mini-Annals of Improbable Research (“mini-AIR”)
July 2022, issue number 2022-07. ISSN 1076-500X.
<https://www.improbable.com/airchives/miniair/>
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Research that makes people LAUGH, then THINK.
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01 TABLE OF CONTENTS
02 IN THE MAGAZINE ITSELF: Men Follow Women
03 Reuse of Plates and Screws in Countries
04 The Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony is Not All That Far Away
05 Limerick Challenge: Impact of Plates on Countries
06 Uses of Urine / Wheat Testing Winner
07 MORE IMPROBABLE: Pepper Lips, Music Chem, Winning Feelings
20 SOME IMPROBABLE EVENTS
30 — Subscribe to the Actual Magazine! (*)
31 — How to start or stop receiving this little newsletter (*)
32 — Contact Info (*)
33 — Standard Gobbledegook (*)
Items marked (*) are reprinted in every issue.
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02 IN THE MAGAZINE ITSELF: Men Follow Women
What you are reading at the moment (mini-AIR)
is overflow detritus from
the magazine Annals of Improbable Research (AIR).
The special MEN (AND WOMEN) issue (vol. 28, no. 4) is out. See the table of contents and selected articles at:
It follows on the heels of the special WOMEN (AND MEN) issue (vol. 28, no. 3), for which you can see the table of contents and selected articles at:
SUBSCRIBE to the MAGAZINE,
or get BACK ISSUES (there are more than 150 of them!):
<https://gumroad.com/improbable>
Tables of Contents: <http://www.improbable.com/magazine/>
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03 Reuse of Plates and Screws in Countries
This month’s possibly-randomly-selected research study of the month is:
“Reuse of Osteosynthesis Plates and Screws in Developing Countries,” Rahadyan Magetsari, University of Groningen, 2005.
<https://pure.rug.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/2935670/R.Magetsari.PDF>
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04 The Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony is Not All That Far Away
Remind yourself to remind yourself that the 32nd First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony will be webcast on Thursday, September 15, 2022.
The ceremony web page is at:
<https://improbable.com/ig/2022-ceremony/>
The Audicious radio program recently interviewed several Ig Nobel Prize winners, about “What It’s Like to Win the Ig Nobel Prize”.
Listen to their tales of non-woe, at
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05 Limerick Challenge: Impact of Plates on Countries
This month’s RESEARCH LIMERICK challenge — Devise a pleasing limerick that encapsulates this study:
“What Is the Impact of Tectonic Plate Movement on Country Size? A Long-Term Forecast,” by Kamil Maciuk, Michal Apollo, Anita Kukulska-Kozieł, and Paulina Lewińska, Remote Sensing, vol. 13, no. 23, 2021. (Thanks to Tom Gill for bringing this to our attention.) <https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13234872> The authors report:
“The Earth’s surface is under permanent alteration with the area of some nations growing or shrinking due to natural or man-made processes, for example sea level change. Here, based on the NUVEL 1A model, we forecast (in 10, 25, and 50 years) the changes in area for countries that are located on the border of the major tectonic plates….
The largest increases in area are for Mexico and Djibouti. Both these countries, after ten years, will increase their area by 13,000 and 9000 m2, respectively. After half a century, their area will increase by 65,000 and 45,000 m2. India, Nepal, and the USA are among the countries that will lose the most area due to plate movement. After just ten years, they will lose 575,000, 390,000, and 210,000 m2, respectively. In 50 years, they will decrease in area by almost 3 km2, 2 km2, and more than 1 km2, respectively.”
Submit your perfectly formed, delightfully enlightening limerick to:
PLATES & COUNTRIES LIMERICK COMPETITION
c/o <MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM>
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06 Uses of Urine / Wheat Testing Winner
The judges have chosen a winner in last month’s Competition, which asked for a limerick to explain this study:
“Nutrient Recovery from Human Urine Using Pretreated Zeolite and Struvite Precipitation in Combination with Freezing‐Thawing and Plant Availability Tests on Common Wheat,” Zsófia Ganrot, Andreas Slivka, and Göran Dave, CLEAN–Soil, Air, Water, vol. 36, no. 1, 2008, pp. 45-52. <https://doi.org/10.1002/clen.200700074>. The authors report:
Winning limerickicist ALLISON BROWN writes:
If you freeze some wee you will see
Wee crystals will form from the pee.
