Mini-AIR

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

April 2019, issue number 2019-04. ISSN 1076-500X.

<https://www.improbable.com/airchives/miniair/>

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Research that makes people LAUGH, then THINK.

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01 TABLE OF CONTENTS

02 Imminent Events

03 IN THE MAGAZINE ITSELF: Tasty Surprises

04 Wooden Owl May Yet Catapult a Fungus Into Space

05 Ig Nobel EuroTour [April portion]

06 Net Gun Short-eared Owls in Mid-flight from Helicopter Challenge

07 Aging-of-the-Ovum Winner

08 MORE IMPROBABLE: Magnetic Erection, Swearing, Cookies

09 Electricity Versus a Top Predator

10 IMPROBABLE EVENTS

11 — Subscribe to the Actual Magazine! (*)

12 — How to start or stop receiving this little newsletter (*)

13 — Contact Info (*)

14 — Standard Gobbledegook (*)

Items marked (*) are reprinted in every issue.

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02 Imminent Events

Ig Nobel EuroTour events in CATANIA, STOCKHOLM,

OSLO, BERLIN, PERUGIA — April 2019

DETAILS, and full schedule: <http://www.improbable.com/improbable-research-shows/complete-schedule/>

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03 IN THE MAGAZINE ITSELF: Tasty Surprises

WHAT YOU ARE READING AT THIS MOMENT

is just our monthly newsletter, (mini-AIR).

Our best stuff goes into the actual magazine:

Annals of Improbable Research (AIR).

The special SURPRISING TASTES issue (vol. 25, no. 1) of the magazine has been sent to subscribers. If you subscribe now, you will get this issue right away!

Here's the TOC <https://bit.ly/2G7k4gm> and two free articles:

<> Bowel Sounds, Sunglasses, Snake Detection

<> Bowel Sounds, Rock Stars, Standing Ovations

SUBSCRIBE to the MAGAZINE

or get SINGLE ISSUES:

<https://gumroad.com/improbable>

Tables of Contents: <http://www.improbable.com/magazine/>

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04 Wooden Owl May Yet Catapult a Fungus Into Space

This month's Research Spotlight happens upon a mental conjunction of wooden owls, catapults, fungus, and space:

"Wooden Owl That Redefines Earth's Biosphere May Yet Catapult a Fungus Into Space," John E. Hallsworth, Environmental Microbiology, epub 2018. <https://bit.ly/2uWZFnz> (Thanks to Tom Gill for bringing this to our attention.) The author explains:

"I made a recreational trip to Paris, visited a street market there, and purchased two wooden (mother-and-baby) owls that had been made in Thailand (Fig. 1c). This trip to a Parisian market, it turned out later, impacted our research trajectory....

"Jim assayed xerophile growth rates over a matrix of conditions (water activity, temperature, pH) and selected the 25 most-xerophilic strains, each capable of growth at ≤0.750 water activity. These included Aspergillus penicillioides JH06THH and JH06THJ (isolated from the mother owl, Fig. 1c), JH06GBM and JH06GBO (from the underside of an antique sycamore chopping-block from the UK, Fig. 1d), FRR 2179 (from dried chillies), E. repens JH06JPD (from an antique wooden rice-measure purchased in Japan, Fig. 1e), Eurotium amstelodami FRR 2792 (from a date fruit), Xeromyces bisporus FRR 0025 (from a high-moisture prune), FRR 3443 (from 0.656-water-activity raisins) and FRR 2347 (from a 0.750-water-activity, mouldy fruit cake)."

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05 Ig Nobel EuroTour [April portion]

These countries saw 2019 Ig Nobel EuroTour events in March:

SCOTLAND

ENGLAND

BREXITANNIA

AUSTRIA

THE CZECH REPUBLIC

SWITZERLAND

THE NETHERLANDS

These are seeing or intuiting events in April:

POLAND

ITALY

SWEDEN

NORWAY

GERMANY

ITALY (again)

Details:

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

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06 Net Gun Short-eared Owls in Mid-flight from Helicopter Challenge

This month's RESEARCH LIMERICK challenge — Devise a pleasing limerick that encapsulates this study:

"Use of a Net Gun to Safely Capture Short-eared Owls in Mid-flight from a Helicopter," Travis L. Booms, Lincoln S. Parrett, and Mark A. Keech, Journal of Raptor Research, vol. 46, no. 2, 2012, pp. 208-211. <https://bit.ly/2VtN7zR> The authors, at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, report:

"This novel technique includes risks to both birds and humans that are not present in traditional capture methods. We therefore advocate its use only when other methods are unlikely to meet important research needs and when highly skilled and experienced helicopter capture pilots and net-gunners are available."

Submit your perfectly formed, delightfully enlightening limerick to:

NET GUN OWLS MID-FLIGHT COPTER

LIMERICK COMPETITION

c/o <MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM>

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07 Aging-of-the-Ovum Winner

The judges have chosen a winner in last month's Competition, which asked for a limerick to explain this study:

"Aging of the Ovum," K. Mikamo and L. Iffy, Obstetrics and Gynecology Annual, vol. 3, January 1974, pp. 47-99.

<https://europepmc.org/abstract/med/4608157>

INVESTIGATOR FRED BETHKE writes:

There once was a sperm -- call him Nate,

who wriggled with style and swam great.

But he was aghast.

Though he got there quite fast,

the sign said "You're several years late."

This month's take from our LIMERICK LAUREATE, MARTIN EIGER:

The search trail on line has gone cold

For a paper on eggs growing old.

Author bios are spiffy.

Results, though, are iffy.

Their story may never be told.

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08 MORE IMPROBABLE: Magnetic Erection, Swearing, Cookies

Recent improbable research bits you may have missed...

The blog <http://www.improbable.com/>:

* Using Magnetic Induction to Give a Cadaver’s Penis an Erection

* Effect of Swearing on Strength and Power Performance

* Economic Consequences of Restrictions on the Usage of Cookies

Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS) and its sibling clubs: <https://www.improbable.com/category/lfhcfs-hair-club/>

FACEBOOK: <http://www.facebook.com/improbableresearch>

TWITTER: @ImprobResearch, @MarcAbrahams, #IgNobel

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09 Electricity Versus a Top Predator

"Electrocution Alters the Distribution and Density of a Top Predator, the Eagle Owl Bubo bubo," Fabrizio Sergio, Luigi Marchesi, Paolo Pedrini, Miguel Ferrer and Vincenzo Penteriani, Journal of Applied Ecology, vol. 41, no. 5, October 2004, pp. 836-845. <https://bit.ly/2FZlDLO> (Thanks to Andrew Cannon for bringing this to our attention.)

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10 IMPROBABLE EVENTS

Ig Nobel EuroTour —Mar/Apr 2019

Ig Nobel TICKETS go on sale —Jul 2019

Readercon, Quincy, MA, USA —Jul 2019

Mount Sinai Hospital, NYC, USA —date TBA

Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony —Sep 12, 2019

Ig Informal Lectures —Sep 14, 2019

Ottawa, Canada —Sep 23, 2019

Lubbock, TX —Oct 25, 2019

Japan —TBA

For details and additional events, see

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

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11 — Subscribe to the Actual Magazine! (*)

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 the actual magazine.)

<www.improbable.com/magazine/>

SUBSCRIPTIONS ($25, for six issues)

SINGLE ISSUES ($5 each)

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12 — How to start or stop receiving this newsletter (*)

This newsletter, Mini-AIR, is just a (free!) tiny monthly *supplement* to the big, bold six-times-a-year magazine Annals of Improbable Research.

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13 — CONTACT INFO (*)

Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)