mini-Annals of Improbable Research ("mini-AIR")
July 2024, issue number 2024-07. ISSN 1076-500X.
improbable.com/publications/newsletter-mini-air/
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Research that makes people LAUGH, then THINK.
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01 TABLE OF CONTENTS
02 IN THE MAGAZINE ITSELF: Non-Quantum Physics
03 Does Penis Size Matter? (2023)
04 Ig Nobel Tickets Will Go On Sale in August
05 Paper Airplane Throwing
06 LIMERICK CHALLENGE: Small Penises and Fast Cars
07 Cooperative Crazy Ants with Lego Winner
08 MORE IMPROBABLE: Spurious, Drinking, Self-Colonoscopy
09 Does Penis Size Matter? (2006)
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20 SOME IMPROBABLE EVENTS
30 — Subscribe to the Actual Magazine! (*)
31 — How to start or stop receiving this little newsletter (*)
32 — Contact Info (*)
33 — Standard Gobbledegook (*)
Items marked (*) are reprinted in every issue.
What you are reading at the moment (mini-AIR) is overflow detritus
from the magazine Annals of Improbable Research (AIR).
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02 IN THE MAGAZINE ITSELF: Non-Quantum Physics
The special NON-QUANTUM PHYSICS issue (vol. 30, no. 4) of the magazine continues to enchant every ant and nearly every aunt who reads it. The table of contents and selected articles are at:
improbable.com/annals-of-improbable-research-july-august-2024-vol-30-number-4/
The next issue, the special MORBID issue, is in prep.
SUBSCRIBE to the MAGAZINE, or get BACK ISSUES (there are more than 150 of them!): gumroad.com/improbable
Tables of Contents: improbable.com/magazine-2/
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03 Does Penis Size Matter? (2023)
This month's quasi-haphazardly selected research report of the month (QHSRROTM) is:
"Smaller Prize, Bigger Size? Exploring the Impact of Money on Men’s Self-Reported Markers of Masculinity," Jacob Dalgaard Christensen, Tobias Otterbring, and Carl-Johan Lagerkvist, Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 14, 2023, article 1105423.
doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1105423
The authors report:
"The present study examined whether men, at the aggregate level, would overestimate certain bodily markers linked to masculinity, and if so, to what extent. Furthermore, the study explored whether the amount of monetary rewards distributed to male participants would influence the obtained data quality. Men from two participant pools were asked to self-report a series of bodily measures. All self-report measures except weight were consistently found to be above the population mean (height and penis size) or the scale midpoint (athleticism). Additionally, the participant pool that received the lower (vs. higher) monetary reward showed a particularly powerful deviation from the population mean in penis size and were significantly more likely to report their erect and flaccid penis size to be larger than the claimed but not verified world record of 34 cm."
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04 Ig Nobel Tickets Will Go On Sale in August
TICKETS to attend the 34th First annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony in person WILL GO ON SALE FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 2024, at noon US eastern time. https://improbable.com/ig/archive/2024-ceremony/
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05 Paper Airplane Throwing
By tradition, the audience at the Ig Nobel ceremony makes and throws paper airplanes.
This year, in addition to that, people everywhere can send short videos of themselves throwing paper planes. Accepted videos will be shown as part of the ceremony. Here are details on how to do that: youtube.com/watch?v=31SaBU127YM
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06 LIMERICK CHALLENGE: Small Penises and Fast Cars
This month's RESEARCH LIMERICK challenge — Devise a pleasing limerick that encapsulates this study:
"Small Penises and Fast Cars: Evidence for a Psychological Link," Daniel C. Richardson, Joseph Devlin, John S. Hogan, and Chuck Thompson, PsyArXiv, January 10, 2023. (Thanks to Richard Stephens for bringing this to our attention.)
psyarxiv.com/uy7ph
The authors, most of them at University College London, report:
"In this experiment, we manipulated what men believed about their own penis size, relative to others. We gave them false information, stating that the average penis size was larger than it in fact is, reasoning that, on average, these males will feel that relatively and subjectively their own penis was smaller; compared to those told that the average penis size was smaller than true average. We then asked them to rate how much they would like to own a sports car. These facts and questions were buried amongst other items giving information and asking for product ratings, so that our hypothesis was masked from participants. We found that males, and males over 30 in particular, rated sports cars as more desirable when they were made to feel that they had a small penis."
