Marc Abrahams's Blog, page 501

Synthetic rock lobster, and original rock lobster

The song “Rock Lobster” played by computer parts:

The same song played in its original form, by the band The B-52s:

Looking back at the declared most intelligent person in the world

Several years ago, on the Ig Nobel Tour of the UK, several persons competed in a series of one-on-one debates to determine which would be declared the most intelligent person in the world. This video commemorates that:

The event occurred at Imperial College London. The persons: Fiona Barclay, Bernie Morley, Tony Whitehead, and Philip Campbell (the editor of Nature magazine).

Is playing the harmonica linked to male infertility?

In the first study of its kind, a team of medics from the Aja University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, have investigated whether male mouth-organ players might suffer abnormally high rates of infertility. They were following the hypothesis that the hard blowing associated with harmonica playing might mimic the so-called Valsalva maneuver which, say the team, can increase the risk of developing testicular varicoceles, a common cause of male infertility.

Their experiments monitored 42 mouth organ players for varicocele rates and, as a control, compared them with 31 military-vehicle drivers (whose day-to-day work did not involve undue blowing). As hypothesised, the study revealed significant differences in the mouth-organ group :

“… the varicocele prevalence among wind instruments players has been higher than normal level, while it was normal for the drivers.”

“It seems that there is a relation between high rate of varicocele in music group and their type of activity involved with valsalva maneuver and long-term standings.”

See: Rezakhaniha B, Siroosbakht S, Mirzaii-Dizgah I. ‘Comparison of the Varicocele Frequency in Mouth Organ Musician and Drivers.’ Zahedan J Res Med Sci (ZJRMS) 2012; 14(6): 31-32.

BONUSES :

[1] This video shows harmonica virtuoso (the late, great) Sonny Boy Williamson II performing “Keep It To Yourself”

[2] The (10x15cm) metallic picture as shown above – entitled ‘Muha Lady’ – is available from the Deutsches Harmonikamuseum (based in Trossingen, Germany) shop, for a very reasonable  € 2,50

 

Osbaldiston’s Balance Studies of British Bird Droppings

Osbaldiston was a master at analyzing British bird droppings, as is evident in this study:

“Water and electrolyte balance studies of birds showing ‘wet droppings’“, G.W. Osbaldiston, British Veterinary Journal, vol. 125, no. 12, December 1969, pp. 653-63.

The Puzzling Case of the Presurgical Spray Tan

Yet another mystery presented itself to the medical profession, and yielded to the detective powers thereof. Details are in the study:

“Discourage the presurgical spray tan  — Physicians were puzzled by the patient’s postoperative skin damage,” Miriam S. Krause, Henry Bohler, Steven T. Nakajima, American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, epub April 2, 2013. The authors, at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, Kentucky, report:

“As far as we can tell, this is the first report of an interaction between spray-tanning agents, presurgical antiseptic solutions, and the adhesive tape used in surgical drapes…. patients should be advised not to undergo spray tanning in close proximity to a surgical intervention.”

(Thanks to investigator Ivan Oransky for bringing this to our attention.)

Slow Bite™ — Bite Slow and Fight Obesity (new patent)

“Overweight [sic] and obesity are some of the most common health and social problems. Millions of people suffer from overweight [sic], which is considered to be a main cause for diseases and early death. “

So what’s to be done? The quote above comes from a new US patent (Feb. 19th 2013) which offers a solution in the form of  Slow Bite™ – which is a ‘Device and method for restraining food intake’. Inventor Dr. Erella Pines who is founder of and consultant for the Nobesity company, based in Haifa, Israel, explains (via the patent)  that :

“The present invention thus consists of a restraining device which is being anchored in the upper and lower jaws, consisting of an elastic element which is inserted into two respective inter-proximal spaces (IPSs) of said upper and said lower jaws and reduces and/or limits the mouth opening and/or slows down the rate of chewing. “

pointing out too that :

“Slow and thorough chewing enables better and more complete absorption of the food in the stomach, and decreases the hunger feeling.”

More details on the Slow Bite™ can be found via the Nobesity website

“How does it work?

Before mealtime, the user inserts the Slow Bite™ intra-oral disposable device between the teeth in the upper and lower jaws using an applicator. The device controls the degree to which the mouth can open during food consumption. Slow Bite™ is easily removed after the meal.

The device (moderately) limits mouth opening and as a result, prompts the user to take smaller bites of food. The device moderates eating without spoiling the pleasure associated with eating and without impairing speech. Slow Bite™ is small and can be used without embarrassment when dining in company.”

And there is a (very short) video demonstration here (in Hebrew) showing an Israeli TV presenter locating the device into her inter-proximal spaces [scroll to 1:45].

