“People choosing a pet have a number of factors to consider. The important one is whether a pet can synchronize with humans in sleep timing.“ – explain a pan-European [Germany | Poland | Spain] research team in a 2015 paper for the scholarly journal Time & Society. The investigators reasoned that pet dogs and their […]
Tag: time
The Effect of Music on the Efficiency of Surgical Closures
“Time” as they say “is money.” Especially relevant perhaps, in a plastic surgery operating theatre, in which running costs can reach $66 a minute. And where, for example, “A 10% reduction in operative time per hour equals savings of $396 per hour.” What might help to speed-up surgeons’ performance (without of course compromising accuracy and […]
How many universes are necessary for an ice cream to melt?
How many universes are necessary for an ice cream to melt? Asks Professor Milan M. Ćirković [pictured] of the Astronomical Observatory Belgrade, Serbia, in the Serbian Astronomical Journal, Vol. 166, page 55-59. His paper considers the possibilities of other universes where a soft ice cream, left to its own devices, might be generally more likely […]
Study: Hold the Chicken (for 10 minutes, if you like)
Another breakthrough discovery about students, cooked chicken, and short time duration: “Analysis of the Effect That Holding Time Has on the Perceived Sensory Quality and Acceptability of Poached Chicken,” Gregory S. Jones, Anderson Bouton, Krystal L. Jones, Andrew C. Cauble, Lightsey Laffitte, Paul Dawson, Julia Sharp & Margaret D. Condrasky, Journal of Culinary Science & […]
An Undo Thesis [Ctrl-Z]
Dr. Chuk Moran has recently completed his dissertation on the undo command (ctrl-z) and received his PhD in the Department of Communication at UC San Diego. Unfortunately, Improbable has not been able to track down an online copy of the dissertation, but we did find this short essay on the implications of ludological undoing. BONUS: […]
A poetical, time-centric film about fluid dynamics
Flora Lichtman produced another poetical video for Science Friday, this one about the mammal micturation duration research study that is garnering so much attention, and that will be discussed as part of a landmark session at the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, November 24, 2013: BONUS: Listen to Science Friday‘s radio […]
The Influence of Time of Day on Unethical Behavior
What time is it? That simple question gains new meaning in this study: “The Morning Morality Effect: The Influence of Time of Day on Unethical Behavior,” Maryam Kouchaki [pictured here] and Isaac H. Smith, Psychological Science, epub October 28, 2013. (Thanks to investigator Cheryl Isley for bringing this to our attention.) The authors, at Harvard […]
A clever new claim that we are less intelligent
Yet another claim, from smart people who want to instruct us about intelligence, that we (if not they) have probably become less intelligent than many of those who preceded us: “Were the Victorians cleverer than us? The decline in general intelligence estimated from a meta-analysis of the slowing of simple reaction time,” Michael A. Woodley, […]
Sandcastles in academia (part 1 – Transience)
“A sandcastle is not fixed and given but is fluid and changing. Tunnels and towers may collapse as the sun shines; the fortifications may get undermined. The work of erosion and sedimentation may slowly alter the sandcastle or there may be sudden ruptures as the walls collapse.” So writes distinguished professor John Urry of the […]
Modern Time&Motion Men: The socially mobile coffee pot
Distantly descended from the Time and Motion Men, Ben Waber [pictured here] writes, in Technology Review: A new line of research examines what happens in an office where the positions of the cubicles and walls—even the coffee pot—are all determined by data. …For instance, what if office coffee machines moved around according to the social context? […]