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

April 2010, issue number 2010-04. ISSN 1076-500X.

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Monthly mini update/alert from the Annals of Improbable Research

This issue is at

<http://www.improbable.com/airchives/miniair/2010/mini2010-04.htm>

Archive at <http://improbable.com/airchives/miniair/>

Twitter: ImprobResearch

Key words: improbable research, science humor, Ig Nobel, AIR, the

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2010-04-01 TABLE OF CONTENTS

2010-04-02 Imminent Events

2010-04-03 The Magazine: Geography & Teabagging

2010-04-04 A new Branch of Science: Family Science

2010-04-05 The Future of Family Science

2010-04-06 Ig Events in Scotland, Sweden, and Denmark

2010-04-07 Beatles + Sword-swallower ==> Gorilla Replication

2010-04-08 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: When You Microwave Your Mouse

2010-04-09 Dental-Use-of-Coconut Poet

2010-04-10 Theatrical Germs Competition

2010-04-11 May 1 - Day of Ig Nobel Readings

2010-04-12 MORE IMPROBABLE: Marmite and Its Side-Effects

2010-04-13 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Musterian/Skiffle, Bullet-Biting

2010-04-14 Improbable Research Events

2010-04-15 -- How to Subscribe to AIR (*)

2010-04-16 -- Our Address (*)

2010-04-17 -- Please Forward/Post This Issue! (*)

2010-04-18 -- How to Receive mini-AIR, etc. (*)

Items marked (*) are reprinted in every issue.

mini-AIR is

but a wee monthly *supplement*

to the bi-monthly magazine Annals of Improbable Research

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2010-04-02 Imminent Events

Edinburgh Apr 14 & 17, 2010

Scandinavia Apr 20-24, 2010

Cambridge, MA May 1, 2010

Complete events schedule: <http://bit.ly/6SGDcA>

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2010-04-03 The Magazine: Geography & Teabagging

The special Geography & Teabagging issue (vol 16, no 2) of the

magazine has just been mailed to subscribers.

Highlights include: Cartozoology, Panhandling Geography,

Teabagging Research; and much more.

The online version will soon appear, yes, online. Read many back

issues (including the recent Ig Nobel special issue) online at:

<http://www.improbable.com/magazine/>.

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2010-04-04 A new Branch of Science: Family Science

Family Science is a branch of science so new that most other

scientists are unaware it exists.

They have managed to form an official association

<http://familyscienceassociation.org/>.

And family scientists are making so many discoveries that their

field is splitting into specialties. Robert J. Volk of Purdue

University describes this in his monograph:

"The Need for Integration among Theory, Research, and Application

in Family Science: An Update," Family Relations, vol. 38, no. 2

(Apr., 1989), pp. 220-222. <http://www.jstor.org/pss/583679> Volk

explains: "Advances in family research methodology and an

increasing emphasis on family policy suggest a growing threat of

segregation among the domains of family science."

Volk recommends that "methodologies need to be presented jargon-

free."

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2010-04-05 The Future of Family Science

Stan J. Knapp of Brigham Young University conditionally

prognosticates a jargon-free future for his fellow family

scientists:

"Authorizing Family Science: An Analysis of the Objectifying

Practices of Family Science Discourse," Stan J. Knapp, Journal of

Marriage and Family, vol. 64, no. 4 (Nov., 2002), pp. 1038-1048.

<http://www.jstor.org/pss/3600001>. Knapp sums up his entire

field:

"Contemporary objectifying practices in family science discourse,

grounded in an objectivist epistemological framework, often

deauthorize the scientific text and fail to frame the constructs

in an explicit argumentative and theoretical context.... Adopting

an alternative set of objectifying practices, grounded in a

constructionist epistemological framework that aims to fully

authorize and advance its knowledge claims in an open, self-

reflexive, argumentative process will invigorate the importance

of theory in the field and promote the production of more

empirically justifiable and scientific knowledge claims about

families."

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2010-04-06 Ig Events in Scotland, Sweden, and Denmark

Lots of Ig Nobel shows this month, beginning with three talks by

Marc Abrahams in Edinburgh.

