Almost every surprising discovery comes from something that seemed unlikely—the seeming-unlikeliness is why the discovery had to be discovered surprisingly. Here is one of many new attempts to discover something that would surprise and delight the world. This particular discovery, should it be discovered, would theoretically infuriate a few people. “In Search of Preventative Strategies: […]
Tag: marijuana
Marijuana improves night vision of tadpoles, study suggests
Marijuana improves night vision of tadpoles, suggests a newly published study: “Endocannabinoid signaling enhances visual responses through modulation of intracellular chloride levels in retinal ganglion cells,” Loïs S Miraucourt, Jennifer Tsui, Delphine Gobert, Jean-François Desjardins, Anne Schohl, Mari Sild, Perry Spratt, Annie Castonguay, Yves De Koninck, Nicholas Marsh-Armstrong, Paul W Wiseman, and Edward S Ruthazer, eLife, 2016;5:e15932. […]
Minimal Effects of Joints on a Consumer on a Bicycle
A German/Austrian study suggests that even heavy marijuana smoking has little affect on bicyclists’ bicycling performance. The study is: “The effect of cannabis on regular cannabis consumers’ ability to ride a bicycle,” Benno Hartung, Holger Schwender, Eckhard H. Roth, Florence Hellen, Nona Mindiashvili, Annette Rickert, Stefanie Ritz-Timme [pictured here], Almut Grieser, Fabio Monticelli, Thomas Daldrup, International Journal […]
Podcast 26: A look back at the 2014 Ig Nobel Prize winners (PART 1)
Trod-upon banana peels; deities in toast; late night psychopaths; cat hazards; dog alignment; really, really, really heavy marijuana users; fat people’s shoes; spearmint tea and hairy women; and someone who swallowed a fork — all these all turn up in this week’s Improbable Research podcast. Click on the “Venetian blinds” icon — at the lower right corner here […]
Evidence that Synthetic Marijuana May Be More Dangerous then Real
We are hoping to discover the significance, if any, of the publication date of this medical paper: “Smoking synthetic marijuana leads to self-mutilation requiring bilateral amputations,” K.A. Meijer, R.R. Russo and D.V. Adhvaryu, Orthopedics, vol. 37, no. 4, April 1, 2014, pp. e391-4. (Thanks to investigator Ivan Oransky for bringing this to our attention.) The […]
Comparative death counts: Marijuana vs. water
There’s news about the literally grave danger that a feared drug might pose for someone somewhere some day. Details are in a new study. The study describes two persons who died from no obvious cause, and who—the doctors conclude — therefore must have died from the unknown amounts of marijuana that they are likely to […]
One-breast enlargement from German military rifle chest-slapping
The rhythmic impact of a rifle wielded by a military man can puff up his chest. This sometimes leads to worry, or worse. Though soldiers might appreciate a good pair of breasts, what would happen if they themselves grew a pair? Or if they grew just one? Some men do experience this affront. A study called Gynecomastia […]
Engineering: Improving pot by obliterating its essence
The influence, or at least of the spirit, of Rube Goldberg is evident in a tangential way, in this news report by AFP: Scientists invent ‘cannabis without the high’ Israeli scientists have cultivated a cannabis plant that doesn’t get people stoned in a development that may help those smoking marijuana for medical purposes, a newspaper said […]
HEALTH LESSON: Smoking marijuana
[Yet another tool for teachers.] Some students believe that health lessons are necessarily dull. But try this one. The New York Times reports: Young adults who started using the drug regularly in their early teens performed significantly worse on cognitive tests assessing brain function than did subjects who were at least 16 when they started […]
Able on marijuana
Ernest L. Abel, the Detroit doctors who say the letter “D” foreshadows death, is not only the same Ernest L. Able who compiled and edited the highly stimulating (in its time) book Drugs and Sex, ISBN-13: 978-0-313-23941-0, 129 pages, Greenwood Press, 1983. He also wrote the highly provocative (in its time) book A Marihuana Dictionary, […]