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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