mini-Annals of Improbable Research ("mini-AIR")
February 2016, issue number 2016-02. ISSN 1076-500X.
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Research that makes people LAUGH, then THINK.
A tiny supplement to the Annals of Improbable Research.
Archive at <http://improbable.com/airchives/miniair>
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01 TABLE OF CONTENTS
02 Imminent Events: Arisia, AAAS, and EuroTour
03 In the Magazine: Human Heads and Garlic Juice Soon
04 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Snakes in the Plane
05 Improbable at the AAAS Meeting in DC
06 Ig Nobel Eurotour in March
07 Snakes-on-an-Inclined-Plane Limerick Contest
08 Who Ate Whom Poet
09 MORE IMPROBABLE: Dr. Coffee / Lion-roaring / Window of Ants
10 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Mouse Without Shakes, On and Off a Plane
11 — Improbable Research Events
12 — The Magazine (AIR) — How to Subscribe; How to Get Back Issues (*)
13 — Our Address (*)
14 — Please Forward/Post This Issue! (*)
15 — How to start or stop receiving mini-AIR (*)
Items marked (*) are reprinted in every issue.
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02 Imminent Events: Arisia, AAAS, and EuroTour
AAAS, Washington, DC — Feb 13, 2016
Ig Nobel EuroTour — March 4-23, 2016
Florida State U — March 29, 2016
Details: <http://goo.gl/fh81lh>
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03 In the Magazine: Human Heads and Garlic Juice Soon
The special Human Heads and Garlic Juice issue of the magazine is in preparation. It will become available soon.
SUBSCRIPTIONS & BACK ISSUES: <https://gumroad.com/improbable>
Tables of Contents: <http://www.improbable.com/magazine/>
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04 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Snakes in the Plane
This month's spotlight shines on snakes and planes:
"Optimizing snake locomotion in the plane," Silas Alben, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol. 469. No. 2159. The Royal Society, 2013. <http://goo.gl/hO4pHR> The authors, at the University of Michigan, report:
"We develop a numerical scheme to determine which planar snake motions are optimal for locomotory efficiency, across a wide range of frictional parameter space.... a variety of complex, locally optimal motions are found. Some of these can be classified as standing waves (or ratcheting motions)."
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05 Improbable at the AAAS Meeting in DC
You and yours are invited to this year's special Improbable Research session at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting, in Washington, DC.
It happens on Saturday, February 13, from 8:00-10:00 pm., at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, 2500 Calvert St., NW, in the Diplomat Ballroom. <https://goo.gl/IznLVp>. You can see, hear, and question:
á Ig Nobel Prize winner Patricia Yang
(Urination duration is about 21 seconds in most mammals)
á Ig Nobel Prize winner Greg Weiss
(how to partially un-boil an egg)
á Jessica Gall Myrick
(who watches cat videos on the Internet,
why, and to what effect?)
á Eric Schulman
(a one-minute history of the universe, AND ALSO
an algorithm that predicts who will win
the 2016 U.S. Presidential election)
á Nicole Sharp
(creator of FYFD — the worldÕs most popular web site
for fluid dynamics)
This special evening session is open free to the public. The event always overflows the room, so we suggest you arrive a wee bit early.
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06 Ig Nobel Eurotour in March
The 2016 Ig Nobel Eurotour spans March 4-23, with Ig Nobel Prize winners assembling do public shows in
á Norway
á Denmark
á Sweden
á UK
á Switzerland
Individual events, stars, and links are at <http://goo.gl/fh81lh>
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07 Snakes-on-an-Inclined-Plane Limerick Contest
"Optimizing snake locomotion on an inclined plane," Xiaolin Wang, Matthew T. Osborne, and Silas Alben, Physical Review E 89.1, 2014: 012717. <http://goo.gl/uKsyhh> The authors, at the University of Michigan, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the University of Toledo, report:
"We develop a model to study the locomotion of snakes on inclined planes.... We give an asymptotic analysis to show that the optimal snake motions are traveling waves with amplitudes given by the same scaling laws found in the numerics."
