[mini-AIR] mini-AIR May 2014: Bang, Bang, Bang, Dead Duck Day

Wed May 28 13:49:01 EDT 2014

mini-Annals of Improbable Research ("mini-AIR")
May 2014, issue number 2013-05. ISSN 1076-500X.
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The monthly mini update/alert from Improbable Research
	Archive at <http://improbable.com/airchives/miniair>
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2013-05-01 TABLE OF CONTENTS

2013-05-02 Imminent Events: Dead Duck Day / ESOF / Ig Nobel Tickets
2013-05-03 In the Magazine: Cloning & Evolution Issue
2013-05-04 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Bang's Blutzucker
2013-05-05 The BG Bang Limerick Competition
2013-05-06 Green: Thumb Injury Poet
2013-05-07 MORE IMPROBABLE: Squirrel + Shotgun + Butt / Dog + Graphene
2013-05-08 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Bang's Cuspidor
2013-05-09 Improbable Research Events
2013-05-10 — How to Get the Magazine (*)
2013-05-11 — Our Address (*)
2013-05-12 — Please Forward/Post This Issue! (*)
2013-05-13 — How to start or stop receiving this newsletter (*)

	Items marked (*) are reprinted in every issue.

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2013-05-02 Imminent Events: Dead Duck Day / ESOF / Ig Nobel Tickets

· Dead Duck Day, Rotterdam, The Netherlands	— Jun 5

· ESOF, Copenhagen, Denmark				— Jun 24 & 24

· Ig Nobel Ceremony TICKETS GO ON SALE	— Jul 8

	Full events schedule at <http://goo.gl/tzwJt>

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2013-05-03 In the Magazine: Cloning & Evolution Issue

The special Cloning & Evolution issue (vol. 20, no. 2) of the Annals of Improbable Research now exists, corporeally and digitally: <http://goo.gl/0RdEvV>. Three of its articles are online:

· "Evolution of Complexes from LEGO™ Bricks in a Washing Machine" <http://goo.gl/aJXr5S>
· "Genetic Deterioration over Nine Generations of Cloned Gingerbread Men" <http://goo.gl/ZEuqIL>
· "Viagra Induces Fractal Growth in Mushrooms in Switzerland" <http://goo.gl/n7tMRG>

	Download a FREE E-BOOK ISSUE <http://goo.gl/BMzMw>
	Links to all issues: <http://www.improbable.com/magazine>

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2013-05-04 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Bang's Blutzucker

This month's research spotlights one of Bang's most sugary works:

"Blutzucker," Ivar Bang, Fresenius' Journal of Analytical Chemistry, vol. 52, no. 7, 1913, pp. 521-523. <http://goo.gl/hwa04J>

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2013-05-05 The BG Bang Limerick Competition

Bang and the human nose inspire this month's limerick competition. To enter, compose an original limerick that illuminates the nature of this ancient study:

"The Mucous Glands of the Developing Human Nose," B.G. Bang, Cells Tissues Organs, vol. 59, no. 4, 1964, pp. 297-314. <http://goo.gl/9aSdhH>

Submit your perfectly formed limerick to:

	BG BANG LIMERICK COMPETITION
	c/o <marca AT improbable.com>

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2013-05-06 Green: Thumb Injury Poet

The judges have chosen a winner for last month's Green: Thumb Injury Limerick Competition, which asked for a limerick to honor this study:

"The Danger in a Handshake — An Unusual Case of Ulnar Collateral Ligament Rupture," Ramita Dey and A.D Green, Injury, vol. 34, no. 7, July 2003, pp. 535–536. <http://goo.gl/w9u7wI >

The winner is INVESTIGATOR JODY GILDER, who writes:

Shake the hand of a Scottish gamekeeper
And his thumb may cause you to probe deeper.
   Then a man who kills rabbit
   Rips his ulnar by habit.
Fitting payback to a bunny grim reaper.

And here are two alternate offerings from LIMERICK LAUREATE MARTIN EIGER:

Although it is favored by some,
They're neglecting what danger may come.
   A handshake to greet
   The people you meet
Can tear ligaments found in your thumb.

It's a little bit kinky, it's true.
I like painful sensations, I do.
   To be tied up and whipped
   Has become nondescript.
What I want is a handshake with you.

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2013-05-07 MORE IMPROBABLE: Squirrel + Shotgun + Butt / Dog + Graphene

Recent improbable bits you maybe missed:

IMPROBABLE BLOG:

· "Self-inflicted: Squirrel Tissue Embedded with Birdshot in His Butt <http://goo.gl/PGowRh>

· "The Introductory Physics of Being Pissed Off" <http://goo.gl/9vYKgP>

· "A Stand-up Effect on Dogs of Listening to Graphene Earphones" <http://goo.gl/aUCsqu>

...and MORE, MORe, MOre, More, more at <http://improbable.com>

LFHCfS (Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists) new members:
· Greg Jensen
· Karl O'Dwyer
· Will Bennett
Admire them at <http://goo.gl/8AZawf>

Other LFHCfS doings:
· Official Harvard interview with Steven Pinker and his hair <http://goo.gl/KbSVki>
· The Danish magazine Dansk Magisterbladet's celebration of the LFCHfS <http://goo.gl/REuJYT>

Newspaper column: 
· First attempts to model bipolar patients as harmonic oscillators <http://goo.gl/8ksybN>

twitter:	@ImprobResearch, @MarcAbrahams, #IgNobel
facebook:	<http://www.facebook.com/improbableresearch>
books:	<http://goo.gl/rHMb3t>

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2013-05-08 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Bang's Cuspidor

"Cuspidor," U.S. Patent 1,210,397, issued to Herman H. Bang, on January 2, 1917. <http://goo.gl/xwdvgQ>

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2013-05-09 Improbable Research Events

For details and additional events, see
<http://improbable.com/improbable-research-shows/complete-schedule>

Dead Duck Day, Rotterdam, The Netherlands	— Jun 5
ESOF, Copenhagen, Denmark				— Jun 22 & 24, 2014
Ig Nobel TICKETS go on sale					— Jul 8, 2014
Readercon, MA, USA						— Jul 10, 2014
NEW BOOK — Publication day USA			— Aug 12, 2014
Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony					— Sep 18, 2014
Ig Informal Lectures							— Sep 20, 2014

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2013-05-10 — How to Get the Magazine (*)

The Annals of Improbable Research is a 6-issues-per-year magazine. (It's much bigger and better than the little bits in this newsletter.)
We produce each issue as an e-book, as well as on traditional paper.

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2013-05-11 — Our Address (*)

Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)
PO Box 380853, Cambridge, MA 02238 USA
(+1) 617-491-4437, FAX: (+1) 617-661-0927

EDITORIAL: <marca AT improbable.com>
PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS: <subscriptions AT improbable.com>
Web Site and blog: <http://www.improbable.com>
Twitter: @ImprobResearch

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2013-05-12 — 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 2014, Annals of Improbable Research

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2013-05-13 — How to start or stop receiving this newsletter (*)

Mini-AIR is a (free!) teeny-tiny monthly *supplement* to the actual six-times-a-year magazine AIR.
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