| 10 Most Bizarre Scientific Papers |
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2008/01/22 11:56 |
10 Most Bizarre Scientific Papers
Published on 10/17/2007
(S. Stack and J. Gundlach; Wayne State University and Auburn
University; 1992)
"The greater the airtime devoted to country music, the greater the
white suicide rate"
According to the authors, Steven Stack and Jim Gundlach, the paper
"assesses the link between country music and metropolitan suicide
rates. Country music is hypothesized to nurture a suicidal mood
through its concerns with problems common in the suicidal population,
such as marital discord, alcohol abuse, and alienation from work. The
results of a multiple regression analysis of 49 metropolitan areas
show that the greater the airtime devoted to country music, the
greater the white suicide rate. The effect is independent of divorce,
southernness, poverty, and gun availability. The existence of a
country music subculture is thought to reinforce the link between
country music and suicide. Our model explains 51% of the variance in
urban white suicide rates." The paper can be found online.
(D. Levy; University of Maastricht; 2007)
"Human-robot marriages will be legal by 2050"
"My forecast is that around 2050, the state of Massachusetts will be
the first jurisdiction to legalize marriages with robots," artificial
intelligence researcher David Levy at the University of Maastricht in
the Netherlands told LiveScience. Levy recently completed his Ph.D.
work on the subject of human-robot relationships, covering many of the
privileges and practices that generally come with marriage as well as
outside of it.
At first, sex with robots might be considered geeky, "but once you
have a story like 'I had sex with a robot, and it was great!' appear
someplace like Cosmo magazine, I'd expect many people to jump on the
bandwagon," Levy said. In his thesis, "Intimate Relationships with
Artificial Partners," Levy conjectures that robots will become so
human-like in appearance, function and personality that many people
will fall in love with them, have sex with them and even marry them.
"It may sound a little weird, but it isn't," Levy said. "Love and sex
with robots are inevitable."
(D. Busch and J. Starling; Madison, Wisconsin; 1986)
"The study reports, among other items: a beer glass, a suitcase key
and a magazine"
The citations include reports of, among other items: seven light
bulbs; a knife sharpener; two flashlights; a wire spring; a snuff box;
an oil can with potato stopper; eleven different forms of fruits,
vegetables and other foodstuffs; a jeweler's saw; a frozen pig's tail;
a tin cup; a beer glass; and one patient's remarkable ensemble
collection consisting of spectacles, a suitcase key, a tobacco pouch
and a magazine.
(S. Ghirlanda, L. Jansson, M. Enquist; Stockholm University; 2002)
"The animals showed preferences for faces consistent with human sexual
preferences"
Authors at the Stockholm University explain it: "We trained chickens
to react to an average human female face but not to an average male
face (or vice-versa). In a subsequent test, the animals showed
preferences for faces consistent with human sexual preferences
(obtained from university students). This suggests that human
preferences arise from general properties of nervous systems, rather
than from face-specific adaptations. We discuss this result in the
light of current debate on the meaning of sexual signals, and suggest
further tests of existing hypotheses about the origin of sexual
preferences."
(Satish Chandra Mishra; Charak Palika Hospital; 2005)
"A quick, simple and non-traumatic approach to penile zipper
entrapment"
Author Satish Chandra Mishra, about his enlightening paper:
"Entrapment of penile foreskin is quite a distressing situation for
the child and the parents and can be a frustrating management problem.
Any overzealous intervention would simply worsen the situation. Also,
attempts to cut open the zip fastener are time taking and may not be
either helpful or feasible in all the situations. The approach to the
zipper manipulation should be quick, simple, non-traumatic and
reproducible irrespective of the age of the child, mechanism and site
of entrapment, presence of the local edema and zipper size or design."
The paper can be found online.
(V. Breno Meyer-Rochow and J. Gal; International University of Bremen
and Lorand Eotvos University of Hungary; 2005)
"They get up, move to the edge of the nest, turn around, bend over...
and shoot"
Ever wondered how far a penguin can fire waste from its anus? Wonder
no more. Victor Breno Meyer-Rochow of International University,
Bremen, and Jozsef Gal of Lorand Eotvos University, Hungary, used the
basic principles of physics to calculate the pressure that builds up
inside a penguin. Dr. Meyer-Rochow explained that the research began
in 1993, when he led the first, and so far only, Jamaican expedition
to the Antarctic. Later, while showing students pictures of
faeces-lined penguin nests, he was asked how the elaborate displays
were created. "They get up, move to the edge of the nest, turn around,
bend over - and shoot," he said. That's when he got the idea to
calculate the pressure produced by penguin poo.
(Dr. M. Sidoli; Washington DC; 1998)
"When feeling endangered, Peter used his bodily smell and farts to
envelop himself in a protective cloud"
According to it's author, "this paper describes some features of the
behaviour of a severely disturbed adopted latency boy. Peter was born
premature, suffered several early hospitalizations and surgical
operations, and at 2 months of age was removed from his mother's care
by Social Services for neglect and abandonment. When feeling
endangered, Peter had developed a defensive olfactive container using
his bodily smell and farts to envelop himself in a protective cloud of
familiarity against the dread of falling apart, and to hold his
personality together."
(E. A. Maguire and others; University College London; 1999)
"The brains of London taxi drivers are more developed than those of
their fellow citizens."
Aothors at the University College London, about their research:
"Structural MRIs of the brains of humans with extensive navigation
experience, licensed London taxi drivers, were analyzed and compared
with those of control subjects who did not drive taxis. The posterior
hippocampi of taxi drivers were significantly larger relative to those
of control subjects. A more anterior hippocampal region was larger in
control subjects than in taxi drivers. Hippocampal volume correlated
with the amount of time spent as a taxi driver (positively in the
posterior and negatively in the anterior hippocampus). These data are
in accordance with the idea that the posterior hippocampus stores a
spatial representation of the environment and can expand regionally to
accommodate elaboration of this representation in people with a high
dependence on navigational skills. It seems that there is a capacity
for local plastic change in the structure of the healthy adult human
brain in response to environmental demands."
(A. Mulet, J. Benedito and J. Bon; Polytechnic University of Valencia;
2006)
"The most reliable temperature interval to carry out ultrasonic
The paper reads: "The ultrasonic velocity in Cheddar cheese is
temperature dependent. This relationship can be used to make
corrections when determining ultrasonic texture or to determine mean
Differential Scanning Calorimetry thermograms linked the temperature
dependence of ultrasonic velocity to fat melting. Three parts are
distinguished in the curve as a consequence of the fat melting and the
appearance of free oil. The most reliable temperature interval to
carry out ultrasonic measurements in Cheddar cheese is identified as 0
(M. K. Bakkevig and R. Nielson; Sintef Unimed and Technical University
of Denmark; 1995)
"The thickness of the underwear has the most influence on
thermoregulatory responses"
The authors explain: "The purpose of this study was to investigate the
significance of wet underwear and to compare any influence of
fibre-type material and textile construction of underwear on
thermoregulatory responses and thermal comfort of humans during rest
in the cold. The tests demonstrated the significant cooling effect of
wet underwear on thermoregulatory responses and thermal comfort. The
thickness of the underwear has more of an influence on the
thermoregulatory responses and thermal comfort, than the types of
fibres tested."
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