[mini-AIR] mini-AIR: Heavily Hopping — and the new Ig Nobel Prize winners

Sun Sep 27 21:41:33 EDT 2020

mini-Annals of Improbable Research ("mini-AIR")
September 2020, issue number 2020-09. 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 IN THE MAGAZINE ITSELF: Coffee Now, Liars & Con Men Soon
03 Heavily Hopping (1)
04 The 2020 Ig Nobel Prize Winners
05 Limerick Challenge: Heavily Hopping (2)
06 Burnt Pancakes Winner
07 MORE IMPROBABLE: Fractal Congrats, Soggy Pen, Ice Cream
08 Heavily Hopping (3)
20 SOME IMPROBABLE EVENTS
30 — Subscribe to the Actual Magazine! (*)
31 — How to start or stop receiving this little newsletter (*)
32 — Contact Info (*)
33 — Standard Gobbledegook (*)

	Items marked (*) are reprinted in every issue.

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02 IN THE MAGAZINE ITSELF: Coffee Now, Liars & Con Men Soon

	WHAT YOU ARE READING AT THIS MOMENT
	is just our monthly newsletter, (mini-AIR).
	This is overflow detritus from the actual magazine:
	Annals of Improbable Research (AIR). 

The special COFFEE, AND TEA issue of the magazine is available:
<https://www.improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume26/v26i4/v26i4.php>

The next issue (vol 26, no. 5) will be a special LIARS AND CON MEN issue. That issue is in prep.

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

	SUBSCRIBE to the MAGAZINE, 
	or get BACK ISSUES (there are more than 150 of them!):
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03 Heavily Hopping (1)

This month's maybe-random research item:

"Effect of Added Mass on Human Unipedal Hopping," G.P. Austin, G.E. Garrett, and D. Tiberio, Perceptual and Motor Skills, vol. 94, no. 3, part 1, June 2002, pp. 834-40.< https://tinyurl.com/yyheuhpx>
The authors, at Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, Connecticut, explain:

"Although hopping is considered a children's activity, it can be used to provide insight into the neuromuscular and biomechanical performance of adults. This study investigated whether mass added during unipedal hopping altered the vertical stiffness, hopping period, and angular kinematics of the lower extremity of adults."

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04 The 2020 Ig Nobel Prize Winners

The winners were introduced at the 30th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, on Thursday, September 17, 2020. Video of the entire ceremony, and copious detailed info, can be seen at <https://www.improbable.com/ig-about/the-30th-first-annual-ig-nobel-prize-ceremony/>

The ceremony included the premiere of a new mini-opera called "Dream, Little Cockroach."

Each Ig Nobel Prize was awarded for achievements that make people LAUGH, then THINK. 

Nobel laureates Eric Maskin (economics, 2007), Frances Arnold (chemistry, 2018), Rich Roberts (physiology or medicine, 1993), Marty Chalfie (2008, chemistry), Jerome Friedman (physics, 1990), Andre Geim (physics 2010, and also an Ig Nobel Prize in physics awarded ten years earlier) helped hand out the prizes, using a novel method to pass each Ig Nobel prize through the internet. 

The new winners:

ACOUSTICS PRIZE [AUSTRIA, SWEDEN, JAPAN, USA, SWITZERLAND]
Stephan Reber, Takeshi Nishimura, Judith Janisch, Mark Robertson, and Tecumseh Fitch, for inducing a female Chinese alligator to bellow in an airtight chamber filled with helium-enriched air.
REFERENCE: “A Chinese Alligator in Heliox: Formant Frequencies in a Crocodilian,” Stephan A. Reber, Takeshi Nishimura, Judith Janisch, Mark Robertson, and W. Tecumseh Fitch, Journal of Experimental Biology, vol. 218, 2015, pp. 2442-2447.
WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE CEREMONY: Stephan Reber, Takeshi Nishimura, Judith Janisch, Mark Robertson, and Tecumseh Fitch

PSYCHOLOGY PRIZE [CANADA, USA]
Miranda Giacomin and Nicholas Rule, for devising a method to identify narcissists by examining their eyebrows.
REFERENCE: “Eyebrows Cue Grandiose Narcissism,” Miranda Giacomin and Nicholas O. Rule, Journal of Personality, vol. 87, no. 2, 2019, pp. 373-385.
WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE CEREMONY: Miranda Giacomin and Nicholas Rule

PEACE PRIZE [INDIA, PAKISTAN]
The governments of India and Pakistan, for having their diplomats surreptitiously ring each other’s doorbells in the middle of the night, and then run away before anyone had a chance to answer the door.
REFERENCE: Numerous news reports.

