Category: Research News

The University of Leicester has a Celebrity Research Group. The group says “This is an intriguing, largely unexplored area of research.” They ar at least 50% correct in that, and possibly more than 50% correct. The group is now conducting what it calls a “celebrity survey,” which you can find at the URL they have […]

Beauty is valuable. There is ample published research to back up the researchers’ belief that they could publish their research. An eye-catching, tidily-summed-up collection of that research appears in the “Beauty Value Research Review” that is part of AIR‘s Special Beauty Issue. Read it here.

“What is a control meat loaf?” asks investigator Larry O’Hanlon. O’Hanlon encountered the phrase while reading absttracts from the July 2004 issue (vol. 67, no. 3 ) of the journal Meat Science. The abstract for the article “Quality characteristics of loaves from buffalo meat, liver and vegetables” explains that: Different types of loaves were evaluated: […]

ITHACA, N.Y. — Heart attack victims who make it to the hospital in time to receive medical attention are four to five times more likely to survive compared with those who don’t make it to a hospital promptly, according to a new Cornell University study. So begins a press release issued by Cornell University. Read […]

A Mrs. Hodges of Sylacauga, Alabama, is reported to be the first human being directly struck by a falling meteorite. Her story, is told in part here. Mrs. Hodges’s first name has been variously reported to be either “Hulitt” or “Ann.” Thanks to investigator Benjy Berglas for bringing this to our attention. Investigator Berglas also […]

The perfect Valentine’s Day gift for a scientist? A juicy problem to solve. We recommend: “Love’s Problem,” Janet M. Becker and Michael Bevis, Geophysical Journal International, vol. 156, no. 2, February 2004, p. 171. The authors, who are at the University of Hawaii, explain that: “Explicit expressions for the displacements generated in a non-gravitating, homogeneous, […]

What is the scientific significance of Groundhog Day? Andrew J. Gerrard and his colleagues at Penn State University answered that question, and published a report in the Annals of Improbable Research. Read it here.

How dangerous is marijuana? Thanks to Dr Peter Maguire and his careful use of basic mathematics, now we know. Details are in a January 21, 2004 news report from Reuters (read the full report here): “Cannabis is a drug that can kill,” Dr Peter Maguire, deputy chairman of the BMA’s board of science told Reuters. […]

The phrase “upside-down, into the void” sums up a report in the BMJ (vol. 328,January 17, 2004, p. 176): A 67 year old man presented with lower urinary tract symptoms and many episodes of near-acute urinary retention, which he found, by trial and error, he avoided by standing on his head for 5-10 minutes each […]