Submit your perfectly formed, delightful limerick to:
SNAKES-ON-AN-INCLINED-PLANE LIMERICK COMPETITION
c/o <MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM>
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08 Who Ate Whom Poet
The judges have chosen a winner in last month's Who Ate Whom Limerick Competition, which asked for a limerick to honor this study:
"Dogs, Meat and Douglas Mawson," Elizabeth Leane and Helen Tiffin, Australian Humanities Review, no. 51, November 2011. <http://goo.gl/BRskBI>
The winner is INVESTIGATOR BEATRICE GUTMANN, who wrote:
If you want to survive near the Pole,
Supplies lost, belly one gaping hole,
Eating humans is rough;
Ice and snow aren't enough.
As for dogs – they may rue their new role.
Here's an offering from our LIMERICK LAUREATE, MARTIN EIGER:
My dog read this paper. Surprised,
He got neighborhood dogs organized.
The dogs now agree.
They want me to be
Preemptively cannibalized.
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09 MORE IMPROBABLE: Dr. Coffee / Lion-roaring / Window of Ants
Recent improbable research bits:
New Members of the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS) and/or its sibling clubs
<http://www.improbable.com/category/lfhcfs-hair-club/>:
á
Mike Coffee
á
Michael Scheid
The podcast <http://goo.gl/WQFTyJ>:
LISTEN / DOWNLOAD: <http://goo.gl/sxh7DX>
#47 I do not understand, and have something to say
#48 Hair (and Hare) and Dog-Flea and Cat-Flea Research
#49 Artificial Lion-Roaring Contests
The blog <http://www.improbable.com/>:
á "Imagine if the window were made of ants..."
á "CanÕt imagine why more people donÕt study..."
á Head butting in whales – explanations for junk
...and lots more
More, at
[twitter] @ImprobResearch, @MarcAbrahams, #IgNobel
[facebook] <http://www.facebook.com/improbableresearch>
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10 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Mouse Without Shakes, On and Off a Plane
"Mouse having shake-elimination function when leaving working plane," Kuo-Shu Cheng, U.S. Patent Application No. 12/400,949. <https://goo.gl/zmVy3q>
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11 — Improbable Research Events
For details and additional events, see
<http://improbable.com/improbable-research-shows/complete-schedule>
AAAS, Washington, DC — Feb 13, 2016
Ig Nobel EuroTour — Mar 4-23, 2016
Florida State U — Mar 29, 2016
ESOF, Manchester, UK — Jul TBA, 2016
IG NOBEL TICKETS GO ON SALE — Jul TBA, 2016
Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony — Sep 22, 2016
Ig Informal Lectures — Sep 24, 2016
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12 — The Magazine (AIR) — How to Subscribe; How to Get Back Issues (*)
The Annals of Improbable Research is a 6-issues-per-year magazine, published in PDF form. It's packed with research that makes people laugh, then think. (mini-AIR, the thing you are reading at this moment, is but a tiny, free-floating appendix to AIR.)
SUBSCRIPTIONS (just $25)
BACK-ISSUES (just $5 each)
<http://www.improbable.com/magazine/>
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13 — Our Address (*)
Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)
PO Box 380853, Cambridge, MA 02238 USA
(+1) 617-491-4437
EDITORIAL: <MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM>
SUBSCRIPTIONS: <subscriptions AT improbable.com>
Web Site and blog: <http://www.improbable.com>
Twitter: @ImprobResearch
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14 — 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
CO-CONSPIRATORS: Kees Moeliker, Alice Shirrell Kaswell, Gary Dryfoos, Ernest Ersatz, Stephen Drew
PROOFREADER: Ambient Happenstance
AUTHORITY FIGURES: Nobel Laureates Dudley Herschbach, Sheldon Glashow, Richard Roberts
Key words: improbable research, science humor, Ig Nobel, AIR, the
(c) copyright 2016, Annals of Improbable Research
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15 — How to start or stop receiving mini-AIR (*)
Mini-AIR is a (free!) tiny monthly *supplement*
to the big, bold six-times-a-year magazine AIR.
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<http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/mini-air>
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