This experiment perhaps applies most to people who soak their teeth (dentures, or in-jaw teeth that include artificial elements) in coffee: “Does hot coffee or cold coffee cause more discoloration on resin based composite materials?” Bilge Ersoz, Elif Aybala Oktay, and Numan Aydin, Serpil Karaoglanoglu, European Oral Research, vol. 57, no. 2, 2023, pp.103-107. The […]
This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has four segments. Here are bits of each of them: Al’s AI ailment — AI spells trouble for all the Alanas, Alannas, Alannahs, Alainnas, Alans, Alains, Allans, Allens, Alens, Alins, Aluns and other persons whose names begin with the letter pair “A then L” or the pair […]
This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has four segments. Here are bits of each of them: Sheepish fears — … They performed experiments exposing sheep to a dog sitting in a window, and to the window without the dog. They tried giving the sheep drugs to reduce anxiety and giving them drugs to […]
By locking fat people’s upper and lower jaws together with a tooth-to-tooth metal lock, a team from the Unviersity of Otago and from Leeds (UK), intend to slim those fat people down. So suggests a June 28, 2021 press release from the University of Otago. The press release begins: “University of Otago and UK researchers […]
Taphonomic detectives can easily get caught up in wondering what kind of animal chewed on things that deteriorated and decayed to the point where, when those things were found, the remains of those things deserved to be called “the remains.” A chapter of the book Forensic Taphonomy and Ecology of North American Scavengers, by Susan […]
“Validation of Quantitative Light-Induced Fluorescence for Quantifying Calculus on Dogs’ Teeth.” This is not a mathematics study. It is a veterinary medicine study.
This month’s mini-AIR research spotlight shines on possible ingredients for toothpaste, to protect teeth: “Theobromine: A Safe and Effective Alternative for Fluoride in Dentifrices,” Tetsuo Nakamoto, Alexander U. Falster, and William B. Simmons, Jr., Journal of Caffeine Research, vol. 6, no. 1, February 2016, pp. 1-9. The authors, at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center and at […]
Can your teeth make people want to date you or hate you? And how is toothbrushing like voting? We brush up on research studies that ask these questions, in this week’s Improbable Research podcast. SUBSCRIBE on Play.it, iTunes, or Spotify to get a new episode every week, free. This week, Marc Abrahams discusses two teeth-centric studies, with dramatic readings from Harvard chemist Daniel Rosenberg. For more […]
The special Teeth issue (vol. 21, no. 1) of the magazine (the Annals of Improbable Research) is now out! Articles include: “Journeys of Toothbrushes“ “Improbable Research Review“ “Improbable Sex“ …and more, more, more, including new helpings of “Improbable Medical Review”, “Boys Will Be Boys”, “Soft Is Hard”, and other outstandingly improbable research snippets from many fields and countries. We encourage […]
Francie Diep’s article “Watch a Power Saw Made with Shark Teeth Slice Through Salmon“, in Popular Science magazine, is well headlined, and has a video that shows a power saw, made with shark teeth, slicing through salmon. The research Diep describes was itself described by the researchers at a meeting earlier this month: “Jawzall: Effects of […]