[mini-AIR] mini-AIR: The 2019 Ig Nobel Prize winners. And some density predictions.

Fri Sep 27 20:28:27 EDT 2019

mini-Annals of Improbable Research ("mini-AIR")
September 2019, issue number 2019-09. ISSN 1076-500X.
	<https://www.improbable.com/airchives/miniair/>
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  Research that makes people LAUGH, then THINK.
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01 TABLE OF CONTENTS

02 Imminent Events
03 IN THE MAGAZINE ITSELF: Important Soon, Disgusting Now
04 Predicting the Distribution of Sasquatch
05 The 2019 Ig Nobel Prize Winners
06 Challenge: Predicting the Distribution of Loch Ness Monsters
07 A-Look-Back-at-Déjà-Vu Winner
08 MORE IMPROBABLE: Cat Videos, Hedgehogs at a Festival
09 Predicting the Distribution of Unicorns
10 IMPROBABLE EVENTS
11 — Subscribe to the Actual Magazine! (*)
12 — How to start or stop receiving this little newsletter (*)
13 — Contact Info (*)
14 — Standard Gobbledegook (*)

	Items marked (*) are reprinted in every issue.

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02 Imminent Events

	* Toronto, Canada
	* New York City, USA
	* Georgia Tech, USA
	* Boston, USA
	* Dammam, Saudi Arabia
	* Lubbock, Texas
	* Vienna, Austria
	* Copenhagen, Denmark
	* Gothenburg, Sweden

FULL IMPROBABLE EVENTS SCHEDULE: <http://www.improbable.com/improbable-research-shows/complete-schedule/>

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03 IN THE MAGAZINE ITSELF: Important Soon, Disgusting Now

	WHAT YOU ARE READING AT THIS MOMENT
	is just our monthly newsletter, (mini-AIR).

	Our best stuff goes into the actual magazine:
	Annals of Improbable Research (AIR). 

Soon, the special IMPORTANT RESEARCH issue (vol. 25, no. 5) of the magazine will be sent to subscribers. 
It the meantime, the special Disgusting Research issue (vol. 25, no. 4), is out and about. It is full of delightfully disgusting research:
<https://www.improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume25/v25i4/v25i4.php>

SUBSCRIBE to the MAGAZINE, or get SINGLE ISSUES:
	<https://gumroad.com/improbable>

	Tables of Contents: 	<http://www.improbable.com/magazine/>

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04 Predicting the Distribution of Sasquatch

"Predicting the Distribution of Sasquatch in Western North America: Anything Goes with Ecological Niche Modeling," J.D. Lozier, P. Aniello and M.J. Hickerson, Journal of Biogeography, 2009. 
<https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2009.02152.x>
(Thanks to Jarrett Byrnes for bringing this to our attention.) The authors, at the University of Illinois, at Natural Resource Management in Redlands, California, and at City University of New York, explain:

"The availability of user-friendly software and publicly available biodiversity databases has led to a rapid increase in the use of ecological niche modelling to predict species distributions. A potential source of error in publicly available data that may affect the accuracy of ecological niche models (ENMs), and one that is difficult to correct for, is incorrect (or incomplete) taxonomy. Here we remind researchers of the need for careful evaluation of database records prior to use in modelling, especially when the presence of cryptic species is suspected or many records are based on indirect evidence. To draw attention to this potential problem, we construct ENMs for the North American Sasquatch (i.e. Bigfoot).... We compare the distribution of Bigfoot with an ENM for the black bear, Ursus americanus, and suggest that many sightings of this cryptozoid may be cases of mistaken identity."

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05 The 2019 Ig Nobel Prize Winners

Here are the new Ig Nobel Prize winners, who were awarded their prizes at the 29th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, on September 12, at Harvard University.

Ceremony (and Ig Informal Lectures) details and video:
<https://www.improbable.com/ig-about/2019-ceremony/>

Links to papers:
<https://www.improbable.com/ig-about/winners/#ig2019>

MEDICINE PRIZE [ITALY, THE NETHERLANDS]
Silvano Gallus, for collecting evidence that pizza might protect against illness and death, if the pizza is made and eaten in Italy.
WHO ATTENDED THE CEREMONY: Sylvano Gallus.

