Researchers from Utrecht University have an update on temperatures in hands that may, or may not, belong to you. Their paper, “No consistent cooling of the real hand in the rubber hand illusion,” gives an example of the importance of distinguishing body ownership: “Consider a simple task such as walking towards another person –say, this […]
Tag: temperature
Crud on a Surface: Temperature
Where to begin learning about the effect of “crud” deposits on surface temperature, dry-out and pressure drop, with forced convection boiling of water at 69 bar in an annular test section? A good place to begin is the study: “An investigation into the effect of ‘crud’ deposits on surface temperature, dry-out and pressure drop, with […]
Should packaged meat labels include pre-slaughter rectal-temperature info?
A new study inspired the until-now unasked question: Should packaged meat labels include pre-slaughter rectal-temperature info? The study does not itself overtly ask that question. The study is: “Pre-slaughter rectal temperature as an indicator of pork meat quality,” L. Vermeulen, V. Van de Perre, L. Permentier, S. De Bie, and R. Geers, Meat Science, vol. 105, […]
Phoenix: Cooling down the buildings, but maybe not the city
People use air conditioning to, on a small scale, cool off . This report measures the degree and degrees to which it can, on a larger scale, do the opposite: “Anthropogenic Heating of the Urban Environment due to Air Conditioning,” Francisco Salamanca [pictured here], M. Georgescu, A. Mahalov, M. Moustaoui, and M. Wang, Journal of […]
His cool appraisal of cold-showers-and-loneliness research
Dan Simons, psychology professor and Ig Nobel Prize winner (together with Chris Chabris, for the invisible-gorilla study) casts a cool, appraising eye on a cold-shower-and-loneliness study, and looks at the way other investigators have looked at that study. Simons writes, on his blog: Replication, Retraction, and Responsibility Congrats/thanks to Brent Donnellan, Joe Cesario, and Rich […]
Planetary Tea, Relatively (the physics thereof)
British tea preparation now includes preparation for possible visits to other planets. This study presents some of the relevant calculations: “Tea Time in the Solar System,” Hannah Natasha Lerman, Benedict Irwin, and Peter Hicks, Physics Special Topics, vol. 12, no. 1, 2013. (Thanks to investigator Nigel Rawson for bringing this to our attention.) The authors, […]
Durian and paracetamol, mixed in rats
What happens when, for whatever reason, you feed both durian — the fruit with a smell that overpowers some people — and the painkiller paracetamol, mixed in rats, and from time to time take the rectal temperature of those rats? This study explores that question: “Hyperthermic effects of Durio zibethinus and its interaction with paracetamol,” […]
Experiments with inflatable & other life-size dolls
A generic life-size doll, with no modifications, was the key element in at least one unplanned experiment — the experiment documented in a 1993 monograph called Transmission of Gonorrhoea Through an Inflatable Doll, published in the journal Genitourinary Medicine. But generally, scientists who conduct planned experiments that rely on life-size dolls prefer to carefully optimise, or […]
Analysis: Taking a Shower in Youth Hostels
“Taking a Shower in Youth Hostels: Risks and Delights of Heterogeneity,” Christina Matzke and Damien Challet, Bonn Graduate School of Economics Discussion paper, January 2008. (Thanks to Peter Buch for bringing this to our attention.) The authors, affiliated variously with the University of Bonn, Germany; the Institute for Scientific Interchange, in Torino, Italy; and the […]