PLEASE FORWARD/POST AS APPROPRIATE ================================================================ The mini-Annals of Improbable Research ("mini-AIR") Issue number 2004-01 January 2004 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 ================================================================ ----------------------------- 2004-01-01 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2004-01-01 Table of Contents 2004-01-02 Soon... 2004-01-03 What's New in the Magazine 2004-01-04 Survey: Beauty and Truth 2004-01-05 Filth-in-Foods Paeans 2004-01-06 A Month Without Frogs 2004-01-07 Bloggggggggggggg 2004-01-08 Tea Scum Backward Poets 2004-01-09 Hladik, Hladik, Hladik, Hladik Hoorah 2004-01-10 BOVINE INDECISION LIMERICK CONTEST 2004-01-11 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: The Danger of Chinese 2004-01-12 More Hair 2004-01-13 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Warr, Payne, Strain, Boom 2004-01-14 AIRhead Events 2004-01-15 How to Subscribe to AIR (*) 2004-01-16 Our Address (*) 2004-01-17 Please Forward/Post This Issue! (*) 2004-01-18 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 ---------------------------------------------------------- 2004-01-02 Soon... Imminent Improbable Research shows include: Caltech Tuesday, Jan. 27 AAAS Annual Meeting, Seattle, Feb. 13 For details see section 2004-01-14 below ---------------------------------------------------------- 2004-01-03 What's New in the Magazine This is January, but in one sense it is also December. The Nov./Dec. 2003 issue (vol. 9, no. 6) of the Annals of Improbable Research -- the special IG NOBEL issue -- got clogged and besnoggered on its way to the printer, but finally made it there, and is just now about to peep its head above ground. Sorry about the delay! The Jan./Feb. issue (vol. 10, no. 1) will be the long-awaited special Beauty Issue. Full of beauty, if not grace, it will make its formal entrance onto the world stage some time in February. ----------------------------------------------------------- 2004-01-04 Survey: Beauty and Truth Once again it is time to vote on Scientific Correctness of a contentious issue, and help the scientific community decide which side it should accept as "correct." This month's Scientific Correctness Survey is inspired by the poet John Keats, who wrote on the topics of beauty and truth. Here is the survey question: Beauty is truth, truth beauty. Do you agree or disagree? Send your vote (either AGREE or DISAGREE), without equivocation, to: TRUTH AND BEAUTY SURVEY c/o ----------------------------------------------------------- 2004-01-05 Filth-in-Foods Paeans Investigator Steven Slap recommends that we recommend the book "Fundamentals of Microanalytical Entomology: A Practical Guide to Detecting and Identifying Filth in Foods," by Alan R. Olsen, Thomas H. Sidebottom and Sherry A. Knight. We commend Investigator Slap for his recommendation, and recommend that, for conversational purposes, everyone refer to the book as "Sidebottom's classic 'Fundamentals of Microanalytical Entomology: A Practical Guide to Detecting and Identifying Filth in Foods.'" Readers who have read the book (which we have not) are invited to submit limericks in tribute to it or to specific portions of it. We will publish the best of these either here in mini-AIR or on the WHAT'S NEW blog (see below). Please send your (properly formed, freshly composed, not overly filthy) limerick to: FILTH-IN-FOODS PAEANS c/o ----------------------------------------------------------- 2004-01-06 A Month Without Frogs The gentleman who mailed us the stuffed frogs has graciously acceded to our request that he not mail us any more stuffed frogs. We thank him, and we thank all the kind- or curious-hearted individuals who expressed concern about how this would turn out. ----------------------------------------------------------- 2004-01-07 Bloggggggggggggg Behold the Improbable Research blog. Go to our web site and click on the prominent WHAT'S NEW. Henceforth the Improbable Research web site will be grow a little more rapidly. Instead of three new items per week on the web site, we're now adding five. By happy coincidence, there is one on Monday, another on Tuesday, still another on Thursday, and yet another on Friday. And this will happen every week. Check it out, babe, as some pediatricians say. Among the first items are: The Lugnut Letters The Man With the Rat? Lene Hau's Nano-Lecture Skipping & Hopping Ps. Yes, there's an RSS feed for those who wish to so indulge. And what of mini-AIR? Smaller, faster-reading, juicier. That's what. Or at least smaller. At least a little bit. Most months, maybe. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2004-01-08 Tea Scum Backward Poets The judges in the first and last annual TEA SCUM LIMERICK COMPETITION have chosen the winners, each of whom in some sense explored the research report (well, in this case, a book): "Kinetics and Equilibria of Tea Infusion -- Part 13 -- Further Studies on Tea Scum: The Effects of Calcium carbonate, Lemon Juice and Sugar," Michael Spiro, Yuen Ying Chong, and Deogratius Jaganyi, Food Chemistry, vol 57, no 2, 1996, pp 295-8. The winners each will receive a free, tea-stainable issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. Here are the poets and their limericks: INVESTIGATOR FIONA JACKSON: When his tea produced far too much scum Young Spiro consulted his mum. She said - "Michael you fool You've broken the rule And put in too much calcium!" INVESTIGATOR TONY VILA: O Spiro, O Chong, O Jaganyi, Pray what have you done to my tea? It's nothing but slime! And it's flavored with lime - Not the fruit, but CaCO3! INVESTIGATOR GREGORY J. CROWTHER: Low pH, say tea cognoscenti, Reduces one's tea scum by plenty. So say they, in short, In their 13th report, Stay tuned for parts 14 through 20. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2004-01-09 Hladik, Hladik, Hladik, Hladik Hoorah We pass on a Hladikal invitation from Investigator Dale T. Warshaw. He writes: "I have long been a fan of Hladiks. The citation you mentioned in mini-AIR 2003-12 has inspired me to try to organize my fellow Hladik-admirers. Therefore, I am forming a Hladik study group. It is devoted to studying studies written by Hladiks. One Hladik, two Hladiks, three Hladiks, four or more. Any number of Hladiks. Any human being who appreciates the work of Hladiks is encouraged to join us." [EDITOR'S NOTE: That citation -- notable because it features a FOUR Hladkics -- is: "L'OdyssŽe du Vivant" by Claude-Marcel Hladik, Annette Hladik, Jean Hladik, and Marie Hladik, in "Ellipses," 128 pages, ISBN 2-7298-1147-8.] ---------------------------------------------------------- 2004-01-10 BOVINE INDECISION LIMERICK CONTEST We invite you to enter the first and last annual TESTIS-OVARY LIMERICK COMPETITION, for the best (NEWLY composed!) limerick that elucidates this research report, which was brought to our attention by investigator Andrew H. Schmidt: "Do Cows Prefer a Barn Compartment With a Grooved or Slotted Floor?" Journal of Dairy Science, J. Stefanowska, D. Swierstra, J.V. Van den Berg, and J.H. Metz, vol. 85, no. 1, January 2002, pp. 79-88. The authors, who are at the Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering, Wageningen, The Netherlands, report that: [O]ne floor type was not clearly preferred over the other... 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, possibly grooved or slotted, issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. Send entries (one entry per entrant) to: BOVINE INDECISION LIMERICK CONTEST c/o ----------------------------------------------------------- 2004-01-11 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: The Danger of Chinese Each month we select for your special attention a research report that seems especially worth a close read. Your librarian will enjoy being asked (loudly, so other library patrons can hear it) for a copy. Here is this month's Pick-of-the-Month: "SARS Transmission: Language and Droplet Production," Sakae Inouye, Lancet, vol. 362, no. 9378, July 12, 2003, p. 170. (Thanks to Mark Schreiber for bringing this to our attention.) The author, who is at Otsuma Women's University, Tokyo, Japan, explains that: "Droplets are generated when patients cough and, to a lesser extent, when they talk during the early stages of disease. I believe that the efficiency of transmission of SARS by talking might be affected by the language spoken.... The Chinese language has an aspiration/ non-aspiration pronunciation system: the consonants p, t, k, q, ch, and c, when placed in front of vowels, are pronounced with a strong breath, by contrast with b, d, g, j, zh, and z. In English, but not in Japanese, p, t, and k are pronounced with a similar accompanying exhalation of breath. Furthermore, the p sound is not used as frequently in Japanese as in English. Aspiration could produce droplets." ---------------------------------------------------------- 2004-01-12 More Hair There are some delightful new members in the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists. You can see them and their hair at ----------------------------------------------------------- 2004-01-13 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Warr, Payne, Strain, Boom WARR AND PAYNE ON PLEASURE AND STRAIN "Experiences of Strain and Pleasure Among British Adults," Peter Warr and Roy Payne, Social Science and Medicine, vol. 16, no. 19, 1982, pp. 1691-7. The authors are at University of Sheffield, England. BOOM TIMES FOR SCIENCE "Some Historical Accidental Explosions," Paolo Cardillo, Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, vol. 14, 2001, pp. 69-76. (Thanks to Kristine Danowski for bringing this to our attention.) ------------------------------------------------------------ 2004-01-14 AIRhead Events ==> For details and updates see ==> Want to host an event? 617-491-4437. ==> CALTECH, PASADENA, CALIFORNIA -- TUES, JAN 27, 2004 8:00 PM. Beckman Auditorium. AIR editor MARC ABRAHAMS. INFO: 626-395-4652 AAAS ANNUAL MEETING, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON -- FRI, FEB 13, 2004 (Yes, the Improbable Research show is open free to the public!) WESTERN WASHINGTON U., BELLINGHAM, WA -- TUES, FEB 17, 2004 ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, IRELAND NATIONAL SCIENCE WEEK IG NOBEL TOUR -- MARCH 10-21, 2004 Partial list of events: Thu Mar 11: Oxford Fri Mar 12: Nottingham Mon Mar 15: Glasgow Tue Mar 16: Exeter Wed Mar 17: Manchester Thu Mar 18: London Sat Mar 20: Birmingham COUNCIL OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY PRESIDENTS -- MAY 1 or 2 or 3, 2004 WASHINGTON, DC ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH -- WED, JUNE 2,2004 ANNUAL MEETING, BOSTON, MA AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL SCIENCE WEEK TOUR -- AUG 2004 [Tentatively scheduled]. ALPBACH TECHNOLOGY FORUM, AUSTRIA -- AUG 26-28, 2004 ANNUAL IG NOBEL PRIZE CEREMONY -- THURS, SEP. 30, 2004 HARVARD UNIVERSITY IG INFORMAL LECTURES 2004 -- SAT, OCTOBER 2, 2004 MIT -------------------------------------------------------------- 2004-01-15 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). ................................................................ Name: Address: Address: City and State: Zip or postal code: Country Phone: FAX: E-mail: ................................................................ SUBSCRIPTIONS (6 issues per year): USA 1 yr/$29 2 yrs/$53 Canada/Mexico 1 yr/$33 US 2 yrs/$57 US Overseas 1 yr/$45 US 2 yrs/$82 US ................................................................ BACK ISSUES are available, too: First issue: $8 USA, $11 Canada/Mex, $16 overseas Add'l issues purchased at same time: $6 each ................................................................ 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 ----------------------------------------------------- 2004-01-16 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: --------------------------- 2004-01-17 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 (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 DISTRIBUTIVE 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 2004, Annals of Improbable Research ----------------------------------------------------- 2004-01-18 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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