PHYSICS PRIZE [AUSTRALIA, UKRAINE, FRANCE, ITALY, GERMANY, UK, SOUTH AFRICA]
Ivan Maksymov and Andriy Pototsky, for determining, experimentally, what happens to the shape of a living earthworm when one vibrates the earthworm at high frequency.
REFERENCE: “Excitation of Faraday-like body waves in vibrated living earthworms,” Ivan S. Maksymov and Andriy Pototsky, bioRxiv 10.1101/868521, December 8, 2019.
WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE CEREMONY: Ivan Maksymov and Andriy Pototsky

ECONOMICS PRIZE [UK, POLAND, FRANCE, BRAZIL, CHILE, COLOMBIA, AUSTRALIA, ITALY, NORWAY, ITALY]
Christopher Watkins, Juan David Leongómez, Jeanne Bovet, Agnieszka Żelaźniewicz, Max Korbmacher, Marco Antônio Corrêa Varella, Ana Maria Fernandez, Danielle Wagstaff, and Samuela Bolgan, for trying to quantify the relationship between different countries’ national income inequality and the average amount of mouth-to-mouth kissing.
REFERENCE: “National Income Inequality Predicts Cultural Variation in Mouth to Mouth Kissing,” Christopher D. Watkins, Juan David Leongómez, Jeanne Bovet, Agnieszka Żelaźniewicz, Max Korbmacher, Marco Antônio Corrêa Varella, Ana Maria Fernandez, Danielle Wagstaff, and Samuela Bolgan, Scientific Reports, vol. 9, article no. 6698, 2019.
WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE CEREMONY: Christopher Watkins

MANAGEMENT PRIZE [CHINA]
(奚广安) Xi Guang-An, (莫天祥) Mo Tian-Xiang, (杨康生) Yang Kang-Sheng, (杨广生) Yang Guang-Sheng, and (凌显四) Ling Xian Si, five professional hitmen in Guangxi, China, who managed a contract for a hit job (a murder performed for money) in the following way: After accepting payment to perform the murder, Xi Guang-An then instead subcontracted the task to Mo Tian-Xiang, who then instead subcontracted the task to Yang Kang-Sheng, who then instead subcontracted the task to Yang Guang-Sheng, who then instead subcontracted the task to Ling Xian-Si, with each subsequently enlisted hitman receiving a smaller percentage of the fee, and nobody actually performing a murder.
REFERENCE: Numerous news reports and trial documents.

ENTOMOLOGY PRIZE [USA]
Richard Vetter, for collecting evidence that many entomologists (scientists who study insects) are afraid of spiders, which are not insects.
REFERENCE: “Arachnophobic Entomologists: When Two More Legs Makes a Big Difference,” Richard S. Vetter, American Entomologist, vol. 59, no. 3, 2013, pp. 168-175.
WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE CEREMONY: Richard Vetter

MEDICINE PRIZE [THE NETHERLANDS, BELGIUM]
Nienke Vulink, Damiaan Denys, and Arnoud van Loon, for diagnosing a long-unrecognized medical condition: Misophonia, the distress at hearing other people make chewing sounds.
REFERENCE: “Misophonia: Diagnostic Criteria for a New Psychiatric Disorder,” Arjan Schroder, Nienke Vulink, and Damiaan Denys, PLoS ONE, vol. 8, no. 1, 2013, e54706.
REFERENCE: “Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is Effective in Misophonia: An Open Trial,” Arjan E., Schröder, Nienke C. Vulink, Arnoud J. van Loon, and Damiaan A. Denys, Journal of Affective Disorders, vol. 217, 2017, pp. 289-294.
WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE CEREMONY: Nienke Vulink, Damiaan Denys, and Arnoud van Loon

MEDICAL EDUCATION PRIZE [BRAZIL, UK, INDIA, MEXICO, BELARUS, USA, TURKEY, RUSSIA, TURKMENISTAN]
Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom, Narendra Modi of India, Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico, Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, Donald Trump of the USA, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Vladimir Putin of Russia, and Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow of Turkmenistan, for using the Covid-19 viral pandemic to teach the world that politicians can have a more immediate effect on life and death than scientists and doctors can.
REFERENCE: Numerous news reports.
NOTE: This is the second Ig Nobel Prize awarded to Alexander Lukashenko. In the year 2013, the Ig Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to Alexander Lukashenko, for making it illegal to applaud in public, AND to the Belarus State Police, for arresting a one-armed man for applauding.

