PLEASE FORWARD/POST AS APPROPRIATE ================================================================ mini-Annals of Improbable Research ("mini-AIR") Issue Number 2002-02 February, 2002 ISSN 1076-500X Key words: improbable research, science humor, Ig Nobel, AIR, the ---------------------------------------------------------------- A free newsletter of tidbits too tiny to fit in the Annals of Improbable Research (AIR), the journal of inflated research and personalities ================================================================ ----------------------------- 2002-02-01 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2002-02-01 Table of Contents 2002-02-02 Soon 2002-02-03 What's New in the Magazine 2002-02-04 The Effect of Medical Research on Mariah Carey 2002-02-05 Reading Habits Survey 2002-02-06 Friday Night Special 2002-02-07 Home Engineering Project 2002-02-08 Bureaucracy Club of San Diego New News 2002-02-09 Euro Complaint Correction 2002-02-10 Mystery Blob Solution? 2002-02-11 Non-Rhetorical Belch and Flicker 2002-02-12 From an Anguished Mother 2002-02-13 Sun Spots Sog's Law 2002-02-14 Pointless Pictures: First Fruits 2002-02-15 CAVALCADE OF HotAIR: Pointless Meetings, Aunty, Anti 2002-02-16 Surveys Show 2002-02-17 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Apparently Apparent 2002-02-18 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Chocolate, Gerbils, Chips, Bashful 2002-02-19 AIRhead Events 2002-02-20 How to Subscribe to AIR (*) 2002-02-21 Our Address (*) 2002-02-22 Please Forward/Post This Issue! (*) 2002-02-23 How to Receive mini-AIR, etc. (*) Items marked (*) are reprinted in every issue. mini-AIR is a free monthly *e-supplement* to AIR, the print magazine ---------------------------------------------------------- 2002-02-02 Soon Please bring friends to the AIR event in: * Boston Friday night, Feb 15. For details see section 2002-02-06 below. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2002-02-03 What's New in the Magazine AIR 8:1 (Jan/Feb 2002) is a special IG NOBEL ISSUE, which also features full coverage of the wedding (at the Ig Ceremony) of Lisa Danielson and Will Stefanov. The table of contents can be seen at (What you are reading at this moment is mini-AIR, a small, monthly e-mail supplement to the print magazine.) ----------------------------------------------------------- 2002-02-04 The Effect of Medical Research on Mariah Carey We apologize to Mariah Carey for any effect last month's issue of mini-AIR may have had on her career. You will recall that last month's RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT item was a medical case report "A Case of Musicogenic Epilepsy Induced by Listening to an American Pop Music" [article in Japanese], M. Nakano, Y. Takase, and C. Tatsumi, Rinsho Shinkeigaku, vol. 38, no. 12, December 1998, pp. 1067-9. The authors described an unusual patient: A 23-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital due to the musicogenic epilepsy. She had four generalized tonic clonic seizures at 18 and 19 years old. Since 19, she had had complex partial seizures lasting for about 20 seconds which was easily evoked by listening to an American pops particularly "Dreamlover" song by Mariah Carey. Exactly one week after mini-AIR was published, the Reuters wire service sent out a news report that began: RECORD COMPANY PAYS $28 MILLION TO END MARIAH CAREY'S CONTRACT LONDON (Reuters) - Pop diva Mariah Carey found herself out of a job on Wednesday when record company EMI paid her $28 million to walk away from the biggest recording contract of all time... British-based EMI Group confirmed... that it was severing ties with the U.S. vocalist after signing her to its Virgin Records label in a mammoth deal last year. We would be interested in hearing of other cases in which science and medical reporting may have been responsible for downheavals in the pop music heavens. