Pay-per-view and autism

Today’s intriguing claim of the day appears in a Duke University press release: Monkey "Pay-Per-View" Study Could Aid Understanding of Autism The study itself is intriguing even without the autism link. (Thanks to Bruce Williams for bringing it to our attention.)

Starbucks study

An article in the December 16, 2004 issue of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that: Bryant Simon, a professor at Temple, is writing a book on Starbucks? effect on culture. His research will take him to Michigan, Madrid, Jerusalem and Georgia. Professor Simon’s research may be descended from that of Steve Penfold, whose Ph.D. dissertation on […]

Murphy’s Law and Saturn

Murphy’s Law covers all of time and space. It is newly demonstrated in this report from the Associated Press: David Atkinson spent 18 years designing an experiment for the unmanned space mission to Saturn. Now some pieces of it are lost in space. Someone forgot to turn on the instrument Atkinson needed to measure the […]

Personal Nose Filters

Personal nose filters. Yes, personal nose filters. The manufacturer reports that they (a) are "tested by Universities in Belgium and The Buteyko Breathing Institute in Asia;"  (b) do not protect against poisonous or toxic gases, fumes, vapors, etc.; and (c) should be kept out of the reach of children. (Thanks to Earle Spamer for bringing […]

Dirty cups

Not so long ago, "in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the discovery of penicillin — a happy accident in which rogue mold grew in a forgotten petri dish,  the Royal Society of Chemistry has asked its most unhygienic stakeholders to send in photos of their most disgusting, molded-over and crufted-up coffee cups." Many people […]

New Year’s Non-Cork Popping

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (formerly and lovingly known as the Centers for Disease Control) have/has issued a statistics-based safety reminder for New Year’s Eve celebrants. The full report appears in the December 24, 2004 issue of MMWR. Here are some highlights: New Year’s Eve Injuries Caused by Celebratory Gunfire — Puerto Rico, […]

Facing Santa

Pediatric reactions to Santa Claus are photo-documented in a new research project. Based in South Florida, the project would seem to confirm the disturbing findings reported last year (and  subsequently in more detail) by 2003 Ig Nobel Literature Prize winner John Trinkaus.