The crystals that form
Are not quite the norm.
They concentrate nutrients free.
This month’s take from our LIMERICK LAUREATE, MARTIN EIGER:
We couldn’t extract it before,
But there’s nutrient richness galore.
Read this paper. Then you
Will know what to do.
Step one is to urinate more.
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07 MORE IMPROBABLE: Pepper Lips, Music Chem, Winning Feelings
Recent improbable research bits you may have missed…
BLOG: <http://www.improbable.com/>:
* Lip Vibration Assessment of Hot Pepper Sensation
* Musical Instrument Distinguishes between Diethylene Glycol and Glycerol
* Reading on a Smartphone, and Sighing
*…and much more
LUXURIANT FLOWING HAIR CLUB FOR SCIENTISTS (LFHCfS)
<https://www.improbable.com/category/lfhcfs-hair-club/>
PODCAST:
<https://www.improbable.com/category/the-weekly-improbable-research-podcast/>:
FACEBOOK: <http://www.facebook.com/improbableresearch>
TWITTER: @ImprobResearch, @MarcAbrahams, #IgNobel
INSTAGRAM: <https://www.instagram.com/improbable_research/>
PATREON: <www.patreon.com/ImprobableResearch>
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08 Status of Screws in Countries
This month’s slightly-less-randomly selected research report is:
“Research Status of Food Twin-Screw Extruder in Foreign Countries,” Wen Donghui, Food and Machinery, vol. 5, no. 73, 1999, pp. 35-37.
<https://www.oriprobe.com/journals/spyjj/1999_5.html>
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TREAT YOURSELF TO (MUCH) MORE IMPROBABLE STUFF.
SUBCRIBE TO THE (PDF) MAGAZINE!
<www.improbable.com/magazine/>
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20 SOME IMPROBABLE EVENTS
Ig Nobel Prizes Exhibition, Taipei, Taiwan Jun 25-Sep 11, 2022
Council Bluffs Library, Iowa, USA Aug 18, 2022
Chicon 8, Chicago Sep TBA, 2022
Knight Sci Journalism, Cambridge, MA, USA Sep 13, 2022
32nd First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony Sep 15, 2022
Café Scientifique, Muret, France Oct 12, 2022
Ig Nobel Prizes Exhibition, Osaka Japan Oct 1-Nov 13, 2022
[All live events in 2021 and 2022 are subject to pandemical constraints and adventures.]
For details and additional events, see
<http://www.improbable.com/improbable-research-shows/complete-schedule/>
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30 — Subscribe to the Actual Magazine! (*)
The Annals of Improbable Research is a 6-issues-per-year magazine,
in PDF form.
It’s packed with research that makes people laugh, then think.
<www.improbable.com/magazine/>
SUBSCRIPTIONS ($25, for six issues)
BACK ISSUES ($5 each)
(mini-AIR, the thing you are reading at this moment, is but a tiny, free-floating appendix to the actual magazine.)
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31 — How to start or stop receiving this newsletter (*)
This newsletter, Mini-AIR, is just a (free!) tiny monthly *supplement* to the big, bold six-times-a-year magazine Annals of Improbable Research.
To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE to mini-AIR, see the links at the end of this email.
ARCHIVES: <https://improbable.com/publications/newsletter-mini-air/>
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32 — CONTACT INFO (*)
Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)
EDITORIAL: <MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM>
SUBSCRIPTION QUESTIONS: <subscriptions AT improbable.com>
Cambridge, MA, USA
Twitter: @ImprobResearch
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33 — Standard Gobbledegook (*)
EDITOR: Marc Abrahams
CO-CONSPIRATORS: Kees Moeliker, Alice Shirrell Kaswell, Gary Dryfoos, Nan Swift, Stephen Drew
PROOFREADER: Ambient Happenstance
AUTHORITY FIGURES: Nobel Laureates Dudley Herschbach, Sheldon Glashow, Richard Roberts
Key words: improbable research, science humor, Ig Nobel, AIR, the
(c) copyright 2022, Annals of Improbable Research
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