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2002-02-05 Reading Habits Survey This month's mini-AIR research survey concerns reading habits. If you are a scientist and you know how to read, you are invited to complete the survey. The survey question is: How much of your reading is done in bed? a) 25% or less b) 26% - 50% c) 51% - 75% d) 75% or more Please send your completed survey form, without comment, to: READING HABITS SURVEY c/o ---------------------------------------------------------- 2002-02-06 Friday Night Special If you are going to (or anywhere near) the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), we invite you to come to the AIR special session on Friday night, Feb. 15, beginning at 8 p.m. in the Sheraton Boston Hotel, Prudential Center, in the Independence Ballroom West. The lineup includes many AIR writers and performers: MARC ABRAHAMS (AIR's Editor) - "Ig Nobel Prize Update" MARGOT BUTTON (diva). Arias from the Ig Nobel operas. MISS SWEETY POO will ensure that all talks are kept brief. ... and featuring ... DAVID HOLZMAN -- The Traditional "Theme Song for the Centers for Disease Control" KAREN HOPKIN -- "Big News About the STUDMUFFINS OF SCIENCE CALENDAR Project" THOMAS MICHEL -- "Politically Correct Cardiology" Executive Spokespersons from HMO-NO -- A health care plan for our times ROBIN PEARCE (AIR's Psychology Editor) - "Bureaucracy Club Haiku" ROBERT ROSE & ERIC RADIN -- "How to Cement and Centrifuge a Patient" LOUISE SACCO -- "Current Research at the Museum of Bad Art" JENNIFER ZIMMMERMAN -- "Having Sex vs. Watching Television -- An Analysis" And OTHERS To Be Announced. Bring friends. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2002-02-07 Home Engineering Project Our Research & Development Bureau has taken on yet another intriguing project. A well-know, large organization has asked us to design and build something called a Strategic Missile Defense System, provided that we are willing to perform the task under some stringent constraints. Those constraints are: 1. We must affirm that neither we nor anyone we know has any idea how to make the System work reliably; and 2. We must agree to accept a minimum of $46 billion before commencing work, and further funding once the work is underway. Reluctantly, we accepted these conditions. There has already been splendid progress on the project. In the first five working days we have destroyed more than three billion dollars in large denomination bills. We will keep you apprised of how the project is coming along. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2002-02-08 Bureaucracy Club of San Diego New News The newest chapter of the Bureaucracy Club -- the Bureaucracy Club of San Diego (BCSD) -- has had a busy month. At their February meeting, BCSD members had a group viewing, with five pots of hot coffee, of live video from the San Diego City Council: Then the BCSD members discussed a current events report from Kansas about a high school teacher who resigned in protest of her school board's decision to NOT punish students for cheating and plagiarism. (For details, see the BCSD home page is at Next month the Bureaucracy Club of San Diego will discuss the Ethics Puzzler that was first published in mini-AIR 99-08. That puzzler can be seen at A philosophical discussion of same is at ---------------------------------------------------------- 2002-02-09 Euro Complaint Correction Investigator Peter Moore write about last month's euro currency discussion: Investigator Peter Melvoin need not worry about lost opportunities for physicists to appear on European banknotes. While many countries here in Europe will share a common currency, each country within the EC is responsible for the design of its own euro notes and coins (well, on one of the faces, at least). Nations will have as much leeway to feature their own monarchs, composers, architects, notorious serial killers and, yes, even scientists on euro notes as they did in the past with their own currencies. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2002-02-10 Mystery Blob Solution? Investigator Chris Jenkins may have solved the blob mystery: I'm probably not the first one to notice this, but I think I have solved the mystery of the Blob (as described at ). Please refer to Andrew D. Gavrin, featured prominently on your Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists page at . If Gavrin is not the Blob, perhaps he knows who is. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2002-02-11 Non-Rhetorical Belch and Flicker Many readers ignored the "rhetorical" in "rhetorical question" and responded to the Rhetorical Question posed last month by investigator Chris Corich: Whenever I belch loudly while looking at TV or computer monitor the screen seems to shake and flicker. Is this normal? Here are two of many such venturings: From investigator Paul Tomblin: Chris's monitor's refresh rate is way too low, so he's seeing screen flicker. I test my monitor's refresh rate by clicking my upper and lower teeth together vigorously, and if I see the shake and flicker, I know I have to increase the refresh rate or I'll have a headache a few hours later. From investigator Andrew Gretton: Chris Corich is managing to belch at a frequency close to the refresh rate on his television. .. A more conventional way to achieve this kind of effect is to hum a smooth glissando through the low notes, until you hit the correct note. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2002-02-12 From an Anguished Mother Anguished mother and dentist Agnes Twombley writes: I am an anguished mother and a dentist. Please help me alert the public to a nearly omnipresent modern danger. If you are a parent, for God's sake get yourself a copy of the report: "PlayStation Lip," R.L. Inglis and R.R. Welbury, British Dental Journal, vol. 188, no. 11, June 10, 2000, p. 585. God bless our children and keep them safe from video game lip and or other faciocranial hazards. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2002-02-13 Sun Spots Sog's Law The Sun (Britain's shiniest newspaper) is waging a campaign for or against (it is difficult to tell which) those who campaign against scientists who do research against sogginess. The Sun's report begins: SOG'S LAW FOR CORNFLAKES By PAUL CROSBIE Consumer Correspondent CRACK scientists have launched a £40 million bid to stop our breakfast cornflakes going SOGGY. The project is being run by controversial American GM food firm Monsanto. Bosses claim cereal lovers are desperate for a new strain of maize that doesn't go mushy in milk. But eco-warriors Friends of the Earth last night branded it "the most pointless research ever." Monsanto believe sogginess can be beaten by adding wax- producing plant genes to the chemical make-up of maize. UK research chief Colin Merritt said at his office in Cambridge last night: "The new non-soggy flake could save the industry millions of pounds. Everyone has been trying to develop waterproof cornflakes." The Sun's full report can be found at The Sun has a soggy track record in regard to sogginess research. In October 1995, they inveighed against the pioneering work that earned that year's Ig Nobel Prize in Physics (and which was described in the report "A Study of the Effects of Water Content on the Compaction Behaviour of Breakfast Cereal Flakes," Powder Technology, November, 1994, vol. 81, no. 2, pp. 189-96.) That senseless Sun diatribe was, inexplicably, the event which triggered the strange and unsuccessful campaign by the UK's then- but now-former Chief Science Advisor to suppress the Ig Nobel Prizes. To all this we can but observe that soggy research often outlasts its critics. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2002-02-14 Pointless Pictures: First Fruits We are pleased to announce the first published result from PROJECT POINTLESS TEXTBOOK PHOTOS. The project, announced last month, seeks to identify textbooks that have lots of pointless photos. See ---------------------------------------------------------- 2002-02-15 CAVALCADE OF HotAIR: Pointless Meetings, Aunty, Anti Here are concise, incomplete, flighty mentions of some of the features we've posted on HotAIR since last month's mini-AIR came out. See them by clicking "WHAT'S NEW" at the web site, or go to: ==> The Coffee Diet ==> Still more comely new Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club members ==> Math -- Aunty, Anti, Cool, and Hot ==> The Newest, Bestest Oxygen ==> The Return of Nick the Rogue Trader ==> The Theory of Dynamic Meetings (with a video!) THESE, AND MORE, ARE ON HOTAIR AT ---------------------------------------------------------- 2002-02-16 Surveys Show Surveys show that high school students benefit by having the school day start at 11 a.m., thus allowing them to get ample amounts of sleep. Surveys also show that high school students should drink heavily. Surveys further show that high school students enjoy answering surveys. ----------------------------------------------------------- 2002-02-17 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Apparently Apparent Each month we select for your special attention a research report that seems especially worth a close read. Your librarian will enjoy being asked for a copy. Here is this month's Pick of the Month: THE APPEARANCE OF BEING CONCERNED ABOUT APPEARANCE "Development of a Questionnaire to Measure Concern For Dental Appearance," M. Frazer and S. Lindsay, Psychological Reports, vol. 89, no. 2, October 2001, pp. 425-30. The authors, who are at the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London, England, explain their work: 100 adults, selected for cosmetic dental treatment in a general dental practice, completed a 42-item questionnaire designed, on the basis of previous