[mini-AIR] mini-AIR: worms, blobs, and Ig Nobel Prize news
Marc Abrahams
marc at improbable.com
Mon Sep 27 18:50:18 EDT 2021
mini-Annals of Improbable Research ("mini-AIR")
September 2020, issue number 2021-09. 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: The Haphazard Approach of Ducks
03 The Flow of Entangled Worms
04 The 2021 Ig Nobel Prize Winners
05 The 2021 Ig Informal Lectures
06 The Ig Nobel YouTube Funiculi Funicula Adventure
07 The 2022 Ig Nobel EuroTour: Seeking Your Advice
08 Limerick Challenge: Entangled Worm and Robot Blobs
09 Antibottle Resonators Winner
10 MORE IMPROBABLE: Bicycle Mystery, Late Patent, Ear Bigness
11 Blob on Vent and Snout
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: The Haphazard Approach of Ducks
What you are reading at the moment (mini-AIR)
is overflow detritus oozed from
the magazine Annals of Improbable Research (AIR).
The special HAPHAZARD issue (vol. 27, no. 3) of the magazine is, with haphazardly exactitude, available:
<https://www.improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume27/v27i3/v27i3.php>
The subsequent issue— the special DUCKS issue—is almost ready to take flight.
SUBSCRIBE to the MAGAZINE,
or get BACK ISSUES (there are more than 150 of them!):
<https://gumroad.com/improbable>
Tables of Contents: <http://www.improbable.com/magazine/>
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03 The Flow of Entangled Worms
This month's maybe-random research item:
"Rheology of Entangled Active Polymer-Like T. Tubifex Worms," Physical Review Letters, A. Deblais, S. Woutersen, and D. Bonn, vol. 124, no. 18, 2020, 188002. <https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.188002>
(Thanks to Davide Castelevecci for bringing this to our attention.) The authors, at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, reports:
"We experimentally study the rheology of long, slender and entangled living worms (Tubifex tubifex). Their level of activity can be controlled by changing the temperature or by adding small amounts of alcohol to make the worms temporarily inactive…. Our study paves the way towards a new experimental research field of active `polymer-like worms."
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04 The 2021 Ig Nobel Prize Winners
Ten new Ig Nobel Prizes were awarded at the 31st First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, on September 9, 2021. Each winner has done something that makes people LAUGH, then THINK. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, this year's ceremony happened entirely online, rather than in its traditional home, Harvard University's Sanders Theatre.
See video of the entire ceremony (including the new opera, about engineering, children, bridges, and angry adults), and lots of details, at
<https://www.improbable.com/2021-ceremony/>
The November/December issue of the magazine, Annals of Improbable Research, will include a bountiful report.
Here are the 2021 Ig Nobel Prize winners. Details about all of them are posted at https://www.improbable.com/winners/#ig2021>:
BIOLOGY PRIZE [SWEDEN]:
Susanne Schötz, Robert Eklund, and Joost van de Weijer, for analyzing variations in purring, chirping, chattering, trilling, tweedling, murmuring, meowing, moaning, squeaking, hissing, yowling, howling, growling, and other modes of cat–human communication.
WHO TOOK PART IN THE CEREMONY: Susanne Schötz
ECOLOGY PRIZE [SPAIN. IRAN]:
Leila Satari, Alba Guillén, Àngela Vidal-Verdú, and Manuel Porcar, for using genetic analysis to identify the different species of bacteria that reside in wads of discarded chewing gum stuck on pavements in various countries.
WHO TOOK PART IN THE CEREMONY: Leila Satari, Alba Guillén, Àngela Vidal-Verdú, Manuel Porcar
CHEMISTRY PRIZE [GERMANY, UK, NEW ZEALAND, GREECE, CYPRUS, AUSTRIA]:
Jörg Wicker, Nicolas Krauter, Bettina Derstroff, Christof Stönner, Efstratios Bourtsoukidis, Achim Edtbauer, Jochen Wulf, Thomas Klüpfel, Stefan Kramer, and Jonathan Williams, for chemically analyzing the air inside movie theaters, to test whether the odors produced by an audience reliably indicate the levels of violence, sex, antisocial behavior, drug use, and bad language in the movie the audience is watching.
WHO TOOK PART IN THE CEREMONY: Jörg Wicker, Nicolas Krauter, Bettina Derstroff, Christof Stönner, Efstratios Bourtsoukidis, Achim Edtbauer, Jochen Wulf, Thomas Klüpfel, Stefan Kramer, Jonathan Williams
ECONOMICS PRIZE [FRANCE, SWITZERLAND, AUSTRALIA, AUSTRIA, CZECH REPUBLIC, UK]:
Pavlo Blavatskyy, for discovering that the obesity of a country’s politicians may be a good indicator of that country’s corruption.
