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 […]
Tag: shoes
Are shoes good for you?
The Swiss researchers who (some of them) two years ago did an “analysis of a piece of shit” now supply an answer to the question “Are shoes good for you?” They are two-fifths of the way towards completing the poetical list “shoes and shit [reverse sic] and sealing wax, cabbages and kings“. Their shit study is called “An In-Depth Analysis […]
Is it Possible to Sanitize Athletes’ Shoes?
A newly published study asks: Is is possible to sanitize athletes’ shoes? The study does not ask whether that matters. The study is: “Is it Possible to Sanitize Athletes’ Shoes?” Gabriele Messina, Sandra Burgassi, Carmela Russo, Emma Ceriale, Cecilia Quercioli and Cosetta Meniconi, Journal of Athletic Training, epub November 2014. The authors are at various institutions […]
Shoelaces — the trials of cooperatively tying them with other people
Primary instructor Michael J. Crites and professor Jamie C. Gorman of the Human Factors Psychology dept. at Texas Tech University Lubbock, US, have investigated (experimentally) some of the difficulties of shoelace tying – with two hands, one hand, and with someone else’s hand. See: Learning to Tie Well with Others : Bimanual vs. Intermanual Coordination […]
Malpositioned breast implant correction innovation
Unfortunately, breast implants are sometimes positioned wrongly. A new method to correct such problems – using shoelaces – is described by Dr. Daniel C. Mills II, MD, FACS: of the Aesthetic Plastic Surgical Institute, Laguna Beach, California, in the latest edition of Aesthetic Surgery Journal : ¨Implant malposition after breast augmentation surgery remains a common […]
George Parrott the Snacker, and George Parrot the Shoes
George Parrott is in the news. George Parrot has been out of the news for a while. In the news (specifically, in the Sacramento Bee): Sac State students don’t have to bring snacks for professor Students of Sacramento State professor George Parrott won’t have to supply snacks anymore in order to be taught psychology. The […]
Physics: Of snow and socks in the Balkans
Investigator Lira Nikolovska writes: “I noticed last year’s Ig Nobel physics prize winner:” PHYSICS PRIZE: Lianne Parkin, Sheila Williams, and Patricia Priest of the University of Otago, New Zealand, for demonstrating that, on icy footpaths in wintertime, people slip and fall less often if they wear socks on the outside of their shoes. REFERENCE: “Preventing […]
Shoe-based navigation update
Khairi Abdulrahim and colleagues at the University of Nottingham in the UK are following an alternative approach to shoe-based navigation. Their new device complements the one recently developed at Carnegie Mellon University and North Carolina State University. (See: Radar in your shoe: The reasoning Improbable Research, December 1st, 2010). But rather than rely on radar, […]
Study: socks over shoes prevent falls
Socks over shoes surpass shoes over socks for strolling on slippery city slopes, says a study done in New Zealand. In other words – in the words of the study itself – “wearing socks over shoes appears to be an effective and inexpensive method to reduce the likelihood of slipping on icy footpaths”. Lianne Parkin, […]