SCOTLAND: First, a private talk for the semi-secretive UKSG, then

an appearance on "The Hours" program on SCT, then a public talk

at the EDINBURGH SCIENCE FESTIVAL.

UKSG - (Wed, Apr 14, noonish)

"THE HOUR", STV - (Fri, Apr 16, 5 pm)

EDINBURGH SCIENCE FESTIVAL (Sat, Apr 17, 6 pm)

SCOTLAND DETAILS: <http://bit.ly/6SGDcA>

SCANDINAVIA: Then a bunch of shows on the Ig Nobel Scandinavia

Tour, beginning with several events to open the GOTHENBURG

SCIENCE FESTIVAL. The schedule:

GOTHENBURG - Six (6!) different events (Tues, Apr 20)

COPENHAGEN (Thurs, Apr 22)

ODENSE (Fri, Apr 23, 5 pm)

KERTEMINDE - Fjord&Bælt, (Sat, Apr 24, 1 pm)

AARHUS - Aarhus University (Sat, Apr 24, 7 pm)

The events in Sweden and Denmark will feature (in various

combinations): Ig Nobel Prize winners ELENA BODNAR, KEES

MOELIKER, BART KNOLS, DAN MEYER, MAGNUS WAHLBERG, HAKEN

WESTERBERG, and the infamous PEK VAN ANDEL.

SCANDINAVIA DETAILS: For details see <http://bit.ly/9Z7TWv>

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2010-04-07 Beatles + Sword-swallower ==> Gorilla Replication

Last month's UK tour produced, happenstancially, a moment of

minor historic import. Ig Nobel Prize winning sword-swallower Dan

Meyer, making a pilgrimage to the spot where the Beatles rose to

fame, accidentally replicated the findings of an earlier Ig Nobel

Prize-winning study that involved a gorilla. A 30-second-long

video captured part of the action:

<http://bit.ly/axuF3G>

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2010-04-08 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: When You Microwave Your Mouse

This month's specially selected study:

"Distinction Between Heating Rate and Total Heat Absorption in

the Microwave-Exposed Mouse," Christopher J. Gordon and Elizabeth

C. White, Physiological Zoology, vol. 55, 1982, pp. 300-8.

<http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/637075> (Thanks

to investigator Mark Perks for bringing this to our attention.)

The authors report that:

"These data contradict the notion that mammals have a fine

control over whole-body heat exchange."

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2010-04-09 Dental-Use-of-Coconut Poet

The judges have chosen a winner in the Dental-Use-of-Coconut

Limerick Competition, which asked for a limerick to honor the

study "A Quantitative Analysis of Coconut Water: A New Storage

Media for Avulsed Teeth," Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral

Pathology, Oral Radiology, and Endodontology, V. Gopikrishna, T.

Thomas, D. Kandaswamy, vol. 105, no. 2, Pages e61-e65.

<http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tripleo.2007.08.003>

The winner is INVESTIGATOR DANIEL KIMPIRE who wrote:

Salt solutions and milk aren't right

For the storing of teeth overnight.

It turns out that you oughter

Use coconut water.

What's next? Will they test Diet Sprite?

Here's the offering from LIMERICK LAUREATE MARTIN EIGER:

Coconut water's reliable,

Trustworthy, true, undeniable.

In HBSS

And milk, these guys stress,

PDL cells do not remain viable.

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2010-04-10 Theatrical Germs Competition

Theater and germs inspire this month's limerick competition. To

enter, compose an original limerick that illuminates the nature

of this report:

"Artaud, Germ Theory, and the Theatre of Contagion," Stanton B. Garner,

Theatre Journal, Volume 58, Number 1, March 2006, pp. 1-14.

<http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/theatre_journal/v058/58.1garner.html>. Garner writes:

"This article explores the influence of Pasteurian germ theory on

Antonin Artaud's concept of theatre as plague.... Artaud's theatre of

cruelty tropes the Pasteurian body, refigures its structures of time

and space, and imposes an ecstatic performativity on its narrowly

microbial understanding of contagion."

RULES: Please make sure that: (1) your rhymes actually do; and

(2) your poem is in classic, trills-off-the-tongue limerick form.

PRIZE: The winning poet will receive (if we manage to send it to

the correct address) a free, perhaps theatrically germ-ridden,

high-res PDF issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. Send

entries (one entry per entrant) to:

THEATRICAL GERMS LIMERICK COMPETITION

c/o <marca AT improbable.com>

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2010-04-11 May 1 - Day of Ig Nobel Readings

On May 1, we will inaugurate a new kind of Improbable Research

event: a series of public readings of extracts from studies and

books that won Ig Nobel Prizes.

This will be at the beautiful new Cambridge Public Library, as

part of the Cambridge (Massachusetts) Science Festival.

Ig Nobel Prize winners and other splendid persons will read short

selections from their, our, and your favorite, juiciest Ig Nobel

Prize-winning studies and books.

There will be four separate sessions, each with a different

theme:

10:00 am - How Animals Behave

Noon - How People Behave

2:00 pm - Things & Inventions

3:30 pm - Boys Will Be Boys

All four events are FREE.

CONTENT WARNING: The 3:30 event will feature subjects that are

either, depending on your viewpoint, "adult" or "very

adolescent". Everyone is welcome - but... if you have a delicate

sensibility about research that is either "adult" or

"adolescent", you will want to avoid the 3:30 pm session.

For details, with a partial list of readers, see

<http://bit.ly/dvd4HP>

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2010-04-12 MORE IMPROBABLE: Marmite and its side-effects

Things you may or may not have missed:

BLOG <http://improbable.com/>

<> The mystery of The Button Study

<> Judge Acquilino's looooooong sentence

<> "Watching animals not have sex"

<> Havoc Waves in the Netherlands

And many more...

NEWSPAPER <http://improbable.com/category/newspaper-column>

<> Marmite and its side-effects

<> Study: A beauty map of London

<> Christian End Investigations

<> Study: socks over shoes prevent falls

twitter: ImprobResearch

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2010-04-13 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Musterian/Skiffle, Bullet-Biting

CARNIVORE/MUSTERIAN-SKIFFLE MYSTERY

"Carnivore Traces or Musterian Skiffle?" Francisco d'Errico, Rock

Art Research, vol. 8, 1991, pp. 61-3. <http://bit.ly/dDnL1L>

ICKY: BULLETS

"Bite the Bullet: Lead Poisoning After Ingestion of 206 Lead

Bullets," T.K. McNutt, J. Chambers-Emerson, M. Dethlefsen, and R.

Shah, Veterinary and Human Toxicology, vol. 43, no. 5, 2001, pp.

288-9. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11577935> (Thanks to

investigator Wendy Cooper for bringing this to our attention.)

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2010-04-14 Improbable Research Events

For details and additional events, see

<http://improbable.com/improbable-research-shows/complete-schedule>

UKSG, Edinburgh - Apr 14, 2010

Edinburgh Science Festival - Apr 17, 2010

Ig Nobel Scandinavia Tour - Apr 20-24, 2010

Cambridge (MA) Science Festival - May 1, 2010

Ig Nobel Prize ceremony - Sep 30, 2010

Ig Informal Lectures - Oct 2, 2010

Genoa Science Festival - Oct, 2010

Agronomy, Crops, and Soil Science Societies International Annual

Meetings, Long Beach, CA - Nov 3, 2010

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2010-04-15 -- How to Subscribe to AIR (*)

The Annals of Improbable Research is a 6-issues-per-year

magazine. (It's bigger and better than the little bits of

overflow material you've been reading in this newsletter).

To subscribe to the paper-and-ink version, go to

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Send payment (US bank check, or international money order, or

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Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)

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617-491-4437 FAX:617-661-0927 <air AT improbable.com>

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2010-04-16 -- Our Address (*)

Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)

PO Box 380853, Cambridge, MA 02238 USA

617-491-4437 FAX:617-661-0927

EDITORIAL: marca AT chem2.harvard.edu

SUBSCRIPTIONS: subscriptions AT improbable.com

Web Site: <http://www.improbable.com>

Blog: www.improbable.com

Twitter: ImprobResearch

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2010-04-17 -- 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

MINI-PROOFREADER AND PICKER OF NITS (before we introduce the last

few at the last moment): Wendy Mattson

CO-CONSPIRATORS: Kees Moeliker, 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

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2010-04-18 -- 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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