 

Using coffee grounds to give grip ability to a robotic hand

Folks at Cornell University figured out how to use coffee grounds and air to add gripping — grab this! grab that! — capabilities to a robotic hand. This video shows and tells how:

(Thanks to investigator Margaret Tuley for bringing this to our attention.)

Feuding Paleontologists of Old to Be Played By Famed Actors

Investigator Sally Shelton alerts us to this art/science news, reported by Deadline:

Steve Carell & James Gandolfini To Star In HBO Movie About Feuding Paleontologists

After recently co-starring together in The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, and are reuniting for another comedic movie, this time on TV. Carell and Gandolfini are set to star and executive produce HBO Films‘ Bone Wars. The project, now in development, is based on the real-life Bone Wars (aka the Great Dinosaur Rush) between Edward Drinker Cope of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia and Othniel Charles Marsh of the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale. Set during the post-Civil War birth of American science, the film is a sophisticated comedy about one of history’s most notorious feuds — the great dinosaur fossil race between paleontologists Marsh (Gandolfini) and Cope (Carell) — a decades-long competition that led to the discovery of more than 160 dinosaurs and their mutual downward spiral….

Earle Spamer, the great modern scholar of the saga of Cope and Marsh, has written about them again and again (and maybe other times, too) in the Annals of Improbable Research. Here are some of his findings:

Edward D. Cope, Heads Above the Rest, the First Electronic Publisher in Science

This perhaps bodes good times ahead for the two museums whose histories are intertwined: the Academy of Natural Sciences and the Peabody Museum of Natural History.

BONUS: The feud recreated (by penis-mechanics researcher Diane Kelley) as a game: BONE WARS: The Game of Ruthless Paleontology

BONUS:  A chapter beyond the famous feud: The oddity of Henry Fairfield Osborn

Of Bunnies and Clowns in the Wards

In case you missed this April Fools study:

“Randomized Trial of Facilitated Family-Centered Rounds,” Brian K. Alverson, Karen M. Wilson and Samir S. Shah, Hospital Pediatrics, 2013;3;156. The authors, at Brown University, the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, explain, sort of:

“Family-centered rounds (FCR) are becoming the status quo for inpatient pediatric medical care; however, barriers still exist. The use of facilitators in FCR is gaining popularity. Although facilitators can increase comfort with FCR, the choice of preferred facilitator has not been studied by using rigorous methodology. In this study, we performed a randomized trial of facilitated FCR with bunnies and clowns, 2 commonly mentioned facilitators, and compared their results with the usual care condition.

“RESULTS: Bunnies had the best overall improvement in parent satisfaction, anxiety, and resident satisfaction. Both intervention groups were successful at reducing attending interruptions. The clown arm was suspended by the Data Safety Monitoring Board before study completion due to adverse events.”

BONUS. Other investigators had published a study of the same name, but bunny and clown free.

BONUS [unrelated]: It has been suggested that this April 6 article in The Telegraph is a slightly late April Fools piece: ”‘Facebook Home could change our brains’“

Effects of Chewing on Cognitive Processing Speed, Maybe

This study adds a big “maybe” to the possibly-thought-inducing question of whether chewing speeds up a person’s brain, or parts of a person’s brain, or aspects of what might happen in part or parts of a person’s brain, more or less. The researchers reach a tentative “could” in the final sentence of their summary:

“Effects of Chewing on Cognitive Processing Speed,” Yoshiyuki Hirano, Takayuki Obata, Hidehiko Takahashi, Atsumichi Tachibana, Daigo Kuroiwa, Toru Takahashi, Hiroo Ikehira, Minoru Onozuka, Brain and Cognition, Volume 81, Issue 3, April 2013, Pages 376–381. (Thanks to investigator Sylvie Coyaud for bringing this to our attention.) The authors, at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in Chiba, and several other institutions in Japan, explain:

“We have reported that chewing may improve or recover the process of working memory; however, the mechanisms underlying these phenomena are still to be elucidated. We investigated the effect of chewing on aspects of attention and cognitive processing speed, testing the hypothesis that this effect induces higher cognitive performance. Seventeen healthy adults [chewed and/or did not chew]. Behavioral results showed that mean reaction time was significantly decreased during chewing condition, regardless of speed-accuracy trade-off, although there were no significant changes in behavioral effects. On the other hand, fMRI analysis revealed higher activations in the anterior cingulate cortex and left frontal gyrus for the executive network and motor-related regions for both attentional networks during chewing condition. These results suggested that chewing induced an increase in the arousal level and alertness in addition to an effect on motor control and, as a consequence, these effects could lead to improvements in cognitive performance.”

BONUS: To chew, or not to chew…