MEDICAL EDUCATION PRIZE [USA]
Karen Pryor and Theresa McKeon, for using a simple animal-training technique— called "clicker training" —to train surgeons to perform orthopedic surgery.
WHO ATTENDED THE CEREMONY: Karen Pryor and Theresa McKeon

BIOLOGY PRIZE [SINGAPORE, CHINA, AUSTRALIA, POLAND, USA, BULGARIA]
Ling-Jun Kong, Herbert Crepaz, Agnieszka Górecka, Aleksandra Urbanek, Rainer Dumke, and Tomasz Paterek, for discovering that dead magnetized cockroaches behave differently than living magnetized cockroaches.
WHO ATTENDED THE CEREMONY: Tomasz Paterek, Herbert Crepaz, Rainer Dumke.

ANATOMY PRIZE [FRANCE]
Roger Mieusset and Bourras Bengoudifa, for measuring scrotal temperature asymmetry in naked and clothed postmen in France.

CHEMISTRY PRIZE [JAPAN]
Shigeru Watanabe, Mineko Ohnishi, Kaori Imai, Eiji Kawano, and Seiji Igarashi, for estimating the total saliva volume produced per day by a typical five-year-old child
WHO ATTENDED THE CEREMONY: Shiguru Watanabe [and his adult sons, who were some of the subjects of the study when they were children 35 years ago]

ENGINEERING PRIZE [IRAN]
Iman Farahbakhsh, for inventing a diaper-changing machine for use on human infants.
REFERENCE: "Infant Washer and Diaper-Changer Apparatus and Method," US patent 10034582, granted to Iman Farahbakhsh, July 31, 2018.

ECONOMICS PRIZE [TURKEY, THE NETHERLANDS, GERMANY]
Habip Gedik, Timothy A. Voss, and Andreas Voss, for testing which country's paper money is best at transmitting dangerous bacteria.
REFERENCE: "Money and Transmission of Bacteria," Habip Gedik, Timothy A. Voss, and Andreas Voss, Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control, vol. 2, no. 2, 2013.
WHO ATTENDED THE CEREMONY: Andreas Voss and Timothy Voss (who are father and son)

PEACE PRIZE [UK, SAUDI ARABIA, SINGAPORE, USA]
Ghada A. bin Saif, Alexandru Papoiu, Liliana Banari, Francis McGlone, Shawn G. Kwatra, Yiong-Huak Chan, and Gil Yosipovitch, for trying to measure the pleasurability of scratching an itch.
WHO ATTENDED THE CEREMONY: Francis McGlone delivered an acceptance speech via recorded video.

PSYCHOLOGY PRIZE [GERMANY]
Fritz Strack, for discovering that holding a pen in one's mouth makes one smile, which makes one happier — and for then discovering that it does not.
WHO ATTENDED THE CEREMONY: Fritz Strack.

PHYSICS PRIZE [USA, TAIWAN, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, SWEDEN, UK]
Patricia Yang, Alexander Lee, Miles Chan, Alynn Martin, Ashley Edwards, Scott Carver, and David Hu, for studying how, and why, wombats make cube-shaped poo.
WHO ATTENDED THE CEREMONY: Patricia Yang, David Hu, Alexander Lee, Scott Carver, Ashley Edwards
NOTE: This the SECOND Ig Nobel Prize awarded to Patricia Yang and David Hu. They and two other colleagues shared the 2015 Ig Nobel Prize, for testing the biological principle that nearly all mammals empty their bladders in about 21 seconds (plus or minus 13 seconds).

