“… the degree to which one smiles in photographs taken in early life predicts the likelihood that a person will be divorced later in life.” say researchers from the Touch and Emotion Lab at DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana, US, a key center for facial and tactile communication studies. The lab has recently completed two long-term […]
About: Martin Gardiner
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- Curator : Wikenigma - an Encyclopedia of Unknowns
Posts by Martin Gardiner:
Spokescharacters
A good number of blue-chip corporations have chosen to create ‘spokescharacters’ to represent them. But are they effective? Yes and no, according to a recent research project from the Department of Media Arts at Kun Shan University, Taiwan, which focussed on one in particular – ‘A-Lung’ the yellow 3-D meta-dinosaur who is a representative for […]
5 not V, for mental disorders
The previous versions of the American Psychiatric Association (APA)’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders were called DSM-I, DSM-II, DSM-III, and DSM-IV – but the new one is being named DSM-5. It seems the APA have, for reasons not yet clear, decided that Roman numerals are out for the 2013 edition. Can any readers […]
Ha Ha Yecchhhh Ha Ha
“Despite the possibility of mixed feelings of disgust and amusement hardly anything is known about the relationship between these emotions.” Prompting researchers from Western Illinois University and the University of Toronto to investigate – and in so doing constructing what maybe the only formal psychology study to have centred around the work of transgressive cult […]
Screw-in coffin
Nowadays, space in cemeteries is at a premium. Therefore, if a method could be found to pack more of the deceased into a given area – money could be saved. The problem may have been resolved with the invention of the ‘Easy Inter Burial Container‘ recently patented by Californian inventor Donald Scruggs. The patent can […]
Was Bond a gourmet?
Ian Fleming’s most famous creation, James Bond, was famously keen on lightly-scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, orange juice and espresso coffee. He also dabbled with grilled sole, foie gras, crawfish, asparagus with Béarnaise sauce, and caviar. But could he really be thought of as a gourmet? According to Edward Biddulph, tutor and Senior Project Manager at […]
Making up the tips
Does wearing makeup increase waitress’ tips? Researchers at the Université de Bretagne Sud, and the Université du Maine, France, recently performed a field experiment (with two waitresses) to find out. Two hundred and seventy-four restaurant customers (186 males and 98 females) were randomly assigned into two groups. One group was attended by waitresses who were […]
Don’t mess with Bond
What are the survival prospects for female characters in the James Bond movies? A new research project from Cleveland State University and Kent State University performed a quantitative content analysis for 195 female characters in 20 out of the 22 Bond films – uncovering in the process some clearcut predictors of their survivability. “End-of-film mortality […]
Nocturnal undergarments in ancient Rome – a follow up.
Extending and complimenting recent investigations into nocturnal Roman underwear comes another research article which touches, albeit briefly, on the same subject. In 2003, professor Kelly Olson at the Department of Classical Studies, University of Western Ontario, published ‘Roman Underwear Revisited’ (Classical World 96.2) And, according to professor Olson, another reading of the very same body […]
Did the Romans keep their underwear on in bed?
The subject had remained shrouded in the mists of antiquity until it was tackled by Neil Adkin, Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln – who shone some much needed light into this once murky area with findings published in an article for the journal The Classical World. 93 (2000) 619-20 The professor […]