mini-Annals of Improbable Research ("mini-AIR")
July 2016, issue number 2016-07. ISSN 1076-500X.
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Research that makes people LAUGH, then THINK.
A tiny supplement to the magazine Annals of Improbable Research.
Archive at <http://improbable.com/airchives/miniair>
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01 TABLE OF CONTENTS
02 Imminent Events: Reykjavik and Manchester
03 The Magazine Itself: Kissing, Time & Boredom
04 SPOTLIGHT: Rock and Rolls on Retention
05 Rock and Roller on Drugs Limerick Contest
06 Poultry Grit Poet
07 MORE IMPROBABLE: PokŽmon Phylogeny, Hot Rod Magazines, Hair Clubbers
08 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Rock and Rolls, Corrected
09 Improbable Research Events
10 — The Magazine (AIR) — How to Subscribe; How to Get Back Issues (*)
11 — Our Address (*)
12 — Please Forward/Post This Issue! (*)
13 — How to start or stop receiving mini-AIR (*)
Items marked (*) are reprinted in every issue.
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02 Imminent Events:
Reykjavik and Manchester
Reykjavik, Iceland — Jul 22
Blue Dot Festival, Jodrell Bank, UK — Jul 23
Science in the City, Manchester, UK — Jul 24
ESOF, Manchester, UK — Jul 25
DETAILS at
<http://improbable.com/improbable-research-shows/complete-schedule>
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03 The Magazine Itself: Kissing After Time & Boredom
The special KISSING issue (volume 22, number 4) of the magazine will appear any day now. The special TIME & BOREDOM issue (volume 22, number 3) is already available.
If you're a subscriber, you should have received email notifying how to download your copy of the issue.
SUBSCRIPTIONS & SINGLE ISSUES: <https://gumroad.com/improbable>
Tables of Contents: <http://www.improbable.com/magazine/>
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04 SPOTLIGHT: Rock and Rolls on Retention
This month's research spotlight illuminates the work of Rock, and of Rolls:
"Retention rates and weight loss in a commercial weight loss program," C.L. Rock, B.J. Rolls, et al., International Journal of Obesity, vol. 31, no. 2, 2007, pp. 292-298. <https://is.gd/m2XUM8> The authors, at the Cooper Insittute, Dallas, Texas, report:
"Objective: To evaluate and describe retention rates and weight loss in clients participating in a commercial weight loss program.
Conclusion: Weight loss was greater among clients who were retained in the program longer."
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05 Rock and Roller on Drugs Limerick Contest
This month's challenge: Devise a limerick elucidating this study:
"Vancomycin and The Red-Man Syndrome: Pharmacodynamics of Histamine Release," David T. Rock, Ken Roller, et al., Journal of Infectious Diseases, vol. 157, no. 3, 1988, pp. 502-507. <https://is.gd/TG2sfU> The authors are at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Submit your perfectly formed, delightfully enlightening limerick to:
ROCK AND ROLLER ON DRUGS LIMERICK COMPETITION
c/o <MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM>
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06 Poultry Grit Poet
The judges have chosen a winner in last month's Poultry Grit Limerick Competition, which asked for a limerick to honor this study:
"Miscellaneous studies on poultry grit," Roy Harrison Waite, Miscellaneous Studies on Poultry Grit, 1935, pp. 313-335. <https://is.gd/L6DB1a> The authors report:
The winner is INVESTIGATOR BOB DILLON, who wrote:
Digestion in chicks is the view
Of this study that seems to be new.
It seems that grit wrecks it —
Kind of like Brexit
Has done to the former EU.
Here's the outpouring by our LIMERICK LAUREATE, MARTIN EIGER:
Oyster shell's good, but terraneous
Limestone has less that's extraneous.
There's crystallized bone
In a class all its own,
We learn from results miscellaneous.
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07 MORE IMPROBABLE: PokŽmon Phylogeny, Hot Rod Magazines, Hair Clubbers
Recent improbable research bits you may have missed...
The podcast:
LISTEN / DOWNLOAD: <http://goo.gl/sxh7DX>
#71 Boring Machines
#72 Hot Rod Magazines — A Harmless Diversion for Teens?
#73 Do Cats Occasionally Pay Attention to Their Owners?
The blog <http://www.improbable.com/>:
<> A Phylogeny and Evolutionary History of the PokŽmon
<> Evaporation of a Drop of Ouzo
<> Gold-digging Ants – An(other) Explanation
...and lots more
Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists, etc (LFHCfS) new members:
<> Mary Glessner
<> Katy Croff Bell
<http://www.improbable.com/category/lfhcfs-hair-club/>:
More, at
[twitter] @ImprobResearch, @MarcAbrahams, #IgNobel
[facebook] <http://www.facebook.com/improbableresearch>
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08 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Rock and Rolls, Corrected
"Retention rates and weight loss in a commercial weight loss program," C.L. Rock, B.J. Rolls, et al., International Journal of Obesity, ERRATUM: 2007 Feb., v. 31, no. 2, p. 394. <https://is.gd/2TwILY>
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09 Improbable Research Events
For details and additional events, see
<http://improbable.com/improbable-research-shows/complete-schedule>
Reykjavik, Iceland — Jul 22, 2016
Blue Dot Festival, UK — Jul 23, 2016
Science in the City, Manchester, UK — Jul 24, 2016
ESOF, Manchester, UK — Jul 25, 2016
Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony — Sep 22, 2016
Ig Informal Lectures — Sep 24, 2016
AAAS Annual Meeting, Boston — Feb 18, 2017
Ig Nobel EuroTour — Mar 2017
Sarnoff Cardiovascular Research Annual Meeting
— Apr 27, 2017
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10 — The Magazine (AIR) — How to Subscribe; How to Get Back Issues (*)
The Annals of Improbable Research is a 6-issues-per-year magazine, published in PDF form. It's packed with research that makes people laugh, then think. (mini-AIR, the thing you are reading at this moment, is but a tiny, free-floating appendix to AIR.)
<http://www.improbable.com/magazine/>
SUBSCRIPTIONS (just $25)
BACK-ISSUES (just $5 each)
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11 — Our Address (*)
Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)
PO Box 380853, Cambridge, MA 02238 USA
(+1) 617-491-4437
EDITORIAL: <MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM>
SUBSCRIPTIONS: <subscriptions AT improbable.com>
Web Site and blog: <http://www.improbable.com>
Twitter: @ImprobResearch
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12 — 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
CO-CONSPIRATORS: Kees Moeliker, Alice Shirrell Kaswell, Gary Dryfoos, Ernest Ersatz, 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 2016, Annals of Improbable Research
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13 — How to start or stop receiving mini-AIR (*)
Mini-AIR is a (free!) tiny monthly *supplement*
to the big, bold six-times-a-year magazine AIR.
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To subscribe or unsubscribe to mini-AIR, please visit
<http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/mini-air>
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