WHO TOOK PART IN THE CEREMONY: Pavlo Blavatskyy
MEDICINE PRIZE [GERMANY, TURKEY, UK]:
Olcay Cem Bulut, Dare Oladokun, Burkard Lippert, and Ralph Hohenberger, for demonstrating that sexual orgasms can be as effective as decongestant medicines at improving nasal breathing.
WHO TOOK PART IN THE CEREMONY: Olcay Cem Bulut, Dare Oladokun, Ralph Hohenberger
PEACE PRIZE [USA]:
Ethan Beseris, Steven Naleway, and David Carrier, for testing the hypothesis that humans evolved beards to protect themselves from punches to the face.
WHO TOOK PART IN THE CEREMONY: Ethan Beseris, Steven Naleway, David Carrier
PHYSICS PRIZE [THE NETHERLANDS, ITALY, TAIWAN, USA]:
Alessandro Corbetta, Jasper Meeusen, Chung-min Lee, Roberto Benzi, and Federico Toschi, for conducting experiments to learn why pedestrians do not constantly collide with other pedestrians.
WHO TOOK PART IN THE CEREMONY: Alessandro Corbetta, Jasper Meeusen, Chung-min Lee, Roberto Benzi,, Federico Toschi
KINETICS PRIZE [JAPAN, SWITZERLAND, ITALY]:
Hisashi Murakami, Claudio Feliciani, Yuta Nishiyama, and Katsuhiro Nishinari, for conducting experiments to learn why pedestrians do sometimes collide with other pedestrians.
WHO TOOK PART IN THE CEREMONY: Hisashi Murakami, Claudio Feliciani, Yuta Nishiyama, Katsuhiro Nishinari
ENTOMOLOGY PRIZE [USA]:
John Mulrennan, Jr., Roger Grothaus, Charles Hammond, and Jay Lamdin, for their research study “A New Method of Cockroach Control on Submarines”.
WHO TOOK PART IN THE CEREMONY: John Mulrennan, Jr.
TRANSPORTATION PRIZE [NAMIBIA, SOUTH AFRICA, TANZANIA, ZIMBABWE, BRAZIL, UK, USA]:
Robin Radcliffe, Mark Jago, Peter Morkel, Estelle Morkel, Pierre du Preez, Piet Beytell, Birgit Kotting, Bakker Manuel, Jan Hendrik du Preez, Michele Miller, Julia Felippe, Stephen Parry, and Robin Gleed, for determining by experiment whether it is safer to transport an airborne rhinoceros upside-down.
WHO TOOK PART IN THE CEREMONY: Pete Morkel, Mark Jago, Robin Gleed, Robin Radcliffe
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05 The 2021 Ig Informal Lectures
In the Ig Informal Lectures, the new winners explain, if they can, what they did and why they did it.
Normally the lectures happen at MIT, two days after the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. But in this pandemic year, are happening entirely online:
<https://www.improbable.com/2021-ceremony/#lectures>
Here is the schedule:
<> Thurs, Sept 16, 2021. Peace Prize Ig Informal Lecture
<> Thurs, Sept 23, 2021. Biology Ig Informal Lecture
<> Thurs, Sept 30, 2021. Transportation Prize Ig Informal Lecture
<> OTHERS to be announced
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06 The Ig Nobel YouTube Funiculi Funicula Adventure
We fell afoul (and "afoul", with all its implications, may be exactly the word for it) of YouTube's notorious takedown algorithms, because the ceremony webcast included bits of an audio recording of tenor John McCormack singing the song "Funiculi, Funicula" in the year 1914.
Read about the adventure, at
<https://www.improbable.com/2021/09/22/youtube-the-ig-nobel-prizes-and-the-year-1914/>
And so we made a slightly revised version of the ceremony video, with the 1914 recording replaced by a glorious new recording of soprano Maria Ferrante and accordionist/cardiologist Thomas Michel performing "Funiculi, Funicula". Savor it, at
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8u-hrHRvg4>
The original recording of the ceremony, with the 1914 John McCormack effusion of "Funiculi, Funicula", is at
<https://vimeo.com/599769861>
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07 The 2022 Ig Nobel EuroTour: Seeking Your Advice
We would love to have your advice about whether and how we should do an Ig Nobel EuroTour in 2022.
WHAT: Each year's tour is a series of improbable public (and a few private) events in which Ig Nobel Prize winners explain (and in some cases demonstrate) the surprising things they have done. Marc Abrahams, founder of the Ig Nobel ceremony, wrangles each event to optimize the inspirational chaos. The best parts, always, are the questions and answers and chats with the audience.
WHEN (the past): The annual tour had an almost two-decades-long run, until the Covid-19 pandemic stepped into — or rather, onto — the picture. The 2020 tour was truncated after its first event (a raucous evening at the University of Manchester). The 2021 tour didn't happen at all.
