leiden University, The

Netherlands, and at Wageningen University, The Netherlands.

TOUGH WOMEN: WHERE

"Tough Women in the Unlikeliest of Places: The Unexpected

Toughness of the Playboy Playmate," James K. Beggan and Scott T.

Allison, The Journal of Popular Culture, August 2005, vol. 38,

no. 5, pp. 796–818.

MASKED CHINCHILLA TONES

"Tone-on-Tone Masking in the Chinchilla," Glenis R. Long and

James D. Miller, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of

America, April 1980, vol. 67, no. S1, p. S36.

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2007-03-14 Improbable Research Events

For details and additional events, see

<http://improbable.com/improbable-research-shows/complete-schedule>

APS/AAPT JOINT MEETING, U MAINE, ORONO -- APR 20, 2007

2007 IMPROBABLE RESEARCH NETHERLANDS TOUR -- MAY/JUN 2007

ARES SYSTEMS USER GROUP, BOSTON -- JUN 28, 2007

IG NOBEL PRIZE CEREMONY -- OCT 4, 2007

IG INFORMAL LECTURES -- OCT 6, 2007

FESTIVAL DELLA SCIENZA, GENOA, ITALY -- OCT 2007

NOKIA SIEMENS NETWORKS - GET INSIDE EVENT

LONDON, UK -- NOV 23, 2007

DFG ANNUAL ASSEMBLY, BERLIN, GERMANY -- JUL 1, 2008

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2007-03-15 How to Subscribe to AIR (*)

The Annals of Improbable Research is a paper magazine. (It's not

just the little bits of overflow material you've been reading in

this newsletter). Subscribe at <http://improbable.com/subscribe/>

or send in this form:

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2007-03-16 Our Address (*)

Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)

PO Box 380853, Cambridge, MA 02238 USA

617-491-4437 FAX:617-661-0927

EDITORIAL: marca AT chem2.harvard.edu

SUBSCRIPTIONS: air AT improbable.com

WEB SITE: <http://www.improbable.com>

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2007-03-17 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

MINI-PROOFREADER AND PICKER OF NITS (before we introduce the last

few at the last moment): Wendy Mattson

COMMUTATIVE EDITOR: Stanley Eigen

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

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2007-03-18 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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