The airflow from a trained opera singer has been studied intensively. It led to this video, a year ago, and now to a published study (and a new video, too). The study is “Tracking the Air Exhaled by an Opera Singer,” Philippe Bourrianne, Paul R. Kaneelil, Manouk Abkarian, and Howard A. Stone, Physical Review Fluids, […]
Tag: mask
Coronal Kimchee-and-the-Nose Investigation
Kimchee, hot soup, and nose filters all figure in the search for understanding and containment of the Covid-19 pandemic. They figure especially highly in this newly published study: “Assessment of Coronavirus disease, the nose pollution filter, fermented spicy Kimchee, and peppery hot soup consumed in Korea,” Y. S. Chung, Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health, vol. […]
Two Historic Brassiere-to-Face-Mask Innovations
Dr. Elena Bodnar‘s 2009 Ig Nobel Prize-winning Emergency Bra may be the most spectacular and fashionable instance of brassiere design and protective-face-mask design intersecting. But it is not the first. The 3M company’s N95 mask grew from an-early-1960s bra-cup design by Sara Little Turnbull, according to reports (“How One Woman Inspired The Design For The […]
To Solve the Lipstick-Sticking-to-Facemask Problem
Two years before the Covid-19 pandemic existed, Ajikie Majima patented a way to solve a problem that would annoy millions of lipstick-wearers who want to also wear protective facemasks. That patent is: “Mask Replacement Patch,” Ajikie Majima, Japan patent #3211488U, 2017. Majima’s basic description of the invention: “Disclosed is a non-woven pleated mask that can […]
Difficult to Recognize: Insights about Recognizing Masked Faces
Some people might find it difficult to recognize the insights in this new study about whether people find it more difficult to recognize faces that are obscured by masks: “The COVID-19 pandemic masks the way people perceive faces,” Erez Freud, Andreja Stajduhar, R. Shayna Rosenbaum, Galia Avidan, and Tzvi Ganel, Scientific Reports, vol. 10, no. […]
Are masks necessary in operating rooms, in ordinary times?
Questions of masks and spittle, and separately—and startlingly—the question of whether masks are necessary in ordinary, non-pandemic times in hospital operating rooms. Four medical studies covering those topics get a good looking at in the “Wear a Mask?” column in the special Small Animals issue (vol. 26, no 3) of the Annals of Improbable Research.
Masked and Un-Masked Spittle Produced When One Says “Stay Healthy”
The biomedical race to understand and tame the COVID-19 virus proceeds rapidly, drop by drop. This new spittle study is the very latest addition to the literature: “Visualizing Speech-Generated Oral Fluid Droplets with Laser Light Scattering,” Philip Anfinrud, Valentyn Stadnytskyi, Christina E. Bax, and Adriaan Bax, New England Journal of Medicine, April 15, 2020. (Thanks […]
1st report about Bodnar’s invention for men
The Boston Herald became the first press organization to report on Dr. Elena Bodnar’s new invention — the counterpart device for men of Ig Nobel Prize-winning earlier invention, the brassiere-that-in-an-emergency-converts-into-a-pair-of-protective-face-masks. The new invention is a men’s dress shirt that, in an emergency, can be quickly converted into a single protective facemask. Dr. Bodnar publicly unveiled […]
Bodnar’s bra: Size does not matter
Ig Nobel Prize-winning bra/facemask inventor Elena Bodnar explains and demonstrates, on Swiss TV’s “20 Minuten Online”, why size does not matter. UPDATE: Dr. Bodnar will be appearing at the Improbable Research session at the AAAS Annual Meeting, in February in San Diego, and also on the Ig Nobel Tour of the UK, in March. Details […]
Anti-terrorist bra-mask to fight swine flu?
A patented brassiere that converts into a face mask — actually into a pair of face masks — could conceivably aid the sudden Mexican and worldwide defense against swine flu. The top two images here, reproduced form the patent, show the device deployed in each of its two modes. The third image shows a modified […]