WHEN: (the future): Now approaches the year 2022. Can we, should we, do a tour in 2022?
THE PROBLEM: Here's the problem in a nutshell: Changes in the pandemic situation could, suddenly, cause any scheduled public gathering to be cancelled, and cause any travel between countries to be limited.
THE SOLUTION? We suspect that any planning should have two levels. Each event would be planned to work both [CIRCUMSTANCE A] with an audience gathered together, and [CIRCUMSTANCE B] mostly online, if the pandemic flares up again.
YOU: If you and your organization might like to host an event, and would like to discuss how best to plan it in this strange new roller-coaster-y pandemicscape, please get in touch!
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08 Limerick Challenge: Entangled Worm and Robot Blobs
This month's RESEARCH LIMERICK challenge — Devise a pleasing limerick that encapsulates this study:
"Collective Dynamics in Entangled Worm and Robot Blobs," Yasemin Ozkan-Aydin, Daniel I. Goldman, and M. Saad Bhamla, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 188, no. 6, February 9, 2021, e2010542118.
< https://www.pnas.org/content/118/6/e2010542118.abstract?etoc>
(Thanks to Tom Gill for bringing this to our attention.) The authors report:
"Here, we describe the dynamics of macroscopic aquatic worms that braid their long, soft bodies to form large entangled worm blobs. We discover that the worm blob behaves as a living material to undergo dynamic shape transformations to reduce evaporation or break-symmetry and locomote to safety against thermal stresses."
Submit your perfectly formed, delightfully enlightening limerick to:
WORM ROBOT BLOBS LIMERICK COMPETITION
c/o <MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM>
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09 Antibottle Resonators Winner
The judges have declared there to be no winner in last month's Competition, which asked for a limerick to explain this study:
"Optical Bottle Versus Acoustic Bottle and Antibottle Resonators," M. Sumetsky, Optics Letters, vol. 42, no. 5, 2017, pp. 923-926.
<https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.42.000923>
This month's take from our LIMERICK LAUREATE, MARTIN EIGER:
Put photons on fiber, and oh,
How fast all your data can flow!
Fiber's also the thing,
Not tin cans and a string,
If you'd rather your data go slow.
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09 MORE IMPROBABLE: Bicycle Mystery, Late Patent, Ear Bigness
Recent improbable research bits you may have missed...
BLOG: <http://www.improbable.com/>:
* Why-Exactly-Is-a-Bicycle-Stable Experiments
* Dual High Heels
* Japanese Ig Nobel Prize-winning Invention Patented by US Navy in 2021
*…and much more
LUXURIANT FLOWING HAIR CLUB FOR SCIENTISTS (LFHCfS)
<https://www.improbable.com/category/lfhcfs-hair-club/>
PODCAST:
<https://www.improbable.com/category/the-weekly-improbable-research-podcast/>:
* Episode #1081: "Ear Bigness Through the Years"
FACEBOOK: <http://www.facebook.com/improbableresearch>
TWITTER: @ImprobResearch, @MarcAbrahams, #IgNobel
INSTAGRAM: <https://www.instagram.com/improbable_research/>
PATREON: <www.patreon.com/ImprobableResearch>
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10 Blob on Vent and Snout
"Evaluation of Vent Position from Lizard Skeletons for Estimation of Snout-Vent Length and Body Mass," Richard W. Blob, Copeia, no. 3, August 3, 1998, pp. 792-801.
<https://www.jstor.org/stable/1447817>
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TREAT YOURSELF TO (MUCH) MORE IMPROBABLE STUFF.
SUBCRIBE TO THE (PDF) MAGAZINE!
<www.improbable.com/magazine/>
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20 SOME IMPROBABLE EVENTS
2021 IG NOBEL PRIZE CEREMONY Sep 9, 2021
Ig Nobel Exhibition, Fukuoka, Japan Sep 9-Nov 3, 2021
2021 Ig Informal Lectures Sept/Oct/Nov 2021
New York City Oct 19, 2021
Arisia, Boston, MA, USA Jan 2021
Ig Nobel Euro (& Brexitannia) Tour Mar/Apr 2022
[All live events in 2021-2 are subject to pandemical constraints and adventures.]
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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in PDF form.
It's packed with research that makes people laugh, then think.
<www.improbable.com/magazine/>
SUBSCRIPTIONS ($25, for six issues)
BACK ISSUES ($5 each)
(mini-AIR, the thing you are reading at this moment, is but a tiny, free-floating appendix to the actual magazine.)
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31 — How to start or stop receiving this newsletter (*)
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32 — CONTACT INFO (*)
Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)
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EDITORIAL: <MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM>
SUBSCRIPTION QUESTIONS: <subscriptions AT improbable.com>
Cambridge, MA, USA
Twitter: @ImprobResearch
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33 — 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 2021, Annals of Improbable Research
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