Marc Abrahams's Blog, page 557

Beards and moustaches – the health benefits

An excess of electromagnetic radiation in the ultraviolet waveband can cause severe damage to skin cells and their DNA. Fortunately, various natural protection mechanisms exist, but until recently, one has been almost entirely overlooked in the dosimetric literature. New details are revealed in the latest (July 2012) edition of the journal Radiation Protection Dosimetry, which features a paper from a cross faculty team at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia.

DOSIMETRIC INVESTIGATION OF THE SOLAR ERYTHEMAL UV RADIATION PROTECTION PROVIDED BY BEARDS AND MOUSTACHES

Explanatory note regarding the abbreviations below: UPF means ultraviolet protection factor, SZA means solar zenith angle, UVR means ultraviolet radiation,

“The longer hair provides a higher UPF at the smaller SZA, but the difference between the protection provided by the longer hair compared with the shorter hair reduces with increasing SZA. Protection from UVR is provided by the facial hair; however, it is not very high, particularly at the higher SZA.”

Also see: Solar Ultraviolet Protection Provided by Human Head Hair (Photochemistry and Photobiology, Volume 85, Number 1, January/February 2009 , pp. 250-254)

BONUS (unrelated): Feline Reactions to Bearded Men

Promiscuity, Paternity and Personality in the Great Tit

A new study further feeds humanity’s insatiable hunger for news about the birds called :

“Promiscuity, Paternity and Personality in the Great Tit,” Samantha C. Patrick, Joanne R. Chapman, Hannah L. Dugdale, John L. Quinn and Ben C. Sheldon, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, vol. 279, 2012, pp. 1724-1730.  The authors, at the University of Oxford, UK, Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chize, Villiers en Bois, France, and the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. explain:

“Understanding causes of variation in promiscuity within populations remain a major challenge…. Our data thus demonstrate a link between personality and promiscuity, with no net effects on reproductive success”

(Thanks to investigator Dany Adams for bringing this to our attention.)

 

Munsterberg’s mustache, still again

Overwhelmed by requests, we once again present a photo showing the mustache of Hugo Munsterberg, psychologist.

BONUS: The photo also shows other parts of Munsterberg. The man was more than just a mustache.

There was a young woman who swallowed a knife…

We hope that someone will ask Dan Meyer and Brian Witcombe, Ig Nobel medicine prize-winning co-authors of the study “Sword Swallowing and Its Side Effects“, for their take on this case report newly published in the New England Journal of Medicine:

“Unexpected Swallowing of a Knife,” Aida Venado, and Sarah Prebil, N Engl J Med 2012; 367:451, August 2, 2012. The authors report:

“A 30-year-old woman with a history of bulimia presented to the emergency department after swallowing a knife. She inserted the knife into the posterior oropharynx to demonstrate to her companions that she no longer had a gag reflex. When she unexpectedly laughed, the knife migrated into her esophagus, causing chest discomfort and hematemesis. Anteroposterior chest and abdominal radiographs (Panels A and B) revealed a knife within the distal esophagus and proximal stomach,… Her husband later disclosed that 4 years earlier she had swallowed a knife that required surgical removal with exploratory laparotomy.”

(Thanks to Maggie Fox, and to NBC News, for bringing this to our attention.)

BONUS: Video of Meyer and Witcombe’s Ig Nobel acceptance speech, at the 2007 ceremony:

BONUS: There was a young woman who swallowed a roach…

Norwegian video tips to avoid plagiarism

The University of Bergen offers this simple video guide, for students, about how to do your work without committing plagiarism:

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

Medical reasons not to ingest living earthworms and geckos

There can, this report implies, be definite medical reasons not to ingest living earthworms and geckos:

“Visceral larva migrans associated with earthworm and gecko ingestion: a case report,” Tao Yu1, Li-Na Zhao, Miao-Jing Fan, Huan Wu and Qi-Kui Chen, Journal of Medical Case Reports, epub July 18, 2012, The authors, at Sun Yatsen University, Guangzhou, China,  report:

“Visceral larva migrans is a syndrome caused by an infection with larval helminths, which may result in partial or general pathological changes in host tissues…. We report here the case of a 21-year-old Chinese man who, having ingested living earthworms and geckos at a witch’s suggestion, presented with fatigue and wordlessness lasting for one year along with elevated transaminase levels for one month.”

