Marc Abrahams's Blog, page 301

The Economic Times interview with Ig Nobel winner Raghu Rau

“If you are someone who is in the field, then the paper doesn’t sound funny.” The Economic Times interviews 2015 Ig Nobel Economics Prize winner Raghavendra Rau. Here’s the introduction (click on the link, to read the entire interview):

Meet Cambridge economist Raghavendra Rau: The Ig Nobel Prize winner

Last month at Harvard University, the 25th Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony took place. Ig Nobel is a light-hearted award for work in science that unearths something yet is quirky. In the management category, Raghavendra Rau, Gennaro Bernile and Vineet Bhagwat won for their paper on the theory that children who have experienced natural disasters, though are not affected by them, become business leaders who take risks. Rau and Bernile attended the ceremony and accepted the Ig Nobel. ETPanache spoke on the phone and email with Rau, a self-confessed nerd and professor of finance at the Cambridge Judge Business School.…

Nadiya Zafar’s visit to a urination-duration physics talk

Nadiya Zafar went to a talk by 2015 Ig Nobel physics prize winner David (most mammals empty their bladders in about 21 seconds) Hu. She made this video to tell you about it:

BONUS: Here’s video of the lengthy introduction — just the introduction! — to the actual talk, culminating in a paper airplane throw:

And here’s the beginning of David Hu’s talk (if you poke around on YouTube, you can find video of the rest of the talk, too):

The newspaper column: moving on…

After 13 happy years as a columnist at The Guardian newspaper, I’ve stopped. It was a joy and a privilege working with the editors there.

(You can read all those old columns — more than 500 of them — on the Guardian web site, and find links and bits of extra information here on the Improbable site. Some of those columns were collected and enhanced into two books: This Is Improbable, and This Is Improbable Too.)

The newly freed-up writing time will let me play with new things: in the Improbable Research podcast; in the magazine (which we are transitioning into the new PDF era!); in Ig Nobel Prize activities; in some new projects; and in speaking gigs (do feel free to invite me to talk at your meeting, conference, or whatever!).

Podcast #34: OM, OM, OM, Monkey Wrench, Basic Black Dress

The repetitive physics of the word “OM”,  Barcus and his monkey wrench, some more clever contraptions to capture crooks, and the question “Basic Black Dress – Hot or Not?” — all these all turn up in this week’s Improbable Research podcast.

Click on the “Venetian blinds” icon — at the lower right corner here — to select whichever week’s episode you want to hear:

SUBSCRIBE on Play.it, iTunes, or Spotify to get a new episode every week, free.

This week, Marc Abrahams tells about:

Repetitive physics of the word “OM”.  (Gurjar, Ajay Anil, and Siddharth A. Ladhake (2008). ‘Time-Frequency Analysis of Chanting Sanskrit Divine Sound “OM”.’ International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security 8 (8): 170–75. / –– (2009). ‘Spectral Analysis of Sanskrit Divine Sound OM.’ Information Technology Journal 8: 781–85. / –– (2009). ‘Optimal Wavelet Selection For Analyzing Sanskrit Divine Sound “OM”.’ International Journal of Mathematical Sciences and Engineering Applications 3 (2): 225–33. / –– (2009). ‘Analysis of Speech Under Stress Before and After OM Chant Using MATLAB 7.’ International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Applications in Engineering, Technology and Sciences 2 (2): 713–18. / –– (2009). ‘Time-Domain Analysis of “OM” Mantra to Study It’s [sic] Effect on Nervous System.’ International Journal of Engineering Research and Industrial Applications 2 (3): 233–42. / Gurjar, Ajay Anil (2009). ‘Multi-Resolution Analysis of Divine Sound “OM” Using Discrete Wavelet Transform.’ International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Applications in Engineering, Technology and Sciences 2 (2): 468–72. Featuring dramatic readings by Jean Berko Gleason . )
Barcus and his monkey wrench. (“Monkey Wrench,” US patent 753837,  issued to Luther C. Barcus on March 8, 1904. Featuring dramatic readings by Sue Wellington.)
Some further clever contraptions to capture crooks. (Helene Adelaide Shelby’s “Apparatus for Obtaining Criminal Confessions and Photographically Recording Them” (U.S. patent 1749090, granted 1930). Here’s a drawing from Shelby’s patent:   / Alphonse J. Thibault’s “Burglar Trap” (U.S. Patent 1807944, granted 1931)  / Peter Boudreau’s “Crime Prevention System” (U.S. patent 3680499, granted 1972)  / Jack Jensen’s “Airplane Hijacking Injector” (U.S. patent 3841328, granted 1974). Featuring dramatic readings by Richard Baguley .)
Basic Black Dress – Hot or Not? (Shkolnik, Amiram, C. Richard Taylor, Virginia Finch, and Arieh Borut (1980). ‘Why Do Bedouins Wear Black Robes in Hot Deserts?’ Nature 283: 373–75.  / Hutchinson, John C. D., and Graham D. Brown (1969). ‘Penetrance of Cattle Coats by Radiation.’ Journal of Applied Physiology 26 (4): 454–64. Featuring dramatic readings by Jean Berko Gleason.)

The mysterious John Schedler or the shadowy Bruce Petschek perhaps did the sound engineering this week.

