The inception of PROJECT “INSECT MUNCH KABOOM” (announced in mini-AIR 2004-04) roused Investigator Gary Dryfoos: Okay, first of all, I don’t think you can get most insects to blow at all, never mind in a specified direction. For a lot of them, it would seem their necks wouldn’t bend back enough for them to blow […]
About: Marc Abrahams
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Posts by Marc Abrahams:
Brains and Curiosity
Curiosity is generally a good thing, but perhaps it is possible to have too much of it. Investogator Ron Josephson alerted us to a news report about too-brainy curiosity. The report appeared on television station KUSA, channel 9, Denver Colorado, on February 23, 2004. See it here.
May mini-AIR
The May issue of mini-AIR just went out. Read it here. Contents include, among other things: / The Sniffing of Efficient Clerks / Historic Bear Suit / Project Nano / Nano Nota Bene / Science of Cooking: Sponges / Walked Knots Poet / Posthumous Politics Proliferates / Sorgenfrey-Line Limerick Contest / Hernia, Grizzly Bear, and […]
The David Brent Syndrome
Everyone is incompetent, in one way or another. Psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger supplied scientific evidence that incompetence is bliss, at least for the incompetent person…. So begins this week’s Improbable Research column in The Guardian. Read it here.
Fall Guy / Penguin
Penguins go plop all the time. For an example, look here. (Thanks to Martin Meder for bringing this to our attention.) And of course penguins go pooh all the time. For an example, look here.
Dikshit Jr Hits the Road
The following article appears in the April 24, 2004 issue of the Times of India: Dikshit Jr Hits the Road NEW DELHI: His mother’s son. His introduction? His mother’s five years in Delhi have made the city breathe easy. Basking in the reflected glory of Sheila Dikshit’s second consecutive victory, Sandeep Dikshit, her protege, is […]
Veiled Cancer Risk?
Veiled women are protecting more than their modesty — they are also less prone to nose and throat cancers because their veils screen out viruses, a Canadian doctor was quoted Friday as saying. Professor Kamal Malaker said women in Saudi Arabia, many of whom wear a full face-covering veil, suffered a low rate of the […]
Correct Appreciation
Not every publication admits that it, on occasion, contains errors. The British Medical Journal (or, as it’s known these days, the BMJ) is more pleasingly straightforward than most of its peers, as you can see here.
Troy’s Armor Auction Imminent
Troy Hurtubise, Ig Nobel winner “for developing, and personally testing a suit of armor that is impervious to grizzly bears,” is going to put that suit — and its successor — up for sale on Ebay. They will go on sale Wednesday, May 5, 2004. Please help spread the word! These are the same suits […]
Dead Good
When, if ever, does a person stops learning? Stephen Rushen, an educationalist based at Penn State University in the United States, conducted an experiment, or says he conducted an experiment, to find out…. So begins this week’s Improbable Research column in The Guardian. Read it here.