“An inebriated person in Nice (see Figure 1) takes a walk, each step in one of the four cardinal directions, north (N), south (S), east (E), and west (W). We are interested in those walks beginning at the center of the Promenade des Anglais (at the southern end of town) and ending anywhere on the […]
Tag: France
The President’s Father and the Sneezing of Cats
Jean-Michel Macron is a neurologist who has published several studies about the sneezing of cats. His son is the current president of France. Among Macron’s cat-sneeze studies: Macron on Cat Sneezing (1991) — “Trigeminal afferences implied in the triggering or inhibition of sneezing in cats,” Fabrice Wallois, Jean Michel Macron, Vincent Jounieaux, and Bernard Duron, Neuroscience […]
The Rouen Institute for Human Enlargement: a dream unfulfilled
From the Canada Lancet (June 1901), vol. XXXIV, no. 9, p. 550: An eccentric millionaire, whose amiable fad would have met with the cordial approval of Frederick the Great, has recently died and bequeathed to the municipality of Rouen an annual sum of 100,000 francs, for the purpose of providing a dowry to a couple of […]
Smelov’s investigation of HPV on toilet seats in international airports
Lead author Smelov and colleagues write, in this letter to a medical journal, about a careful investigation that may (and may not) have small or nonexistent implications: “Are human papillomavirus DNA prevalences providing high-flying estimates of infection? An international survey of HPV detection on environmental surfaces,” Vitaly Smelov [pictured here], Carina Eklund, Laila Sara Arroyo […]
The Three Dimensions of Fresh Air
The Journal of Material Culture is “concerned with the relationship between artefacts and social relations irrespective of time and place”. And, as part of this remit, the June 2013 issue of features one of the few academic studies of ‘Fresh Air’. ‘The air from outside: Getting to know the world through air practices’. “The article […]
Cafeteria Review: CERN
Several Improbable Research persons (I am one of them) are at CERN for a few days. We sometimes dine in CERN’s main cafeteria, and are delighted at the goodness of the food and the general atmosphere — and equally delighted at the kindness, friendliness, and relaxed cheeriness of the people who work at the cafeteria. It’s […]
Ig Nobel program premieres Friday night on France 5 TV
A reminder: Quand la Science Fair Rire, a television program about the Ig Nobel Prizes and Ig Nobel Prize winners, premieres on France 5, on Friday night, September 28. Produced by Frederic Lepage and directed by Roland Portiche for Paris-based FL Concepts, this and subsequent episodes will later also be shown on public television networks in […]
Savate, s’il vous plaît: British take on French boxing
Historic footage of savate, a French style of boxing. The first film clip offers historic British commentary. The narrator says: “After the recent British heavyweight box contests, let’s take a look a the French ring, where men are men. On the left, Battling Gaston, the brutal bruiser. On the right, Pretty Pierre, who packs a […]