The Improbable Research podcast is all about research that makes people LAUGH, then THINK — real research, about anything and everything, from everywhere —research that may be good or bad, important or trivial, valuable or worthless. CBS distributes it, on the CBS Play.it web site, and on iTunes and Spotify).

Steve Trim joins the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS)

Steve Trim has joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS). He says:

I’m a molecular biologist and drug discovery scientist who founded Venomtech to deliver the next generation of biological therapeutics. My long flowing hair is a key part of who I am, and is much better than a business card for leaving a good impression.

Steve Trim, BSc, MRSB, LFHCfS

Managing Director

Venomtech limited

Sandwich, Kent, UK

Kevin Folta, ball of confusion

Professor Kevin Folta [pictured here] leads a professional double-life that is, to many observers, a ball of confusion.

Brooke Borel writes about the man and the confusion, in an essay called “Seed Money“, in Buzzfeed. The tagline only hints at some of the riches in the essay:

How Kevin Folta got entangled with Monsanto, created a shady podcast alter ego, and spurred a hot public debate over conflicts of interest in big ag.

Be sure to read — and otherwise experience — the ending, which is unique in the annals of almost anything.

Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (a review)

If you haven’t come across the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (CFSM), and wish to read an academic overview, may we recommend a recent paper in the journal Le religieux sur Internet / Religion on the Web, Vol 8 (2015) ‘When Virtuality Shapes Social Reality. Fake Cults and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.‘ by professor Lionel Obadia (University of Lyon, France)

“ ‘A two-eyed ‘monster’ made of meatballs and noodles performs as godhead, with supernatural powers. It is represented floating in the air, overlooking its creation, humanity, on which it is all powerful: it can elicit faith, or destroy it. The revelation was received by a certain ‘Captain Mosey’, chief pirate, who was the first prophet of the Church.

The CFSM then grew towards institutionalization, through a series of faith articles and normative rules which prove the monster’s existence, and eight commandments, that are almost indistinguishable from the Old Testament’s prescriptions. A revelation creed is uttered by those who have been ‘touched’ by the monster’s ‘noodly appendage’. CFSM members also celebrate religious festivals, simply named ‘holidays’, which take place around Christmas time, and which call upon no other obligation than celebrating.”

BONUS 

Is this the Flying Spaghetti Monster? Siphonophore filmed on seabed off the coast of Angola (The Independent, Aug. 2015)

 

Women who are captured by love, sort of

Comes a further investigation into the ways of love:

“Characteristics and Personality Styles of Women Who Seek Incarcerated Men as Romantic Partners: Survey Results and Directions for Future Research, ” Marcela Slavikova and Nancy Ryba Panza [pictured below], Deviant Research, Volume 35, Issue 11, 2014, pages 885-90. The authors, at CUNY, New York, and California State University, Fullerton, explain:

“Results are presented from a survey of 89 women who sought and entered into a relationship with a man who was incarcerated…. Results from the Jesness Inventory-Revised, a measure of personality functioning, revealed two predominant personality subtypes among the women: the Manipulator/Pragmatist (31%) and the Neurotic, Anxious/Introspective (25%).”

Menstruation music videos for kids

Barnkanalen, the Swedish childrens’ TV channel, adds this item, called “Hurra for Mens!” [English translation: “Hurrah for Monthlies!”] to the emerging category of menstruation music videos for children. Savor the dancing tampon:

(Thanks to Geri Sullivan for bringing this to our attention.)

BONUS: Here’s a earlier video —this one made by students — about dancing tampons, with music by Tchaikovsky:

BONUS: Ben Shattuck’s historical epic “There Once Was a Dildo in Nantucket“

Prof. Dr. Dr. Dr. Hanns Hatt and the smell of a woman

Prof. Dr. Dr. Dr. Hanns Hatt (actually, Prof. Dr. Dr. Dr. Med. Habil. Hanns Hatt) of the Department of Cell Physiology at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, is in hot pursuit of understanding — understanding, especially, the many and varied roles played by olfaction. In a word: smell.

Prof. Dr. Dr. Dr. Hatt’s home page lists a few of Prof. Dr. Dr. Dr. Hatt’s many olfaction research activities and discoveries. Among these:

“SCIENCE-Publication: Sperm follow their nose — Human sperm are attracted by the smell of ‘lily of the valley’ flowers. Researchers from the University of Bochum prove this for the first time. They found a blocking odor, who switch off the smell-orientation of sperm.” For details of that, see his (and colleagues’) paper “Identification of a Testicular Odorant Receptor Mediating Human Sperm Chemotaxis“.
“Scent of a Woman – and much else besides — Apart from the effect that the length and shape of Cleopatra’s may or may not have had on history, what’s in a nose?” Dr. Dr. Dr. H’s book Das Maiglöckchen-Phänomen (The Lily-of-the-Valley Phenomenon), written with Regine Dee, pursues this theme in splendiferous detail.

(Thanks to Lisa Oberzaucher for bringing Prof. Dr. Dr. Dr. Hatt and his work to our attention.)

CAUTION: One must not confuse Hanns Hatt with Hans Hat. The former is a model modern biology researcher. The latter is a model in the fashion industry. Here is (non-Prof., non-Dr., non-Dr., non-Dr.) Hans Hat’s modeling marketing photo: