“Winston Churchill: Inguinal Hernia Repair on 11 June 1947,” by J. Allister Vale and John W. Scadding,” is one of the research studies featured in the article “Medical Research: Sarsaparilla, Nose, Churchill’s Hernia“, in the special Formulas & Recipes issue of the magazine (Annals of Improbable Research). Read the article online. And if you like, […]
The team (most of it) that won the 2001 Ig Nobel Prize for Ecology—because they analyzed the bacteria dwelling in discarded wads of chewed chewing gum — has now also analyzed life forms that live in various kinds of table salt. Details are in the study: “Beyond Archaea: The Table Salt Bacteriome,” Leila Satari, Alba […]
A notedly bacteria-friendly currency was targeted by counterfeiters who themselves were targeted by Romanian government officials. “Romanian officials shut down largest counterfeiter of polymer notes” trumpets a headline in Coin World, on July 13, 2020. The report goes on to say: “Romania’s Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) released the news… Raids on […]
Before you reach into your pocket, bag, purse or wallet for some cash … you might pause for thought about the bacteria, yeasts, fungi, cysts and ova of intestinal parasites that could be lurking there. All the above are commonly found on money worldwide – but which types of cash are the filthiest? In a […]
What bacteria are exchanged when two people kiss? That question is addressed in studies that are profiled in the special kissing issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. One of those studies was honored with an Ig Nobel Prize last year.
Probiotic starter cultures come in many different flavors. Here are two that qualify as Not-off-the-shelf. 1. “Characterization of Lactic Acid Bacteria Isolated from Infant Faeces as Potential Probiotic Starter Cultures for Fermented Sausages.” This study was honored with the 2014 Ig Nobel Prize for nutrition. 2. Vaginal bacteria as probiotic starter culture for yogurt. Janet Jay, […]
It’s a given that all manner of unwelcome microbial and viral particles can be exhaled by a person during a sneeze or a cough. Prompting inventor Joseph Apisa of Colts Neck, NJ, US, to create a ‘Sneeze catching method and apparatus’ It’s just received a US patent (Dec. 16, 2014). It can be, and indeed […]
Canadian elevator buttons just might hold the key to a return in popularity for the “anti-microbial” cleaning products industry. Recently, three doctors in Toronto wrote a little study about the bacteria they found on hospital elevator buttons. The great washed public, reading that report (or scary reports about that report — maybe scarier than the one you are reading right […]
Last year, 2013, medical researchers at West Virginia University published the study “Reducing pathogen transmission in a hospital setting. Handshake verses fist bump: a pilot study,” P.A. Ghareeb, T. Bourlai, W. Dutton, W.T. McClellan, Journal of Hospital Infection, vol. 85, no. 4, December 2013, pp. 321–323 (epub September 19, 2013). (We mentioned that here then.) That study says: Handshaking […]
Now that Summer’s (kind of) on the way (for approx. half the globe) what better time to think about mucking around in an interactive fountain? Before you do, however, you could read Issue 1, Vol. 2 of The Wave, published by the US Govt. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “There is no standing water […]