PLEASE FORWARD/POST AS APPROPRIATE ================================================================ The mini-Annals of Improbable Research ("mini-AIR") Issue number 2004-04 April 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 ================================================================ ----------------------------- 2004-04-01 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2004-04-01 Table of Contents 2004-04-02 What's New in the Magazine 2004-04-03 Troy To Sell Suits Soon 2004-04-04 Posthumous Politics 2004-04-05 Science of Cooking: Sponges 2004-04-06 Insect Blow-Up 2004-04-07 Nominal Mangled Apologies 2004-04-08 Watch-What-You-Eat Poet 2004-04-09 We Were Hacked ... 2004-02-10 Meeting Zweiback's Challenge 2004-04-11 On the Blog 2004-04-12 Walked Knots Limerick Contest 2004-04-13 Ig UK/Ire Thks 2004-04-14 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Delaware Is Hopping 2004-04-15 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Textbooks and Short People 2004-04-16 AIRhead Events 2004-04-17 How to Subscribe to AIR (*) 2004-04-18 Our Address (*) 2004-04-19 Please Forward/Post This Issue! (*) 2004-04-20 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 ---------------------------------------------------------- 2004-04-02 What's New in the Magazine The March/April issue (vol. 10, no. 2) is the special "Way to Go" issue. The issue is now at the printers, and will be arriving on your doorstep (if you are a subscriber) in a few weeks. Highlights include: <> "WAY TO GO: DAVID LESTER," by Bertha Vanatian. An appreciative look at some of the more than 1000 (one thousand) published reports by Professor David Lester, who is based at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. Professor Lester's favorite subject is suicide. Most of his articles are approximately one page in length. (NOTE: Also see sections 2004-04-14 and -15, below) <> "PROOFREADERS' UPDATE 2004," by Joe Slavsky. The latest (and 24th) annual progress report from the large group of mathematicians who are laboring to prove -- by hand -- Haken and Appel's famous computer-aided proof of the Four-Color Map Theorem. [BACKGROUND: Haken and Appel's gargantuan, reputed-to-be-too-big- to-be-completely-read-and-checked-by-human-beings proof has irritated many people. Thus this prove-it-by-hand project.] <> "ON THE EXISTENCE OF MIKHAILOV," by Michael E.D. Koenig. For many years, the legendary and apparently near-ubiquitous Soviet information scientist A.I. Mikhailov was announced as a featured speaker at conferences. But did Mikhailov in fact exist? With the kind permission of the author and the original publisher [Journal of the American Society for Information Science], AIR reprints the classic, but too-little-known, article. and many others... The table of contents is online at ---------------------------------------------------------- 2004-04-03 Troy To Sell Suits Soon Engineering-adventure history will be up for sale on May 5. Troy Hurtubise's probably-grizzly-bear-proof, Ig-Nobel Prize- winning suit of armor will be offered for sale on EBay. For images, see Many people were inspired, directly or indirectly, by Troy, by his work, by the documentary film "Project Grizzly," and by the recent tribute to Troy on the "The Simpsons," or by Troy's 1998 Ig Nobel Prize and his subsequent lectures at Harvard and at MIT. (For details, see and also the chapter about Troy that's in the book "The Ig Nobel Prizes.") Troy plans to raise enough funding to mount a scientific expedition this September. For some recent background to all this, see Investigator Phil Novak's report, done from Troy's home base in North Bay, Ontario, at . And that's not all. Troy will be selling TWO suits -- the Ursus Mark VI (which appeared in the movie) and the even-more-advanced Mark VII. Troy, ever-careful in his every engineering activity, has done a dry run, and is now fully prepared. The suits will go up for sale, big-time, on Wednesday, May 5, on EBay. Please help spread the word. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2004-04-04 Posthumous Politics The news is full of Ig Nobel Prize winners these days. 2003 Peace Prize winner Lal Bihari, founder of the Association of Dead People, is running for political office. See: 2003 Chemistry Prize winner Yukio Hirose, who analyzed a bronze statue that fails to attract pigeons, has had to deal with newfound fame: In the past month or so, his Kanazawa University office has been inundated with inquiries from people fanatically looking for solutions to fend off those birds. "That's the worst part of the fame winning the Ig Nobel has given me," he joked. "I've been extremely busy ever since!" There are also the ongoing court trials involving former executives of Enron, Tyco, and the other approximately-26 co- winners of the 2002 Ig Nobel Economics Prize. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2004-04-05 Science of Cooking: Sponges On the matter of sponges, investigator Paul O. Lee asks: "Is it easier to eat boiled sponge or unboiled sponge?" We would enjoy hearing from anyone who can point to, or supply us with, definitive data on this matter. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2004-04-06 Insect Blow-Up Investigator Ailey Regan writes: A writer to an Internet forum on gardening asks if it is true that instant grits blow up ants. Apparently the answer is "I wish." Ignoring that, it does seem to me that readers of mini-AIR might have better information on seemingly innocuous foods that cause insects to blow up. Please sent pertinent info (devoid of speculation, please) to: PROJECT "INSECT MUNCH KABOOM" c/o ---------------------------------------------------------- 2004-04-07 Nominal Mangled Apologies Although we occasionally fail to mangle names, success was the order of the month recently. Investigator Alan W. Harris informs us that we mangled the name of Investigator Dave's Jewitt, co-discoverer of many moons of the planet Jupiter and co-inspiration for a recent Scientific Correctness Survey. We apologize for that. Investigator Jason Zweiback informs, who inspired Zweiback's Death Challenge (see Section 2004-04-10, below), reports that we spelled his name both correctly and incorrectly. We apologize for at least one of those instances. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2004-04-08 Watch-What-You-Eat Poet The judges in the first and last annual WATCH WHAT YOU EAT LIMERICK COMPETITION have chosen the winner, who in some sense explored the research report: "A Scanning Electron Microscopy Study of Japanese Noodles," J. E. Dexter, R.R. Matsuo and B.L. Dronzek, Cereal Chemistry, vol. 56, 1979, p. 202. The winner will receive a free, electron-microscope-scannable issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. Here is the triumphant poet and her limerick: INVESTIGATOR BARBARA ROBSON: For Udon as food on the table Choose Japanese flour if you're able. A very close view Comparing the two Shows durum wheat noodles aren't stable. ----------------------------------------------------------- 2004-04-09 We Were Hacked ... Someone hacked the mini-AIR list last month. You probably received one or more virus-laden email messages claiming to be from mini- AIR and/or from a nonexistent entity called "Harvard Admin." We apologize for that. We have taken steps to make it much more difficult for skilled, nefarious sorts to do this kind of thing. Thanks to the many of you who helped us identify the problem and takes steps to deal with it. Investigator Gwen Barnes offers this observation: A message from Harvard Admin Claimed that I had committed a sin. The random accusing Was briefly amusing, And quickly consigned to the bin. ----------------------------------------------------------- 2004-02-10 Meeting Zweiback's Challenge Last month we posed Jason Zweiback's death challenge (Hereafter sometimes known as "The JSDC"): I was driving to Calgary with my fiancee when I told her a joke. She started laughing and as I kept going with it she said, "Stop, you're killing me". This made we wonder, are there any documented cases of people dying from laughing? I figured AIR would be the best source. Our request for documented medical cases produced a collection of cases that in which laughter and death were intertwined, though not necessarily in a causative way. Here is a citation that DOES seem to squarely meet The JSDC. (We might, just might, compile some of the others into a full-fledged article that will appear in a future issue of the magazine.) "2 Autoerotic Accidents: Fatal Nitrous Oxide Anesthesia and Thoracic Compression" [article in German], M.A. Rothschild and V. Schneider, Archiv fur Kriminologie, vol. 200, nos. 3-4, September-October 1997, pp. 65-72. (Thanks to Ken Gorelick and Stephen Slap for bringing this to our attention.) The authors, who are at Universitat Berlin, report that: a 20-year-old man died due to the use of nitrous oxide (laughing gas) which he had used in a self- constructed breathing-machine. The nitrous oxide came from a cartridge which normally is used for aerosol cans for whipped cream. ----------------------------------------------------------- 2004-04-11 On the Blog Here are some recent topics (a new one appears every weekday) in our blog: Getting Girls in Science Mederous Psychological Adventure Klutzing at Straws Gang-Writing Looks Like Michael Jackson Largely Unexplored and Uncelebrated Little Old People Control Meat Loaf From the Chinese Translator Reach the blog via ---------------------------------------------------------- 2004-04-12 Walked Knots Limerick Contest We invite you to enter the first and last annual WALKED KNOTS LIMERICK COMPETITION, for the best (NEWLY composed!) limerick that elucidates this research report, which was brought to our attention by investigator Sarah Rambacher and many others: "Designing Tie Knots by Random Walks," Thomas M. Fink, Yong Mao, Nature, vol. 398, March 4, 1999, pp. 31-2. 