Marc Abrahams's Blog, page 500

The Rad Dose Gum Test

Maybe don’t throw away your Geiger-counter just yet, but if you’re interested in a simple and convenient way to measure how much harmful radiation you (or others) might have been exposed to, then you could check out the work of the Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Linköping University, Sweden where a new methodology has been developed – using chewing gum.

See; ‘Dose response of xylitol and sorbitol for EPR retrospective dosimetry with applications to chewing gum’ published in the latest edition of the journal Radiation Protection Dosimetry. [Also, if you like, see a slide presentation of some of the same material.]

BONUS (sort of): An unrelated product called “Chewing Gum Shaped Mini Wireless Radiation Protection Music Buetooth Hands-free Earphone-Red”

BONUS (sort of): Another unrelated product, a chewing gum called “Alert Energy”

BONUS: To chew, or not to chew…

Global Warming and the Boston Marathon, Scientificalistically

Global warming will and/or will not affect many things. The 2013 Boston Marathon happens next monday, April 14. This study implies that global warming will and/or will not measurably affect the results:

“Effects of Warming Temperatures on Winning Times in the Boston Marathon,” Abraham J. Miller-Rushing, Richard B. Primack [pictured here], Nathan Phillips, Robert K. Kaufmann, PLoS ONE 7(9): e43579. (Thanks to investigator Sylvie Coyaud for bringing this to our attention.) The authors, at Boston University, explain:

“It is not known whether global warming will affect winning times in endurance events, and counterbalance improvements in race performances that have occurred over the past century. We examined a time series (1933–2004) from the Boston Marathon to test for an effect of warming on winning times by men and women. We found that warmer temperatures and headwinds on the day of the race slow winning times. However…

“our models indicate that if race starting times had not changed and average race day temperatures had warmed by 0.058°C/yr, a high-end estimate, we would have had a 95% chance of detecting a consistent slowing of winning marathon times by 2100. If average race day temperatures had warmed by 0.028°C/yr, a mid-range estimate, we would have had a 64% chance of detecting a consistent slowing of winning times by 2100.”

Here’s some detail from the study:

 

Colonic cleansing has a dark side, they hint

Colonic cleansing has a dark side, according to this monograph, which looks at the inside story:

“The dangers of colon cleansing,” Ranit Mishori [pictured here], Aye Otubu, Aminah Alleyne Jones, Journal of Family Practice, 2011 Aug;60(8):454-7.  The authors are at Georgetown University.

BONUS: Christina Frangou’s take on the matter.

BONUS: Self-Serviced Coffee Self-Enemas

BONUS: The prince of colonic cleansing.

BONUS: One man’s view about “How to Make a Coffee Enema” and “How to take a coffee enema”

BONUS: ”A Bottoms-Up Summary of Past and Recent Impressions Regarding Coffee Enema“, from which this passage may give you the general flavor:

Dr. Wynder broke the ice speaking in a booming, German-accented voice, and with a twinkle in his eye, “I don’t know about you gentlemen, but I would rather have a coffee enema any day than a bone marrow transplant.” Laughter exploded around the table.

(HT @IvanOransky)

Yet another side to the scrotal asymmetry story

There is a new (new to us, anyway) twist in the scrotal asymmetry story: a new form of underwear, offered for sale under the description “String Latéral Flash Bleu Alter”.

The most recent, and most celebrated, part of the saga was the awarding in 2002 of the Ig Nobel Prize for medicine to Chris McManus of University College London, for his excruciatingly balanced report, “Scrotal Asymmetry in Man and in Ancient Sculpture.” [PUBLISHED IN: Nature, vol. 259, February 5, 1976, p. 426.]

(Thanks to investigator David Dobbs for bringing this new device to our and the world’s attention.)

The physics of a pulled tablecloth, seen in slow motion

“The tablecloth is suddenly pulled out from under a dinner setting. Please use eye protection when trying this on your own. The table cloth is cotton. Shot in 300 fps.” This video shows exactly that:

There makers thereof have made more such.

