“We found evidence that when men were manipulated to feel that they had a relatively small penis, they ranked sports cars as more desirable than when they felt relatively well endowed and that this effect was most pronounced in men 30 and over,” say the authors in this new study: “Small Penises and Fast Cars: […]
Over the years, a number of scholars have reported on the implications of ‘Car Face’ design. For a recent example, see the work of Xueyuan Zhang, Liqing Huang and Mingzhu Li of the School of Art, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China, who report, in E3S Web of Conferences 236, 02042 (2021) regarding Research on the Shape […]
Tiger Woods, the celebrated professional golfer, was in a car crash in 2020. This was his second widely-reported major smash-up. After the first crash—in 2009—economists calculated some of the economic knock-on costs to companies that had paid Woods to endorse them or their products and services. They reported details in a study: “Shareholder Value Destruction […]
Those who wish to appear irresistible to others can always try sitting in a prestige car, say a Bentley Continental GT, in an attempt to boost their attractiveness. But, according to a 2010 research project conducted at the School of Health Sciences, Centre for Psychology, University of Wales Institute, UK, this strategy might work considerably […]
“Our thesis is that there is no moral requirement to refrain from emitting reasonable amounts of greenhouse gases (GHGs) solely in order to enjoy oneself. Joyriding in a gas guzzler (joyguzzling) provides our paradigm example” – explain Ewan Kingston and Walter Sinnott-Armstrong of the Philosophy Department, Duke University, Durham, NC, US, in a new paper […]
The physics of shouting into the wind are now slightly better plumbed. Details emerge in the study “Effects of flow gradients on directional radiation of human voice,” Ville Pulkki [pictured here, performing the experiment], Timo Lähivaara, and Ilkka Huhtakallio, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 143, no. 2, 2018, pp. 1173-1181. (Thanks to […]
The effects of different styles of music on angry automobile drivers were analyzed, to some extent, in this study: “The Effects of Various Music on Angry Drivers’ Subjective, Behavioral, and Physiological States,” Maryam FakhrHosseini and Myounghoon Jeon, Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications Adjunct, pp. 191-196. ACM, 2016. […]
The research that won an Ig Nobel Chemistry Prize for Volkswagen also involved monkeys watching cartoons while they inhaled automobile fumes — a fact that was not publicly known at the time the prize was awarded. Nor was it known to the Ig Nobel Board of Governors. The monkeys/cartoons news was reported today by Jack […]
If a species of bird has a relatively small brain [compared to other avian species] is it likely to be less intelligent ? And, if so, might it be more likely to be involved in a traffic accident? A team from Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Université Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, France and the House of […]
Physics can help a person realize that it’s not always good to be hit by a slowly rolling car, even if the ground appears to be flat. This medical report gives details: “Pedestrian accident analysis with a silicone dummy block,” Youngnae Lee, Sungji Park, Seokhyun Yoon, Youngsu Kong, and Jae-Mo Goh, Forensic Science International, vol. 220, […]