Mini-AIR

mini-Annals of Improbable Research ("mini-AIR")

March 2025, issue number 2025-03. 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: Paradoxes Galore

03 Effect of Speed Bumps on Fruit

04 The 2025 Ig Nobel EuroTour

05 LIMERICK CHALLENGE: Speed Bumps and Appendicitis

06 Good/Bad/Ugly Winner

07 MORE IMPROBABLE: Cockroach, Moreau, Jerk, Allergies

08 Speed Hump Effectiveness in Inducing Passenger Discomfort

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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: Paradoxes Galore

The special PARA issue (vol. 31, no. 2) of the magazine is full of paradoxes. Among those are a new twist on Zeno's Paradox (see the front cover of the issue) and a look at Zenos's paradox. The TOC and several articles are online at

https://improbable.com/annals-of-improbable-research-march-april-2025-vol-31-number-2/

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 Effect of Speed Bumps on Fruit

This month's quasi-haphazardly selected research report of the month (QHSRROTM) is:

"The Simulation of the Impact Damage to Fruit During the Passage of a Truck Over a Speed Bump by Means of the Discrete Element Method," Michael Van Zeebroeck, Geert Lombaert, Edward Dintwa, Herman Ramon, Geert Degrande, Engelbert Tijskens, Biosystems Engineering, vol. 101, no. 1, September 2008, pp. 58-68. (Thanks to Tom Gill for bringing this to our attention.) doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2008.06.003

The authors, at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, report:

"The discrete element method (DEM) was used to study fruit damage during transportation.... The simulations showed that higher truck loads lead to less bruising and that apples in bulk bins behind the rear axle suffered more damage than those in bulk bins in front of the rear axle.... A reduction in the driving speed, an increase in the truck load and a reduction in the suspension stiffness all helped to reduce the occurrence of fruit damage."

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04 The 2025 Ig Nobel EuroTour

This year’s Ig Nobel Euro (and Brexitannia) Tour begins a few days from now, with events in Switzerland, the UK, and The Netherlands. It stars many Ig Nobel Prize winners — each has done something so surprising that it makes people LAUGH, then THINK. Here is the schedule:

MONDAY, MARCH 31, 2025 — EPFL, LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND. TICKETS TICKETS TICKETS are available. The event will also be webcast. With Marc Abrahams and

2024 Ig Nobel Chemistry Prize winner Tess Heeremans (using chromatography to separate drunk and sober worms)

2024 Ig Nobel Anatomy Prize winners Marjolaine Willems and Roman Khonsari (studying whether the hair on the heads of most people in the northern hemisphere swirls in the same direction — clockwise or counter-clockwise? — as hair on the heads of most people in the southern hemisphere)

2024 Ig Nobel Probability Prize winners Alexandra Sarafoglou and Frantisek Bartos (showing, both in theory and by 350,757 experiments, that when you flip a coin, it tends to land on the same side as it started)

TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 2025, 5:30 PM — UNIVERSITY OF ZURICH, Irchel Campus, Room Y24-G-45, Switzerland. This event is open to the public, free. With Marc Abrahams and

2017 Ig Nobel Peace Prize winners Milo Puhan, Otto Bräendli, and Alex Suarez (regular playing of a didgeridoo is an effective treatment for obstructive sleep apnoea and snoring)

SUNDAY, APRIL 6, 2025, 7:00 PM — ROYAL INSTITUTION, LONDON, UK. TICKETS TICKETS TICKETS are now on sale. With Marc Abrahams and

2024 Ig Nobel Prize winner Saul Justin Newman (many of the people famous for having the longest lives lived in places that had lousy birth-and-death record-keeping)

2014 Ig Nobel Prize winner Minna Lyons (probing the relationship between psychopaths and night owls)

FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 2025 — BIOELECTRICITY CLUSTER, OXFORD, UK. Marc Abrahams will do the dinner talk, discussing bioelectric and nonbioelectric aspects of the Ig Nobel Prizes. Open to all conference attendees.

TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2025, 8:00 PM — NEMO, AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands. [TICKETS TICKETS TICKETS are now on sale.] With Marc Abrahams and

2022 Ig Nobel Applied Cardiology Prize winners Mariska Kret and Eliska Prochazkova (seeking and finding evidence that when new romantic partners meet for the first time, and feel attracted to each other, their heart rates synchronize)

2024 Ig Nobel Chemistry Prize winners Tess Heeremans, Daniel Bonn, and Sander Woutersen (using chromatography to separate drunk and sober worms)

2024 Ig Nobel Probability Prize winner Jan Wagenmakers (showing, both in theory and by 350,757 experiments, that when you flip a coin, it tends to land on the same side as it started)

2020 Ig Nobel Medicine Prize winner Nienke Vulink (diagnosing a long-unrecognized medical condition: Misophonia, the distress at hearing other people make chewing sounds)