research and the author's clinical experience, to measure concern for dental appearance.... An exploratory factor analysis... identified six factors, the main one appearing to be a measure of concern for dental appearance. ----------------------------------------------------------- 2002-02-18 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Chocolate, Gerbils, Chips, Bashful THEY PREFER CHOCOLATE "Sardinian Alcohol-Preferring Rats Prefer Chocolate and Sucrose over Ethanol," G. Colombo, et al., Alcohol, vol. 14, no. 6, November-December 1997, pp. 611-5. (Thanks to Ted Romm for bringing this to our attention.) The authors are at the C.N.R. Center for Neuropharmacology, Cagliari, Italy. WHAT GERBILS CAN DO "Mongolian Gerbils Can Utilize Provitamin-A Carotenoids in Deep- Fried Carrot Chips," A. Sulaeman, D.W. Giraud, M.M. Naslund, and J.A. Driskell, Journal of Nutrition, vol. 132, no. 2, February 2002, p. 211-17. (Thanks to Kristine Danowski for bringing this to our attention.) The authors are at the University of Nebraska. BASHFUL, DYNAMIC "Urodynamic Assessment of the Bashful Bladder," D.J. Rosario, C.R. Chapple, P.R. Tophill, and H.H.Woo, Journal of Urology, vol. 163, no. 1, January 2000, pp. 215-20. (Thanks to Naomi Stephen for bringing this to our attention.) ------------------------------------------------------------ 2002-02-19 AIRhead Events ==> For details and updates see ==> Want to host an event? 617-491-4437 NASW, MUSEUM OF SCIENCE, BOSTON WED, FEB 13, 2002 Early evening -- Special Ig Nobel presentation for members of the National Assn. of Science Writers. AAAS ANNUAL MEETING, BOSTON --- FRI, FEB 15, 2002 8:00 PM. Sheraton Boston Hotel, Prudential Center. Independence Ballroom West. AIR's annual special session at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. This session is open for the general public (free!). TWELFTH 1ST ANNUAL IG NOBEL PRIZE CEREMONY THUR, OCT 3, 2002 Sanders Theatre, Harvard University -------------------------------------------------------------- 2002-02-20 How to Subscribe to AIR (*) Here's how to subscribe to the magnificent bi-monthly print journal The Annals of Improbable Research (the real thing, not just the little bits of overflow material you've been reading in this newsletter). ................................................................ Name: Address: Address: City and State: Zip or postal code: Country Phone: FAX: E-mail: ................................................................ SUBSCRIPTIONS (6 issues per year): USA 1 yr/$24.95 2 yrs/$44.95 Canada/Mexico 1 yr/$28.95 US 2 yrs/$49.95 US Overseas 1 yr/$41.95 US 2 yrs/$71.95 US ................................................................ BACK ISSUES are available, too: First issue: $8 USA, $11 Canada/Mex, $16 overseas Add'l issues purchased at same time: $6 each ................................................................ Send payment (US bank check, or international money order, or Visa, Mastercard or Discover info) to: Annals of Improbable Research (AIR) PO Box 380853, Cambridge, MA 02238 USA 617-491-4437 FAX:617-661-0927 ----------------------------------------------------- 2002-02-21 Our Address (*) Annals of Improbable Research (AIR) PO Box 380853, Cambridge, MA 02238 USA 617-491-4437 FAX:617-661-0927 EDITORIAL: marca@chem2.harvard.edu SUBSCRIPTIONS: air@improbable.com WEB SITE: --------------------------- 2002-02-22 Please Forward/Post This Issue! (*) Please distribute copies of mini-AIR (or excerpts!) wherever appropriate. The only limitations are: A) Please indicate that the material comes from mini-AIR. B) You may NOT distribute mini-AIR for commercial purposes. ------------- mini-AIRheads ------------- EDITOR: Marc Abrahams (marca@chem2.harvard.edu) MINI-PROOFREADER AND PICKER OF NITS (before we introduce the last few at the last moment): Wendy Mattson WWW EDITOR/GLOBAL VILLAGE IDIOT: Amy Gorin (airmaster@improbable.com) COMMUTATIVE EDITOR: Stanley Eigen (eigen@neu.edu) ASSOCIATIVE EDITOR: Mark Dionne DISTRIBUTIVE EDITOR: Robin Pearce CO-CONSPIRATORS: Alice Shirrell Kaswell, Gary Dryfoos, Ernest Ersatz, S. Drew MAITRE DE COMPUTATION: Jerry Lotto AUTHORITY FIGURES: Nobel Laureates Dudley Herschbach, Sheldon Glashow, William Lipscomb, Richard Roberts (c) copyright 2002, Annals of Improbable Research ----------------------------------------------------- 2002-02-23 How to Receive mini-AIR, etc. (*) What you are reading right now is mini-AIR. Mini-AIR is a (free!) tiny monthly *supplement* to the bi-monthly print magazine. 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