mini-Annals of Improbable Research ("mini-AIR")
June 2014, issue number 2014-06. ISSN 1076-500X.
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The monthly wee little tiny mini update/alert from Improbable Research
Archive at <http://improbable.com/airchives/miniair>
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2014-06-01 TABLE OF CONTENTS
2014-06-02 Imminent Events: ESOF / Ig Nobel Tickets / Readercon
2014-06-03 In the Magazine: Centrifugal Research is Revving Up
2014-06-04 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Eyes on the Sloth on the Eyes
2014-06-05 The Sloth Moth Limerick Competition
2014-06-06 BG Bang Poet
2014-06-07 MORE IMPROBABLE: Four Goodmans, a Spider, and a Bear
2014-06-08 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Note on the Moth on the Sloth
2014-06-09 Improbable Research Events
2014-06-10 — How to Get the Magazine (*)
2014-06-11 — Our Address (*)
2014-06-12 — Please Forward/Post This Issue! (*)
2014-06-13 — How to start or stop receiving this newsletter (*)
Items marked (*) are reprinted in every issue.
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2014-06-02 Imminent Events: ESOF / Ig Nobel Tickets / Readercon
á ESOF, Copenhagen, Denmark <http://goo.gl/lqaTnm> — Jun 24 & 24
á Ig Nobel Ceremony TICKETS GO ON SALE — Jul 8
á Readercon, Burlington, MA, USA — Jul 10
Full events schedule at <http://goo.gl/tzwJt>
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2014-06-03 In the Magazine: Centrifugal Research is Revving Up
The special Centrifugal Research issue (vol. 20, no. 3) of the
Annals of Improbable Research is at the printer, whizzing up to speed.
The special Cloning & Evolution issue (vol. 20, no. 2) is partly
online: <http://goo.gl/0RdEvV>.
Download a FREE E-BOOK ISSUE <http://goo.gl/BMzMw>
Links to all issues: <http://www.improbable.com/magazine>
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2014-06-04 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Eyes on the Sloth on the Eyes
"Sloth moths and other zoophilous Lepidoptera," Jeffrey K. Waage, Proceedings and Transactions of the British Entomological and Natural History Society, vol. 13, no. 3/4, pp. 73-74. 1980. <http://goo.gl/aCAF2m> The authors report:
"the topics included in this review include adults of Arcyophora sp. feeding on the eyes of oxen in Zimbabwe; the blood-sucking noctuid Calyptra eustrigata (Hmps.) in south-eastern Asia; and the pyralids Cryptoses, Bradypodicola and Bradypophila on sloths in Central and South America (where the association may be a phoretic one)"
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2014-06-05 The Sloth Moth Limerick Competition
A moth and a sloth inspire this month's limerick competition. To enter, compose an original limerick that illuminates the nature of this ancient study:
"Cryptoses choloepi: a coprophagous moth that lives on a sloth," Jeffrey K. Waage and G. Gene Montgomery, Science, vol. 193, no. 4248, 1976, pp. 157-158. <http://goo.gl/J6ABeQ> The authors report:
"The larvae of the sloth moth, Cryptoses choloepi, live in the dung of the three-toed sloth, Bradypus infuscatus. Adult female moths apparently leave the fur of the sloth to oviposit when the sloth descends, once a week, to the forest floor to defecate. Newly emerged moths fly from the dung pile into the forest canopy to find a sloth."
Submit your perfectly formed limerick to:
SLOTH MOTH LIMERICK COMPETITION
c/o <MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM>
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2014-06-06 BG Bang Poet
The judges have chosen a winner for last month's BG Bang Limerick Competition, which asked for a limerick to honor this 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>
The winner is INVESTIGATOR SHEILA BLUME, who writes:
I suppose he composed this harangue
To propose no one else got the hang
Of the growth of the nose —
I refer to the prose
Of B.G. (stands for BLOWS and GOES) BANG.
And here is the offering from LIMERICK LAUREATE MARTIN EIGER:
By what processes, do you suppose,
Certain fetal anatomy grows?
What we thought all along
Could well have been wrong.
Of developing noses, Bang knows.
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2014-06-07 MORE IMPROBABLE: Four Goodmans, a Spider, and a Bear
Recent improbable bits you maybe missed:
IMPROBABLE BLOG:
á "The case of the 4 Goodmans" <http://goo.gl/KbFfRs>
á "Some observations on the mental powers of spiders" <http://goo.gl/g0MABX>
á "First scientific report of fellatio in captive brown bears" <http://goo.gl/J439vn>
...and MORE, MORe, MOre, More, more at <http://improbable.com>
LFHCfS (Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists) new members:
á Elisabeth Guggenberger and Jakob Steixner
á Dan Graur
á Bill Tivol
The LFHCfS now has more than 500 members: <http://goo.gl/jclfDI>
Admire them at <http://goo.gl/8AZawf>
Newspaper column:
á "Watson & Crick, and Pippa Middleton's Bottom" <http://goo.gl/EIYBK3>
twitter: @ImprobResearch, @MarcAbrahams, #IgNobel
facebook: <http://www.facebook.com/improbableresearch>
books: <http://goo.gl/rHMb3t>
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2014-06-08 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Note on the Moth on the Sloth
"A further note on the sloth moth," H.G. Dyar, Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, vol. 10, 1908, pp. 81-82. <http://goo.gl/EO37if>
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2014-06-09 Improbable Research Events
For details and additional events, see
<http://improbable.com/improbable-research-shows/complete-schedule>
ESOF, Copenhagen, Denmark — Jun 22 & 24, 2014
Ig Nobel TICKETS go on sale — Jul 8, 2014
Readercon, Burlington, 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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2014-06-10 — 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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<http://www.improbable.com/magazine>
DOWNLOAD A FREE E-BOOK ISSUE: <http://goo.gl/BMzMw>
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2014-06-11 — Our Address (*)
Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)
PO Box 380853, Cambridge, MA 02238 USA
(+1) 617-491-4437, FAX: (+1) 617-661-0927
EDITORIAL: <MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM>
PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS: <subscriptions AT improbable.com>
Web Site and blog: <http://www.improbable.com>
Twitter: @ImprobResearch
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2014-06-12 — 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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2014-06-13 — 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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