MATERIALS SCIENCE PRIZE [USA, UK]
Metin Eren, Michelle Bebber, James Norris, Alyssa Perrone, Ashley Rutkoski, Michael Wilson, and Mary Ann Raghanti, for showing that knives manufactured from frozen human feces do not work well.
REFERENCE: “Experimental Replication Shows Knives Manufactured from Frozen Human Feces Do Not Work,” Metin I. Eren, Michelle R. Bebber, James D. Norris, Alyssa Perrone, Ashley Rutkoski, Michael Wilson, and Mary Ann Raghanti, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, vol. 27, no. 102002, October 2019.
WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE CEREMONY: Metin Eren, Michelle Bebber, James Norris, Alyssa Perrone, Ashley Rutkoski, Michael Wilson, and Mary Ann Raghanti

A full report about the ceremony and the winners will nearly fill the November/December issue (vol. 26, no. 6)—this year's special IG NOBEL issue — of the magazine (the Annals of Improbable Research. Yet another reason to subscribe!
<https://gumroad.com/improbable>

	* * *

Every year, the new winners give free public lectures in which they briefly explain, if they can, what that did and why they did it.

This year, the lectures will, like the ceremony, be done very differently than in the past. Thanks, pandemic!

THE IG INFORMAL LECTURES will happen in November, online.
We will announce the schedule soon, on the web site and also here in mini-AIR.

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05 Limerick Challenge: Heavily Hopping (2)

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

"Effect of Frequency on Human Unipedal Hopping," G.P. Austin, D. Tiberio, and G.E. Garrett, Perceptual and Motor Skills, vol. 95, no.  3, part 1, December 2002, pp.  733-40. <https://tinyurl.com/y5lnf4gk> The authors explain:

"This study investigated whether hopping influenced vertical stiffness and lower extremity angular kinematics during human unipedal hopping. Vertical force and two-dimensional kinematics were measured in 10 healthy males hopping at three frequencies: preferred, +20%, and -20%. "

Submit your perfectly formed, delightfully enlightening limerick to:

	_____ LIMERICK COMPETITION
	c/o <MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM>

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06 Burnt Pancakes Winner

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

"On the Problem of Sorting Burnt Pancakes," David Cohen and Manuel Blum, Discrete Applied Mathematics, vol. 6, no. 12, 1995. <https://doi.org/10.1016/0166-218X(94)00009-3> 

INVESTIGATOR TONY HARKER writes:

If your pancakes get burnt by the flame.
And the sizes don’t turn out the same,
  There’s no need to spurn them:
  Systematically turn them
With a spatula – it’s a good game!

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

At IHOP, the best thing to eat
Is their pancakes.  They're great, can't be beat.
  But there've been some delays
  As I've waited for days.
My order is NP-complete.

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07 MORE IMPROBABLE: Fractal Congrats, Soggy Pen, Ice Cream

Recent improbable research bits you may have missed...

BLOG: <http://www.improbable.com/>:
* "Then Mandelbrot Congratulated Me"
* Boredom at The Cinema – An Exploration [research study]
* Meat-Weight Assessment of Washing-Machine-Washed EpiPens
*…and much more

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08 Heavily Hopping (3)

"Effect of Added Mass on Human Unipedal Hopping at Three Frequencies," G.P. Austin, D. Tiberio, and G.E. Garrett, Perceptual and Motor Skills, vol. 97, no.  2, October 2003, pp.  605-612. <https://tinyurl.com/y43fx9kl>

"The differential response of vertical stiffness to hopping frequency and added mass was consistent with predictions based on a mass-spring model. The interactive effect of frequency and added mass on the kinematics of the lower extremity and contact period were consistent with earlier studies of the independent effects of hopping frequency and added mass."

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20 SOME IMPROBABLE EVENTS

Gothenburg, Sweden (online)			—Oct 2, 2020
Bergamo, Italy						—Oct 3, 2020
Ig Informal Lectures (online)			—November (date TBA)
Harvard Club of Cape Cod (online)		—Nov 19, 2020
Arisia. Boston						—Jan 2021 (date TBA)
Israel Physics Society (online)		—Jan 22, 2021
2021 Ig Nobel EuroTour (we hope)		—March-April 2021
For details and additional events, see
<http://www.improbable.com/improbable-research-shows/complete-schedule/>

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30 — Subscribe to the Actual Magazine! (*)

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31 — How to start or stop receiving this newsletter (*)

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32 — CONTACT INFO (*)

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33 — Standard Gobbledegook (*)

EDITOR: Marc Abrahams
CO-CONSPIRATORS: Kees Moeliker, Alice Shirrell Kaswell, Gary Dryfoos, Nan Swift, Stephen Drew
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