Ig Nobel tickets go on sale TODAY at NOON

Tickets for the Twenty-Second 1st Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony go on sale TODAY — WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2012, at noon (US eastern time).

ALL the tickets will go on sale at once. We expect that this year’s tickets will (as usual) get snapped up very quickly.

The Harvard Box Office handles all ticket sales.

Tickets in Person: The physical ticket office, in Holyoke Center, is open some (but not all!) days from noon to 6 pm.

Tickets Online: The Harvard Box Office web site is open 24 hours, every day.

Tickets by telephone: (+1) 617-496-2222.

THE CEREMONY

The ceremony will happen at the usual place:

WHERE: Sanders Theatre, Harvard University.

WHEN: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2012, 7:30 pm.

This year’s theme: THE UNIVERSE.

BONUS:  Join our private email list to receive (very occasional) reminders about upcoming Ig Nobel and Improbable Research events.

Breakthrough: “It is in fact a gesture of triumph”

Today’s Heavily Promoted Science-Related Study of the Day (HFSRSD) is described in this press release from its publisher:

Evidence for a nonverbal expression of triumph

Winning Olympic athletes display of triumph is a globally recognised gesture

Many would assume that the positive feelings felt by an athlete after a win would be that of pride, however, new research reveals that it is in fact a gesture of triumph. Researchers analysed pictures of gold and bronze medallists from the 2004 Athens Olympics and found that those who throw up their arms, clench their fists and grimace after a win, are displaying triumph through a gesture that is the same across all cultures.

The study is:

“Evidence for a nonverbal expression of triumph,” David Matsumoto [pictured here, in a gesture of an unspecified kind] and Hyi Sung Hwang, Evolution and Human Behavior, epub April 13, 2012. The authors are at San Francisco State University and Humintell, LLC, San Francisco, CA, USA

BONUS: “Welcome to the Homepage of Dr. David Matsumoto, Acclaimed Psychologist, Researcher, Author and Judoka“. The web site reports that “He has won countless awards.”

BONUS: The FBI report on Hyi Sung Hwang:

BONUS: Additional triumphant reporting of the triumph on Dr. Matsumoto’s company’s web site:

According to [a press release published in] PHYS.Org, these new findings due to be published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior suggest the victory pose signals feelings of triumph, challenging previous research [some of it by D. Matsumoto] that labeled the expression pride.

Poster for the 2012 Ig Nobel Prize ceremony

Here’s this year’s Ig Nobel Prize ceremony poster, designed by Geri Sullivan:

You can download a high-res, PDF version, if you like.

Tickets for the ceremony go on sale today, Wednesday, August 1.

Raincoat Non-Functionality in NZ

Raincoat (Noun) ‘A waterproof or water-resistant coat worn to protect the body from rain.’ (Definition at Wikipedia).

If you buy a raincoat, you may reasonably expect it to keep out the rain. But you may be disappointed. Attention is drawn to the failings of raincoats in a recent Master of Philosophy thesis from Auckland University of Technology (AUT) entitled ‘Raincoat: a creative consideration of urban rainwear‘ in which author Linda Jones (Senior Lecturer in Fashion Design at the University) notes that :

“In general, in New Zealand, the consumer has available an assortment of garments that look like raincoats, but their function has often been marginalised in the pursuit of a place in the fashion market.”

And a comprehensive market review undertaken in NZ in 2008, pinpointed the anomaly.

“In summary, this market review confirmed what I had already deduced; I could not buy a raincoat that signified urbanitity and was also comfortable to wear. In addition, I could not buy a raincoat that would offer significant protection from the rain.”

A field trip to the UK also showed remarkable similarities :

“One could look good and get wet, look not so good and get wet, or stay dry and look as if one was about to engage in a decidedly masculinised outdoor ‘pursuit’.”

The author offers suggestions not just for consumers, but for manufacturers too :

“Until consumers becomes aware that they can wear an aesthetically stylish raincoat that will perform in wet weather without disappointment, there is no reason for designers to factor higher levels of functionality into their products. As long as consumers continue to buy garments that do not function as raincoats, their lack of design criticality and lack of insistence on integrity will enable poor design to continue. In producing this collection, I have sought through precedent to address this anomaly.”