Submit your perfectly formed, delightfully enlightening limerick to:
SMALL/FAST LIMERICK COMPETITION
c/o MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM
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07 Cooperative Crazy Ants with Lego Winner
The judges have chosen a winner in last month's Competition, which asked for a limerick to explain this study:
"Collective Strategy for Obstacle Navigation During Cooperative Transport by Ants," Helen F. McCreery, Zachary A. Dix, Michael D. Breed, Radhika Nagpal, Journal of Experimental Biology, vol. 219, 2016, pp. 3366-3375. doi.org/10.1242/jeb.143818
Winning limerickicist LESLIE ROSENBLOOD writes:
Ant paths were blocked with some plastic;
Their reactions were not so bombastic.
The ants could not climb
Yet time after time
The route they found was stochastic.
This month's take from our LIMERICK LAUREATE, MARTIN EIGER:
The highway ahead is a mess.
How much longer is anyone's guess.
For getting home faster,
Avoiding disaster,
Follow ants, and don't use GPS.
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08 MORE IMPROBABLE: Spurious, Drinking, Self-Colonoscopy
Recent improbable research bits you may have missed...
BLOG (improbable.com):
• Some People Prefer Spurious Specifications
• High Drinking in the Dark
• The Doctor Who Performed the First Self-Colonoscopy
• …and much more
WEEKLY COLUMN IN NEW SCIENTIST MAGAZINE:
newscientist.com/author/marc-abrahams/
LUXURIANT FLOWING HAIR CLUB FOR SCIENTISTS (LFHCfS):
improbable.com/category/lfhcfs-hair-club/
PODCAST ARCHIVE:
improbable.com/category/the-weekly-improbable-research-podcast/
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/improbableresearch
MASTODON: @MarcAbrahams@mstdn.science
INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/improbable_research/
PATREON: patreon.com/ImprobableResearch
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09 Does Penis Size Matter? (2006)
This month's Other Haphazardly-Selected Research Report (OQHSRROTM) of the month is:
"Does Size Matter? Men's and Women's Views on Penis Size Across the Lifespan," Janet Lever, David A. Frederick, and Letitia Anne Peplau, Psychology of Men & Masculinity, vol. 7, no. 3, 2006, pp. 129-143.
psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/1524-9220.7.3.129
The authors report:
"Men reporting a larger-than-average penis rated their appearance most favorably, suggesting a possible confidence effect of perceived large penis size."
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TREAT YOURSELF TO (MUCH) MORE IMPROBABLE STUFF.
SUBCRIBE TO THE (PDF) MAGAZINE!
improbable.com/magazine-2/
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20 SOME IMPROBABLE EVENTS
· Worldcon, Glasgow, Scotland — Aug 1, 2024
· Ig Nobel Ceremony TICKETS on sale Aug 2, 2024
· 34TH FIRST ANNUAL IG NOBEL PRIZE CEREMONY, MIT — Sep 12, 2024
· Ig Nobel Face-to-Face, MIT — Sep 14, 2024
· AAAS Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, USA — Feb 2025
· 2025 Ig Nobel EuroTour — Spring 2025
· Balticon, Baltimore, USA — May 23-26, 2025
OTHER EVENTS TBA
For details and additional events, see: improbable.com/upcoming-events/
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30 — Subscribe to the Actual Magazine! (*)
The Annals of Improbable Research is a 6-issues-per-year magazine,
in PDF form. It's packed with research that makes people laugh, then think.
improbable.com/publications/magazine
SUBSCRIPTIONS ($25, for six issues)
BACK ISSUES ($5 each)
(mini-AIR, the thing you are reading at this moment, is but a tiny, free-floating appendix to the actual magazine.)
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31 — How to start or stop receiving this newsletter (*)
This newsletter, Mini-AIR, is just a (free!) tiny monthly *supplement* to the big, bold six-times-a-year magazine Annals of Improbable Research.
To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE to mini-AIR, see the links at the end of this email.
ARCHIVES: improbable.com/publications/newsletter-mini-air/
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32 — CONTACT INFO (*)
Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)
improbable.com
EDITORIAL: MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM
SUBSCRIPTION QUESTIONS: subscriptions AT improbable.com
Cambridge, MA, USA
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33 — Standard Gobbledegook (*)
EDITOR: Marc Abrahams
CO-CONSPIRATORS: Kees Moeliker, Alice Shirrell Kaswell, Gary Dryfoos, Nan Swift, Stephen Drew
PROOFREADER: Ambient Happenstance
AUTHORITY FIGURES: Nobel Laureates Dudley Herschbach, Sheldon Glashow, Richard Roberts
Key words: improbable research, science humor, Ig Nobel, AIR, the
(c) copyright 2024, Improbable Research
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