Scientific Gossip (38-6b)
Contains 100% gossip from concentrate
A Threat From the Middle
Abortion, pollution, population growth, land use, education policy — these are seen as intractable problems because so many people adopt extreme positions, insisting that all other opinions are wrong and dangerous. To ease the deadlock, Dr. R.R. Smith has founded Non-Extremists for Moderate Change (NEMC), an organization whose goal is expressed by its name. To promote the concept, Smith and his followers have been conducting an international speaking tour for the past year. In every country except Finland, they have been greeted with scorn, projectiles, violent attack, and police arrest.
Cannibals and Killers
Can cannibalism among salamanders teach us something about human beings? Behavioral ecologists David Pfennig of Cornell University and James Collins of Arizona State University have demonstrated that when young tiger salamanders engage in cannibalism, they prefer to devour those young who are least closely related to themselves. Inspired by the Pfennig/Collins results, sociologist Diethard Holzmann of Brecht University is conducting a study of urban murders committed by youths, to see whether they murder those young people who are least closely related to themselves.
The Amber and the Pink
Public health researchers are fascinated by the sudden popularity of the “Cold Fusion Bombe.” The colorful cocktail — a shot of whiskey followed by a shot of pepto-bismol — has become the drink of choice among many executives, administrators and journalists over forty. Richard March and several colleagues at the Manhasset School of Public Health are conducting a study to determine the health effects, if any, of imbibing the concoction. March believes that the drink was inspired by “A Night at the Opera,” a film in which one character was said to “stuff spaghetti with bicarbonate of soda, thus causing and curing indigestion at the same time.”
Soccer Balm Ban?
Regulatory agencies are looking askance at a popular skin cream that purportedly helps athletes bulk up. Sources indicate that the FDA will soon ban sale in the U.S. of Pachy-Derm, the topically applied, steroid-based product that is popular among professional and amateur soccer players in Italy, France, Spain, Argentina and Brazil and Sumo wrestlers in Japan.
© Copyright 2003 Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)
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