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06 Challenge: Predicting the Distribution of Loch Ness Monsters

This month's RESEARCH LIMERICK challenge — Devise a pleasing limerick that encapsulates this study:

"Population Density of Monsters in Loch Ness," R. Sheldon and S. Kerr, Limnology and Oceanography, vol. 17, no. 5, 1972, pp. 796-798.
<https://tinyurl.com/y5qxqwwc>
The authors, at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, explain:

"It is known from direct observation that the animals themselves are large and it follows from this that the population must be small. It can be demonstrated quite easily from trophic-dynamic considerations that many large animals could not exist in Loch Ness; but a few could. It has been suggested from time to time that as the monsters are never caught it must therefore follow that they do not exist. This is both irresponsible and illogical."

Submit your perfectly formed, delightfully enlightening limerick to:

	LOCH NESS DENSITY LIMERICK COMPETITION
	c/o <MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM>

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07 A-Look-Back-at-Déjà-Vu Winner

The judges have chosen a winner in last month's Competition, which asked for a limerick to explain this study:

“A Review of the Déjà Vu Experience,” 
Alan. S. Brown, Psychological Bulletin, vol. 129, no.  3, May 2003, pp. 394–413. <https://tinyurl.com/yyv5vbz4>

INVESTIGATOR DAVID MARPLES writes:

If you think that you’ve been here before,
It’s a feeling you should not ignore.
  It may not be true – 
  Due to stress you go through –
But with study we’ll understand more!

This month's take from our LIMERICK LAUREATE, MARTIN EIGER:

This paper presents a review.
It does not present anything new.
  Having seen it once, then,
  Having seen it again,
I’m experiencing deja vu.

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08 MORE IMPROBABLE: Cat Videos, Hedgehogs at a Festival

Recent improbable research bits you may have missed...

The blog: <http://www.improbable.com/>:

* Recent Progress in Cat-Video Studies
* Hedgehogs at a Music Festival
* What Happens at an Improbable Dramatic Readings Session

Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS) and its sibling clubs: <https://www.improbable.com/category/lfhcfs-hair-club/>

  FACEBOOK: <http://www.facebook.com/improbableresearch>
  TWITTER: @ImprobResearch, @MarcAbrahams, #IgNobel

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09 Predicting the Distribution of Unicorns

"Spatial Distribution of the montane unicorn," Stuart Hurlburt, Oikos, vol. 58, 1990, pp. 257-271.
<https://www.jstor.org/stable/3545216>
The author, at San Diego State University, reports:

"Analysis of the spatial distribution patterns of five populations of the recently discovered montane unicorn (Monoceros montanus) yield several surprising results."

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10 IMPROBABLE EVENTS

BEworks Summit, Toronto, Canada	—Sep 23, 2019
New York City, USA				—Oct 6, 2019
Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA, USA		—Oct 8, 2019
Red Hat, Boston, MA, USA			—Oct 9, 2019
Dammam, Saudia Arabia			—Oct, 2019
Lubbock, TX						—Oct 25, 2019
Vienna, Austria					—Nov 7, 2019
Copenhagen, Denmark				—Nov 13, 2019
Gothenburg, Sweden				—Nov 14, 2019
Harvard U, Cambridge, MA, USA		—Nov 18, 2019
Science Friday, public radio, USA		—Nov 29, 2019
Beijing, China						—Jan 12, 2020
Arisia, Boston, MA, USA				—Jan 2020
AAAS Annual Meeting, Seattle		—Feb 2020
Ig Nobel EuroTour					—Mar/Apr 2020
Ig Nobel ceremony TICKETS go on sale	—Jul, 2020
30th First Annual Ig Nobel ceremony	—Sep, 2020
Osaka, Japan						—Fall, 2020

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

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11 — Subscribe to the Actual Magazine! (*)

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	<www.improbable.com/magazine/>
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12 — How to start or stop receiving this newsletter (*)

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13 — CONTACT INFO (*)

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Twitter: @ImprobResearch

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14 — Standard Gobbledegook (*)

EDITOR: Marc Abrahams
CO-CONSPIRATORS: Kees Moeliker, Alice Shirrell Kaswell, Gary Dryfoos, Nan Swift, 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 2019, Annals of Improbable Research

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