Keira Lee Rice will do live-drawings to illustrate each talk

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Updates, if any, will be posted on our events page: improbable.com/upcoming-events/

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05 LIMERICK CHALLENGE: Speed Bumps and Appendicitis

This month's RESEARCH LIMERICK challenge — Devise a pleasing limerick that encapsulates this study:

"Pain Over Speed Bumps in Diagnosis of Acute Appendicitis: Diagnostic Accuracy Study," Helen F Ashdown, Nigel D'Souza, Diallah Karim, Richard J Stevens, Andrew Huang, and Anthony Harnden, BMJ, vol. 345, 2012. doi.org/10.1136/bmj.e8012

The authors, at the University of Oxford and at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Aylesbury, UK, report:

Objective To assess the diagnostic accuracy of pain on travelling over speed bumps for the diagnosis of acute appendicitis.

"Results The analysis included 64 participants who had travelled over speed bumps on their journey to hospital. Of these, 34 had a confirmed histological diagnosis of appendicitis, 33 of whom reported increased pain over speed bumps....

"Conclusions Presence of pain while travelling over speed bumps was associated with an increased likelihood of acute appendicitis. As a diagnostic variable, it compared favourably with other features commonly used in clinical assessment."

Send your perfictly formed, perfectly pleasing limerick to:

BUMP APPENDICITIS LIMERICK COMPETITION

c/o MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM

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06 Good/Bad/Ugly Winner

The judges have chosen a winner in last month's Competition, which asked for a limerick to explain this study:

"Biological and Physiological Role of Reactive Oxygen Species – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," Li Zuo, T. Zhou, B.K. Pannell, A.C. Ziegler, and Thomas M. Best, Acta Physiologica, vol. 214, no. 3, 2015, pp. 329-348. doi.org/10.1111/apha.12515

Winning limerickicist URTON ALBERTA KWONCK writes:

I find it both ugly and sad,

this search for a "good" and a "bad".

Why slap criticism

on each organism?

Such judgment is too ironclad.

This month's take from our LIMERICK LAUREATE, MARTIN EIGER:

Researchers who dish up the dirt

On oxygen compounds assert

Some are good, some are bad,

Some are ugly. It's sad

That oxygen isn't inert.

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07 MORE IMPROBABLE: Cockroach, Moreau, Jerk, Allergies

Recent improbable research bits you may have missed...

BLOG (improbable.com):

• Beneficial Effects of American Cockroach Residue

• The New Stage Play About Dr. Moreau

• Studying the Stochastic Stability of Random Stacking of Blocks

• …and much more

SUBSTACK: (improbablestuff.substack.com)

• To Be, or Not to Be, a Jerk

• What Kinds of Cat Owners Are Satisfied with Their Cats?

• Are Food Allergies Afflicting More People than in the Past?

• …and much more

LUXURIANT FLOWING HAIR CLUB FOR SCIENTISTS (LFHCfS):

improbable.com/category/lfhcfs-hair-club/

MASTODON: @MarcAbrahams@mstdn.science

FACEBOOK: facebook.com/improbableresearch

PATREON: patreon.com/ImprobableResearch

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08 Speed Hump Effectiveness in Inducing Passenger Discomfort

This month's Other Haphazardly-Selected Research Report (OQHSRROTM) of the month is:

"Speed Hump Effectiveness in Inducing Passenger Discomfort at Excessive Vehicular Speeds," William Jiang, Soo W. Jo, Lawrence Okwali, and Deokkyun Yoon, ME 495 Report 4, Section 4, April 22, 2009.

The authors explain:

"The question for this study is: do speed humps really induce the necessary vertical passenger accelerations at such a magnitude to effectively make the passenger feel discomfort, in the future discouraging the driver from excessive speeding? ...

"This study has completed the initially stated objectives as well as verified the hypothesis. The tested speed hump functions properly. If any car similar to the ones tested in this study passes over the speed hump at a speed higher than 24 km/h (15 mph), vertical acceleration will be greater along with passenger discomfort compared to lower speeds. 24 km/h (15 mph) corresponds to about 0.315 m/s2 RMS acceleration, which is the threshold for passenger discomfort."

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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

· Ig Nobel EuroTour (see listing above)

· CALPACS, Santa Barbara — May 3, 2025

· Balticon, Baltimore, MD, USA — May 23-26, 2025

· Cosmos Club, Washington DC, USA — May 28, 2025

· 35th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony — Sep 18, 2025

· Ig Nobel Face-to-Face — Sep 20, 2025

· Falling Walls, Berlin, Germany — Nov 2025

· Monell Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA — Nov 12, 2025

For details and additional events, see: improbable.com/upcoming-events/

If your institution would like to host an event,

please get in touch with us at:

MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM

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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 ($40 for six issues)

BACK ISSUES ($8 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

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