mini-Annals of Improbable Research (“mini-AIR”)
October 2022, issue number 2022-10. ISSN 1076-500X.<https://www.improbable.com/airchives/miniair/>
Research that makes people LAUGH, then THINK.
01 TABLE OF CONTENTS
02 IN THE MAGAZINE ITSELF: Rotate, Rotate,,,
03 Forgiveness and Slanted Jump Perspectives
04 Improbable Column in New Scientist
05 Limerick Challenge: Slanted Question
06 Unknown Surprises Winner
07 MORE IMPROBABLE: Gum, Month, Kooky Russian Statement
08 Expert and Novice Reliability Regarding Slant on Squat
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.
02 IN THE MAGAZINE ITSELF: Rotate, Rotate,,,
What you are reading at the moment (mini-AIR) is overflow detritus from the magazine Annals of Improbable Research (AIR).
As the world turns, so does the special ROTATION & SPINNING) issue (vol. 28, no. 5) of the magazine, waiting for you to read it and maybe to subscribe. See the table of contents and selected articles at:
The special IG NOBEL issue is in prep.
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/>
03 Forgiveness and Slanted Jump Perspectives
This month’s Haphazardly-Selected Study [HSS] of the month is:
“The Unburdening Effects of Forgiveness: Effects on Slant Perception and Jumping Height,” Xue Zheng, Ryan Fehr, Kenneth Tai, Jayanth Narayanan, and Michele J. Gelfand, Social Psychological and Personality Science 6, no. 4 (2015): 431-438. <https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1948550614564222> (Thanks to Leonie Gutmann for bringing this to our attention.) The authors explain:
“we show that people induced to feel forgiveness perceive hills to be less steep (Study 1) and jump higher in an ostensible fitness test (Study 2) than people who are induced to feel unforgiveness. These findings suggest that forgiveness may lighten the physical burden of unforgiveness,”
04 Improbable Column in New Scientist
I (Marc) am very happy to report that I’m now writing the weekly Feedback column in New Scientist magazine. That began a few weeks ago, in September 2022. It’s in addition to the things ongoing here at Improbable Research.
DETAILS: <https://improbable.com/2022/10/14/an-improbable-new-era-of-feedback/>
THE COLUMNS: <https://www.newscientist.com/author/marc-abrahams/>
05 Limerick Challenge: Slanted Question
This month’s RESEARCH LIMERICK challenge — Devise a pleasing limerick that encapsulates this study:
“To Tilt or Not to Tilt?” D.F. Yankelevitz, Radiology, vol. 191, no. 2, May 1994, p. 585. <https://doi.org/10.1148/radiology.191.2.585-a>
Submit your perfectly formed, delightfully enlightening limerick to:
SLANTED QUESTION LIMERICK COMPETITION
06 Unknown Surprises Winner
The judges have chosen a winner in last month’s Competition, which asked for a limerick to explain this study:
“What Surprises May Lurk in the Unknown?” Witold Nazarewicz, APS Division of Nuclear Physics Meeting Abstracts, pp. 1WA-004, 2000.
<https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2000APS..DNP1WA004N/abstract>
Winning limerickicist SUSANNA AIROLDI writes:
Exactitude somehow may teeter
When distance is subfemtometer.
The closer we peered
The more things got weird,
And that made our confidence peter.
This month’s take from our LIMERICK LAUREATE, MARTIN EIGER:
Binding protons and neutrons implies
What exactly? We only surmise.
We don’t know at all,
Because they’re so small.
But we’re sure it will be a surprise.
07 MORE IMPROBABLE: Gum, Knobs, Kooky Russian Statement
Recent improbable research bits you may have missed…
BLOG: <http://www.improbable.com/>:
Did Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor?
From Knobs to Clicks
Russian Foreign Ministry Makes Kooky Statement about the Ig Nobel Peace Prize
…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>
08 Expert and Novice Reliability Regarding Slant on Squat
This month’s Other Haphazardly-Selected Study [OHSS] of the month:
“Expert Versus Novice Interrater and Intrarater Reliability of the Frontal Plane Projection Angle During a Single-Leg Squat,” Jeremiah Tate, Barry Dale, and Carrie Baker, International Journal of Athletic Therapy and Training, vol. 20, no. 4, 2015. <https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/ijatt/20/4/article-p23.xml>
TREAT YOURSELF TO (MUCH) MORE IMPROBABLE STUFF. SUBCRIBE TO THE (PDF) MAGAZINE!
<www.improbable.com/magazine/>
20 SOME IMPROBABLE EVENTS
Ig Nobel Prizes Exhibition, Osaka, Japan Oct 1-Nov 13, 2022
Ig Informal Lectures (online) Oct & Nov, 2022
Café Scientifique, Muret, France Oct 12, 2022
Heinz Oberhummer Ceremony, Vienna, Austria Nov 24, 2022
“Science Friday” Ig Nobel radio broadcast Nov 25, 2022
Arisia, Boston, USA Jan 2023
AAAS Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, USA Feb 2023
Ig Nobel Euro (and Brexitannia) Tour March-April, 2023
American Chemical Society, San Francisco, USA August 15, 2023
[All live events in 2022 and 2023 are subject to pandemical constraints and adventures.]
For details and additional events, see
<http://www.improbable.com/improbable-research-shows/complete-schedule/>
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.
<http://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.)
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/>
32 — CONTACT INFO (*)
Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)
<http://www.improbable.com>
EDITORIAL: Marc att improbable dottt com
SUBSCRIPTION QUESTIONS: subscriptions att improbable dot com
Cambridge, MA, USA
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