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, randomly walkable issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. Send entries (one entry per entrant) to: WALKED KNOTS LIMERICK CONTEST c/o ----------------------------------------------------------- 2004-04-13 Ig UK/Ire Thks Hearty thanks to everyone who came to the Ig Nobel Tour events (for National Science Week) in Oxford, Nottingham, Belfast, Dublin, Glasgow, Exeter, Manchester, London, and Warrington these past few weeks -- and to the Ig Nobel winners, the singers, musicians, the other participants, and especially to the many organizers. We plan to post some photographs in coming months. For those who crave a little flavor of the tour, see this report in the Irish Times: and this diary in Dutch by Ig Nobel winner Kees Moeliker, who with his mallard duck took part in eight of the nine events: ----------------------------------------------------------- 2004-04-14 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Delaware Is Hopping 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: "Suicide by Jumping From a Bridge," D. Lester, Perceptual and Motor Skills, vol. 97, no. 1, August 2003, p. 338. Professor Lester reports that: Of the 132 suicides jumping from the Delaware Memorial Bridge from 1952 to the present, the majority were male and from Delaware. NOTE: Professor Lester's immense body of small published works is celebrated in the March/April 2004 issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. And though Dr. Lester specializes in suicide, he also shows a keen interest in many other things, such as... ----------------------------------------------------------- 2004-04-15 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Textbooks and Short People "Who Buys Their Textbooks Online?" B. Yang and D. Lester, Psychological Reports, vol. 87, no. 3, part 2, December 2000, pp. 1183-4. The authors (the former of whom is at Drexel University, the latter at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey) report that: "A pilot study of 82 undergraduates indicated that skills with computers and Internet use predicted purchasing textbooks online." "The Personalities of Short People," M. Murrell and D. Lester, Psychological Reports, vol. 50, no. 3, part 2, June 1982, p. 1034. ------------------------------------------------------------ 2004-04-16 AIRhead Events ==> For details and updates see ==> Want to host an event? 617-491-4437. ==> SIGMA XI, DELTA CHAPTER, BOSTON, MA -- WED, APR. 21, 2004 (Simmons College, Emmanuel College, Mass. College of Pharmacy) 5:00 PM AIR editor Marc Abrahams will discuss "The Importance of Improbable Research" INFO: Judy Dwyer, jdwyer@emmanuel.edu, 617-735-9731 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION, ARLINGTON, VA -- FRI, APR. 30, 2004 2:00 PM, Room 110 AIR editor Marc Abrahams will discuss "Improbable Research and the Public's Support for Science" INFO: Mary Hanson, mhanson@nsf.gov, 703-292-8070 COUNCIL OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY PRESIDENTS -- SAT, MAY 1, 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, OCT. 2, 2004 MIT IG NOBEL TOUR OF THE U.K. AND IRELAND FOR NATIONAL SCIENCE WEEK -- MARCH, 2005 CASCADIACON, SEATTLE -- THURS, SEPT 1 - MON, SEPT. 5, 2005 North American Science Fiction Convention. AIR editor MARC ABRAHAMS will be the Science Guest of Honor INFO: http://www.cascadiacon.org -------------------------------------------------------------- 2004-04-17 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 ----------------------------------------------------- 2004-04-18 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: --------------------------- 2004-04-19 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 2004, Annals of Improbable Research ----------------------------------------------------- 2004-04-20 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. To subscribe, send a brief E-mail message to: LISTPROC@AIR.HARVARD.EDU The body of your message should contain ONLY the words SUBSCRIBE MINI-AIR MARIE CURIE (You may substitute your own name for that of Madame Curie.) ---------------------------- To stop subscribing, send the following message: SIGNOFF MINI-AIR ============================================================