 

Review of several studies of ‘Yawp’ in China

‘Yawp’ is a widespread problem in China.

• Causing problems in fuel cells - see:

Using of the wavelet theory in wiping off the yawp from the fuel cell signals

• negatively impacting power plants - see:

Control Technology and Example on Yawp in Thermo Power Plants

• provoking uncertainty in microwave standards - see:

Analysis of the Uncertainty of Microwave Yawp Standard System

• polluting paint spraying depots - see:

Paint Mist and Yawp Pollution Control of Pipe Spray Paint Section

• leading to court cases - see:

Analysis of the Elements of Civil Liability for Environmental Violations -Taking two cases of yawp infringement for example

• creating difficulties in pump rooms - see:

Synthetic Control on Yawp in Water Pump Room of One Power Plant

• and even invading city districts - see:

Measure and analyze the indoors envinonment gawp [sic] of live distract [sic] in the city

Given its evidently widespread prevalence, has the time arrived for our tolerance of yawp to come to an end?

NOTE :

The photo shows Walt Whitman, who wrote about yawp and untranslatable-ness in his poem 1855 ‘Song of Myself’ :

“I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,

I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.”

The oddly named Wyno academic journals

The oddly named Wyno academic journals, many of which seem not to exist (or at least were not easily evident on the publisher’s web site) are not universally admired.

(Thanks to investigator Tatiana Divens for bringing this to our attention.)

Ig Nobel Prize-winning Tamagotchi now made free to the public

Tamagotchi, an invention that earned its inventors an Ig Nobel Prize, is now available to the public free, in the form of a downloadable app. The 1997 Ig Nobel Prize for economics was awarded to Akihiro Yokoi of Wiz Company in Chiba, Japan and Aki Maita [pictured here] of Bandai Company in Tokyo, the father and mother of Tamagotchi, for diverting millions of person-hours of work into the husbandry of virtual pets.

This video explains, to a limited degree, the news:

Male Scientists Demonstrate that Ejaculated Fluid is Conceivably Dual-Use

Three male scientists (all of them humans) go to great lengths to demonstrate that females (at least if they are flies) can, should they want or need to, regard ejaculate as a dual-use fluid. Their study is:

“Elucidating the function of ejaculate expulsion and consumption after copulation by female Euxesta bilimeki,” Christian Luis Rodriguez-Enriquez, Eduardo Tadeo, Juan Rull [pictured here], Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, April 2013. The authors, at the the Instituto de Ecologia in Mexico, explain:

“Euxesta bilimeki is an Ulidiid fly whose females not only frequently expel ejaculates after mating but also consume the ejaculate after expulsion…. The effect of ejaculate consumption on female fitness (fecundity and longevity) was compared among females held under different dietary treatments: a rich diet consisting of protein, sugar and water, an intermediate diet composed of sugar and water, a poor diet of only water and females that were completely deprived of food and water. All of the observed females expelled ejaculates after mating…. Except for starved females, who lived longer when allowed to consume ejaculates, ejaculate consumption had no effect on fitness… the consumed ejaculate had some nutritional value only evident when females were completely starved.”

Widow’s Peak Measurements of Spanish Caucasian Women

After a lapse of some years, a new study centering on Widow’s Peak Measurements has entered the scientific literature:

“Study of Frontal Hairline Patterns in Spanish Caucasian Women,” C. Ceballos, C. Priego, C. Méndez, M.V. Hoffner, M.J. García-Hernández, F.M. Camacho, Actas Dermo-Sifiliográficas (English Edition), epub April 2, 2013. The authors, at Departamento de Dermatología, Hospital Universitario Virgen Macarena, Sevilla, Spain, report:

“The mean age of the women was 29.7 years. A widow’s peak was observed in 94.17% of the group. The mean dimensions of the widow’s peak were a height of 1.01 cm and width of 2.13 cm.”

Here’s detail from the study:

(Thanks to investigator Manuel Ansede for bringing this to our attention.)